Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully support this Sinn Féin motion. The 10% levy on blocks and other concrete products introduced in the budget will have to be passed on to customers. This has led to fury in west Cork among good, honest builders who know the customer cannot afford it and among the young people who want to start their lives by building their new homes. The new levy which is designed to contribute to the cost of a national redress scheme for people whose homes were built using defective products is scheduled to come into effect on 3 April next. However, it makes absolutely no sense and gives the quarries, including many that we know about, that are responsible for this mess a free pass.

In the middle of a housing affordability crisis, initial assessments are that this new Government measure could add approximately €3,000 to €4,000 to the cost of an average semi-detached house in a housing estate, according to Mr. Conor O'Connell, director of housing, planning and development with the Construction Industry Federation, CIF. This levy also comes at a time when the cost of concrete has already increased by approximately 30% since February 2021. Industry representatives have explicitly stated there is no doubt but that the cost of this 10% levy will be passed on to the customer. Therefore, this is not really a levy on the construction industry; it is levy on the first-time buyer, the purchaser of a home, the farmer building a slurry tank or a slatted shed, and the person who was going to build an extension to their house. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, SCSI, stated the levy will add up to €4,000 to the cost of a new semi-detached house and will challenge the viability and affordability of new homes.

Around 5,000 homes in Donegal are impacted by the mica crisis, with thousands more constructed with faulty blocks in counties Mayo, Sligo, Clare and Limerick and God knows, there are some in west Cork too. Some braced their necks around here in Dáil Éireann for many years, with what they carried on. Ministers have been warned that the redress schemes could end up costing the taxpayer more than €3.5 billion. However, despite these costs and the pain and misery that has been caused to so many people, not a single person or quarry operator has been prosecuted. Why? Why is that the case? The Government should answer that question. We cannot be paying, coughing up for their sins. The idea that this levy would even pay for the scheme is a complete red herring. It would take more than half a century or possibly 80 years to make a dent in those costs. The levy is nothing more than a free pass for those who are responsible for this crisis, including the Government, senior local authority officials and Ministers in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, all of whom allowed this mess to go unchecked.

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