Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday we heard about the revised terms of defective block redress for counties Donegal and Mayo, largely very positive, with a huge amount of work gone into them.

The grant cap has increased from €247,00 to €420,000, which is far more realistic. The focus now should turn to counties such as Clare, where we also have a very bad problem with defective blocks. The process is moving along very well. An application was submitted by the council in July of this year. My problem is that officials in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are suddenly raising the bar. The standard for assessing defective blocks is IS465, which was devised in 2018. It is the metric by which the schemes in Donegal, Mayo and other counties have been gauged, but it seems like the bar has been raised for Clare at the eleventh hour. We cannot allow that to happen. A letter will be issued today or tomorrow to Clare County Council outlining what they need to clarify to join the scheme. The requirements set out in the letter must be in line with the requirements of the schemes in counties Donegal and Mayo. Some political intervention will be needed. I have been speaking with my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, on the issue. The same standard has to exist in all counties.

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