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

I referred to this in my earlier comments. I just cannot emphasis strongly enough that it is madness to put forward, as the Minister said, billions of taxpayers’ money and base it on what is a flawed standard , namely, IS 465. Already there have been tests carried out by Petrolab in Britain. There have been examinations by Dr. Andreas Leeman, who is a highly respected international expert. There is absolute clear scientific evidence that IS 465 is not up to the standard required to invest billions of taxpayers’ money. Why on earth would the Minister start this scheme without making sure that we have clear feedback from the NSAI in terms of the review that the Minister has given it the terms of reference for?

The other point is that the NSAI, as confirmed to me in recent days, has exactly the same panel, including strong industry input from the construction and concrete industry. The very people who designed IS 465 are the people who created this disaster. Let me repeat that for the record. The very people who are advising the NSAI on IS 465 and this review are the people who created this disaster for thousands of families around this country. They should be taken off from that review immediately. Anybody involved in the construction or concrete industry should not provide input to that review. There are plenty of international experts who can do that. There are plenty of laboratories around the world and there is plenty of international best practice. I ask the Minister to urgently intervene with this review and make sure that the people who are doing it are actual experts independent of the industry and it based on best international practice, before he goes spending billions of taxpayers’ money.

All the families in the Gallery are asking for is for this to be done prudently and sensibly, based on up-to-date international practice and science. I ask the Minister to support the amendment.

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