Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question and for raising the important issue of defective blocks. As he rightly stated, the Bill is detailed and complex legislation. By the way, it has not been delayed. There has been weekly, if not daily, engagement with homeowners and I have endeavoured to engage with Opposition parties. I wrote to the Deputy directly with many detailed questions a number of months ago that he publicly committed to responding to, which he has not done. That is his wont, which is okay.

Let us consider the scheme's fundamentals. There will be 100% redress. We have upped the cap from €247,500 to €420,000. We have allowed significant additional costs such as storage and rental. We have also removed the barrier to accessing the scheme, for which homeowners were paying up to €6,000 or €7,000 heretofore. Those payments have been refunded to most of those who paid them and we are reducing the cost to approximately €500.

I will of course work with all Opposition parties. I am glad that Deputy Ó Broin is now engaging, although somewhat delayed. This is important legislation and, to be fair to the committee, it has taken a sensible approach to it by ensuring that there will be a meeting tomorrow with the affected homeowners group as well as experts in the field in order to get their views. I have received those views right the way through the process. As the Deputy knows, Mr. John O'Connor, the former chief executive of the Housing Agency and the designated liaison between the residents and me, met the homeowners group on the day last week when I brought the first memorandum to the Government.

The scheme is greatly improved. It needs to be grounded in legislation. The previous scheme, to which all parties, including the Deputy's, gave a guarded welcome in 2020, was insufficient. I gave a commitment to homeowners in all affected counties and others that may be affected that we would greatly improve the scheme, provide 100% redress not only for a principal private residence, but for one other property that was registered with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, examine the guarantee, which will now be 40 years, and allow a second home grant in order that, if options 2 to 5 are selected - the replacement of the outer leaf, inner leaf or a combination of both - a guarantee will be given by the State and a homeowner will have access to the scheme again. This is important, as is extending the guarantee to 40 years.

Regarding pyrrhotite and infill, the Deputy is raising many of his concerns without having seen the legislation. As he knows, he and other members of the committee will be receiving a detailed briefing in advance of the meetings. That has been arranged. In that space, we will endeavour to work through the process. We need the legislation passed by the summer. There is no question of anyone trying to railroad it through. It has not been delayed. Rather, we have taken on board all of the legitimate concerns and points in order to improve the scheme.

Let us be clear, in that this is a significant Government intervention to the tune of at least €2.7 billion. The Deputy may not have seen that inflationary measures are built into it whereby I as Minister or any future Minister can revert to the House over the next three years and increase the rates by a further 10%. If we see rates going the other way, that will be addressed too.

I want people to get their homes and lives back on track. I am committed to working through this legislation over the remaining weeks of this session in co-operation with Opposition parties, as well as Government Members who have been engaging on this matter, so that we have a scheme that is fit for purpose for residents in the affected counties and other counties.

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