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

I will make a couple of points and respond to Deputy McHugh. I thank him for all his engagement right the way through. I also thank Deputies Calleary, Carey, Cathal Crowe and many others who have engaged very positively and constructively, in what is a difficult situation, to improve this scheme and work it through. I have no doubt that, through the regulations, there will be other areas we will need to work through to seek further improvements. I assure Deputies I will continue to work with them.

Let us be also be clear, however, that we need to pass the legislation to establish the scheme and get it up and running so we can set up the apparatus for it, not just the legislative apparatus but the human resources required on the ground, the testing that needs to be done and all those various things. There are many moving parts in this. We cannot have a situation where this is continually delayed. Deputy McHugh was right when he said that every scheme, and I said it in Buncrana when I was there with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, in early 2020, evolves when it operates. I have seen that happen with the pyrite scheme for the east coast. Schemes evolve through operation. I expect this scheme to be no different. I will continue to work with Deputies on this.

Specifically on the area we are discussing, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, SCSI, has done the work on the costs that are set down within the legislation. We have the review in place. We will do that. When we are looking at inflation, the period between February and now is far too short to make a further decision on that. As I said, I am not in a position to accept the amendment.

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