Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is not just a Donegal, Sligo, Clare or Mayo issue. It is a basic issue of fairness. These families are living in homes that are crumbling. They deserve our support and anything less than 100% redress is not acceptable. The State was asleep at the wheel. It was too busy squandering money in the Celtic tiger era and neglecting its responsibilities to ensure that building materials were fit for purpose.

I listened to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage last week. It is clear from the various contributors that self-regulation of manufacturers, together with inadequate local authority enforcement of standards, allowed unfit concrete blocks to enter the Irish market for years. Quarry owners, insurance companies and bond providers all washed their hands while the State looked on. All these homeowners want is their homes back on a like-for-like basis with what they have already paid. It is not unreasonable to request that and if it is done for pyrite, it can certainly be done for mica.

I struggle to understand the Government's approach. Why would it exclude foundations, which are made of the same materials as the blocks? Why exclude boundary walls, sheds and garages which have the same potential to kill a family member when they fall down? Real costs versus allowable costs at current rates represent more than an 80% grant. This leaves homeowners out tens of thousands of euro which is a shortfall the Minister knows they simply cannot afford. There must be true like-for-like replacement, including house finishes, end-to-end contract management by the State and a zero cost to the homeowner.

Instead, homeowners are offered a grant to carry out repairs, leaving them to find contractors who will work to the inadequate grants provided and at the mercy of inflation, while being choked up by red tape. The Government must provide a penalty-free downsizing option that would allow the grant based on their current home size to be redirected to building themselves a smaller one if they so wish.

I commend the work of the Mica Action Group which has been tireless in its campaign to achieve a just solution for homeowners. It has identified 35 issues in the general scheme, about which the Minister has been told, all of which render the scheme unworkable to a greater or lesser extent. This legislation is an opportunity for the Minister to do the right thing by these families and not be tone deaf. The families and their concerns have to be listened to. It is very simple. It has to be 100% redress and nothing less.

See this speech in context