Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I say to the Deputy that every party and every Dáil Deputy in this House is extremely well aware of and very concerned about the devastation wreaked on many families as a result of the mica scandal. The scandal is not about the absence of regulation; it is about a failure by certain operations to adhere to the regulations. We must call that out. Those responsible need to be held accountable for what transpired. That is the first point I make.

Families need their houses rebuilt. To be fair to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, he has focused on this issue for quite some time and has worked with the working group. I went up last summer to meet with the working group. I heard their main concerns about the original scheme, which was meant in good faith. The scheme was accepted and endorsed by the Deputy's party at the time. Indeed, so satisfied was his party with the last scheme that it did not even reference it in its general election manifesto. Those are the facts. We also asked the Deputy's party leader, who cannot be here today as she is on her way to the United States, to submit the party's proposals and specific ideas around how this scheme could operate, but it decided not to send any suggestion to the working group or to the Minister.

The new scheme will improve the 90% maximum grant to a 100% grant for all remediation options 1 to 5. The maximum expenditure cap for option 1, demolition and rebuild, will be increased from €275,000, under the original scheme that the Deputy's party endorsed, to €420,000. It is estimated that the new scheme will cost over €2.2 billion. There will be a central role for the Housing Agency. There is a clearer damage calculation and the introduction of an independent appeals process. Social housing and homes will be remediated at a cost of around €180 million. There are 900 rented properties that are registered with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. They will also be eligible for the scheme, with one application per household permitted, to the cost to €160 million. A fixed sum of €20,000 will be allocated to each homeowner to rent alternative accommodation should they have to leave their house for reconstruction, and they will be allocated storage costs of up to €5,000. Under the scheme, €145 will be provided per square foot for the first 1,000 sq. ft.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, SCSI, has developed the methodology that will be used. It comes up with an annual average. Currently, the average rebuild cost is €138 per square foot. We are going with €145 for the first 1,000 sq. ft. That will change again in April with the publication of the new surveyors' guide. We will be guided by the SCSI and its methodology, which uses a sliding scale. If you talk to any quantity surveyor, that is perfectly understandable. There are economies of scale at play in the context of larger houses. We are absolutely adamant that the scheme should not disadvantage smaller houses, which represent the bulk of houses covered by this scheme, by the introduction of a flat rate, for example. The sliding scale is an appropriate way to do it. We need to depoliticise the methodology around the pricing and the square footage. We believe we can do that by that working with the SCSI on an annual basis. The scheme will also take into account inflation over the years. We have also built in certification and a State guarantee for remedial works, so that an applicant who chooses from options 2 to 5, does not demolish the property and does other repairs and so on will not be penalised if subsequently something untoward happens again. Such a person will have the option to apply for a second grant.

Without doubt, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has worked extremely hard with all of the parties to find a very comprehensive solution to this issue and to put in place the correct governance around the scheme to ensure we can deal with a very pressing and unacceptable situation for too many families in County Donegal and in other counties.

We are determined to get started on this now and to get the job done.

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