Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister will be aware, on 15 June last, thousands of families from Donegal, Mayo, Clare and other counties gathered outside the convention centre and walked to Government Buildings. On the same day, this House passed a motion, which no Deputy opposed, calling for 100% redress for families who have been devastated by defective concrete blocks. The scheme that is in place was supposed to provide 90%, with the banks making a large contribution towards the remaining 10%. Of course, the banks ran away and were nowhere to be seen, and the figure is anything but 90%.

The Minister's working group has been established but the families did not have a good experience with that group. His departmental officials, as is in the DNA of departmental officials, are focused on limiting the exposure of the State. That is their mindset in these discussions. The families, meanwhile, have been focused on solutions. They have made their final submission to the Minister. They have put a great deal of work into it and it is based on a costing per square metre by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland. The Government has asked what 100% redress would mean and the families have demonstrated what can be done based on real-world prices, but they have also demonstrated the need for a State guarantee. If we are saying to families that, in many instances, they are not required to demolish their homes and that removing the outer leaf would be a safe option, as is the view of the engineers who put together the protocol for the National Standards Authority of Ireland, the State needs to guarantee that work. People will embrace that if there is a guarantee and an assurance is in place.

They are the two big calls, namely, for 100% redress and a State guarantee in respect of any works that take place. The families who stayed with the process, even though they were not happy at all, have made the submission and presented it to Members in the Houses in the past week, as the Minister will be aware. They have done tremendous work and I am hopeful he will back their report and deliver the solution so many families badly need.

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