Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, we are supporting the Bill, which is welcome and long overdue. The register that this Bill establishes was originally proposed in the 1970s. If that had actually happened in the 1970s or the 1980s and was not on a voluntary basis, I wonder if it would have saved heartache, agony and stress endured by the homeowners in Mayo, Donegal, Clare and some other counties who have been affected by pyrite and mica. Would it have happened if we had had the proper regulation? I do not think it would.

The Bill provides for a two-year lead-in time before voluntary registration ends. This is completely unnecessary. Given that the register has been in existence since 2014, we do not need another two years. The make-up of the board is also important as that will determine the performance and outcome of this register. There must be a clear separation between the people on the board and the industry. Furthermore, the Bill provides for the Minister to appoint committee members to the board. That provision should be scrapped and the appointments should be made through the Public Appointments Service. The success of the register will be measured by the impact it has in protecting homeowners. Unfortunately, the Bill does not provide adequate protection for consumers. I urge the Minister of State to learn from the past when considering the legislation.

A working group on building defects was formed and is supposed to be looking into the Government failures to regulate the sector. We are still waiting for it to report back. I have no doubt that its analysis will expose the inadequacy of the minimalist approach taken to regulation.

Any analysis will show us that we need greater investment in building control in local authorities and a greater increase of inspections of new-builds.

I received an email from a person who told me they were sold a house by Mayo County Council in 2003 and that house has pyrite. The response from the local authority was basically that the person continue paying the mortgage. That is not good enough. I will give the Minister of State the details of this case and ask him to investigate it. The house was sold by a local authority. It was inspected by Mayo County Council engineers prior to the purchase. We have to take responsibility. That is the problem here; there has been no accountability. That is why those homeowners in Mayo cannot sleep tonight. That is why they have suffered so much over the past decade. I commend all the campaigners. Not all of them are with us today, unfortunately. I commend them on the fight they put up, but they are weary and tired, and their families are tired, and they cannot take anymore. They need the 100% redress scheme. They need no more of the nonsense, such as Mayo County Council sending out letters to 21 homeowners, telling them that they are not eligible, looking for other bits of information and changing the rules as you go along. To do the right thing, the homeowners have to be put front and centre of this issue because it is certainly not being done at the moment.

Of the insurance companies, the suppliers, the local authority, the Government, nobody has taken responsibility. I ask the Minister of State to relieve these people of the anguish they are going through, and have gone through for the past ten years. They cannot continue like this. We say we have a new enhanced redress scheme. It is not enhanced for many people. We cannot have a scheme that people cannot afford to get on to. People have told me that it will cost them €20,000, €30,000 or €40,000 to get on to the scheme and that it is beyond their reach. This scheme must be within the reach of all the people that Government has failed over the years. It must be put right. I ask the Minister of State to, please, make it a priority. It is a priority for us as a party. The Government must make it a priority. We need to do more than provide lip service. There must be proper joined-up thinking between the local authority and central government to get this done. Urgency must be put into this to end the nightmare once and for all.

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