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

Despite angry protests from the Opposition and from homeowners who are in the Public Gallery today, the Government rammed through legislation last July on defective concrete block homes. The Government said it was doing this because it wanted to get on urgently with introducing a scheme that could work for the families. Today I put it to the Minister of State that some 500 home-owning families are stuck in stage 1. They cannot get access to financial supports. They are stuck in dangerous homes. In some cases these homes are just not fit for human habitation. If the Minister of State could see them himself there is no way he would expect any family to live in some of these homes. There is a real sense of abandonment. There is a sense that the Government has pulled off a con and that they told the rest of the country that the protests and the stories that we hear, that cause us so much concern, are all sorted now, that the Government signed the cheques and it is all okay. It is far from okay. There are huge numbers of families, from Donegal right down the west coast, who are trapped in despair. We must remember that it is almost three years ago that the Minister announced the first scheme. This became a discredited scheme, which was the so-called "90-10" scheme. It dragged on and on. Then there was this new scheme, which is very limited also. We will introduce amending legislation through our spokesperson Deputy Eoin Ó Broin.

I cannot for the life of me understand why the Minister of State will not task the housing agency and local authorities, be they in Donegal, Mayo, Clare, Limerick and, soon, it is hoped, Sligo and other counties, with assisting families stuck in homes that are not fit for human habitation. How can he force families to remain in those homes this winter? Why is he not helping them find temporary alternative accommodation and paying for it? Do they have to pay for a mortgage and find temporary accommodation which is just not there? Why is he not looking at high-quality modular housing? These things pit one set of people against another and it is wrong. There are solutions for everybody but the Minister of State is making a hames of the whole lot. Please help the families in these dangerous homes, urgently.

See this speech in context