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

At the committee hearings, one of the most eminent and respected experts on pyrite and deleterious materials, Mr. Paul Forde, presented to the committee and did a really good job as chair of the expert group. He was very clearly of the view that an independent review and a scientific study of the material needed to be done. By the way, he had another view on foundations that was contrary to what some other experts proposed. This work needs to be done urgently.

Deputies have asked the question and of course we have impressed upon the NSAI the absolute importance of carrying out this review scientific study as quickly as humanly possible and that it would be done in the right way. It is absolutely a priority for that to be done. The Deputies who tabled the amendment, Deputies Ó Broin, Conway-Walsh, Cian O'Callaghan, Doherty, Pringle and Harkin, can be assured that we are in regular contact with the NSAI. I expect that people of international standing will be feeding into this process. Some of them are people in this jurisdiction, including Mr. Paul Forde who has done an excellent job in chairing the expert group throughout. I will be keeping in regular contact with the NSAI to conclude that review as speedily as possible. We also need it done properly. Deputies have mentioned the timeframe and it is likely to take until 2023. Let us consider how long we have waited for an enhanced scheme. We have been working on this element of the scheme from the review which I sought back in June 2020 and residents have been dealing with these issues for years. Of course, we want to get it right. This scheme provided for in this legislation is the basis to do that. If Deputies are saying that we need to delay the passing of legislation and the implementation of the scheme and putting the parameters of the scheme in place, the Housing Agency's involvement in that, the testing and all the other things we need to do, to wait for an independent body that I have no control over as to exactly how and when they do their work or when they are going to report-----

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