Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Mica Action Group has been in existence since 2014. I want the Taoiseach to reflect on that for a minute. A group of individuals and families whose homes were crumbling were forced to join together in order to raise awareness about this devastating and extremely dangerous situation, after being ignored and essentially abandoned by the Government. The last eight years have brought nothing but stress and heartbreak to this group. After its pleas fell on deaf ears, it became expert on mica and defective blocks. It gathered its own evidence and carried out testing.

I cannot understand why the Government continues to ignore the Mica Action Group and homeowners of defective properties in Donegal and across the country. We were told this time last year by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, that we would see a scheme before Christmas 2021. He waited almost an entire term to then rush legislation through at the last minute before the summer break and allow for very little scrutiny. We were told by the Minister that he would not engage in pre-legislative scrutiny for the revised scheme as the priority was to rebuild effective houses urgently. However, we are now coming to the end of October and the scheme is still not in place. I am not sure if we will see it before Christmas this year.

The Mica Action Group released another letter to the Minister yesterday, which I would like to bring to the attention of the House. It is very important we all know what is really going on on the ground in Donegal. Part of the letter reads:

Homeowners are becoming collateral damage. Their exposure to physical and psychological hazards is being unnecessarily prolonged due to the intransigent, unempathetic and lackadaisical way in which all aspects of the current revised scheme are being handled. The contrast between government rhetoric and the reality experienced ... in Donegal could not be starker.

The Government can come into the Chamber and talk all it likes about how its priority is to rebuild houses, but the reality is that since the launch of the scheme two years ago, only 14 houses have been rebuilt. It is very clear that the Government's priorities do not lie with affected homeowners. Not only that, it is clear that the Government is actually trying to shift the blame away from it and light-touch regulation and onto homeowners. This is shown through the recent concrete levy, for which it has blamed homeowners in a pathetic attempt to divide the public and isolate affected homeowners who had no control over what happened to them.

The truth is that the Government would rather have members of the public turn against each other before admitting it was Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil policies that have created the mica crisis and the current housing crisis.

We are already paying for defective blocks. If the Government wants to put a levy on the concrete industry, why not tax the profits the industry makes? That would at least make it look as though the Government wants to attempt to make the people who are responsible for this crisis pay for it. How long will the Taoiseach leave Donegal homeowners in limbo without any solution?

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