Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Where do we start? Regulation, building product surveillance: it is fair to say they were not up to scratch, far from it. We have failed a number of people miserably. We are talking at the minute about Donegal, Mayo, Clare, Sligo, Limerick, Tipperary and up to seven more counties. I have heard a number of Teachtaí talk about my constituency of Louth. This is a small island and it is difficult to see how it will not be every county, on the basis that there are no customs posts, as a Deputy said earlier. These building materials will have made their way into every county, village and town. What does that mean? It means we have left people with crumbling homes, through no fault of their own. People need to think about that. That is your home and it is suddenly falling apart. We have all seen the pictures and videos. Many here, including I think the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, have visited some of the homes and seen the devastation. It is not going to get any better. That is why we are discussing this. The main reason is the pressure put on by the campaigners, some of whom are here today. I commend the work they have done and the pressure they have put on. What they need and want is a process that works and one they deserve. It is a system. They want a government that has their back.

We all want justice. We need to go after the quarries and block manufacturers but, first and foremost, we need to make sure we look after these people, particularly the campaigners. I have no doubt that many of them, as committed as they are, are tired and just want to see an end to this process. We need to facilitate them as much as possible. They just want to get on with their lives. We know the issues, including 100% redress and difficulties with the caps. There will be problems with the rate of inflation and there are issues if people want to downsize.

We need to make up for these gaps in this legislation. There is talk of the difficulty around foundations. Deputy Ó Broin and many others across the House have agreed they would be willing to deal with the huge amount of amendments put in to fill these gaps and offer people a process that will deliver them the homes they need, whether that is like-for-like or otherwise. We need to facilitate that so I expect the Government will be forthcoming and allow this. People have stated they have no problem putting the hours in next week to make sure. The people in the Gallery and around this country deserve it. There is nothing else. We have failed them miserably until now and have to have their back from here on in.

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