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

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, confirmed at a committee meeting this morning, in response to questions from my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, that there will be no more money in the budget for the defective concrete blocks scheme for next year. That budget is €40 million. The Tánaiste knows the urgency of the situation in Donegal, Mayo and other counties, where houses are crumbling down around people. We need to have more money available in the budget for next year. He needs to send a clear signal of the urgency with which the Government is treating this issue and that the scheme will be expeditiously introduced. I totally agree with Deputy Pringle's point earlier that there is no logic to the sliding scale. We need to see the proper amount of money in the budget. We need to get on with the urgent cases, in particular, where houses are falling down right now. Will the Tánaiste give us assurances on that?

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