Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

It is very unfortunate we are here on the final normal day of the Dáil debating this issue without the proposal that is going to be brought to Cabinet just next week. Every time we have asked about this over the past number of months, we have been told the Minister is going to bring a proposal to Cabinet before Christmas. It is going to happen at literally the final meeting of the Cabinet before Christmas. I really hope it is just a coincidence that it just so happens to be a time when there is no Dáil sitting to discuss what is being brought forward and the media will have their attention elsewhere and will not be significantly reflecting discussion on this. I hope I am wrong about that. I hope it is purely a coincidence but it is suspicious to say the least.

It is also very striking that in the Minister of State's remarks there is no history to this at all. It is like as a society we just slipped and fell into a situation where 100,000 families have apartments or duplexes with latent defects that make them unsafe in many circumstances and leave them with an average bill of €25,000. Most of those people do not know they are affected yet. There is no explanation of how we got here. Why is that? I assume it is because the regime of self-certification that was introduced into the Dáil when Fine Gael was in government and then passed as legislation when Fianna Fáil was in government. Those parties were warned about such an approach at the time, and very clearly. Eamon Gilmore, then of the Workers' Party, said:

The principle being enshrined in this section is very dangerous. It will expose people who are buying homes to buying products which are sub-standard against which they will have no comeback.

Despite that warning Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil went ahead with the legislation and opened the door to developers and builders cutting corners, putting people's lives at risk and costing them huge amounts of money. It is absolutely scandalous.

That brings me to the next point, which is that the Minister says, and has said repeatedly, that the Government will help. From my experience of the people affected by this issue, that language drives them absolutely wild, because it implies this is their fault but the Government is going to very generously step in and give them a dig out and some sort of assistance with the problem. This is not their fault. If the Minister had been outside the Dáil last night he would have seen many people outside chanting "Not our fault. Not our fault". They feel it extremely strongly because it is the fault of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for introducing this legislation and it is the fault of the cowboy developers and builders who used this legislation and abused it in order to cut corners. It was not just a small number of them either, as perhaps 80% of buildings from between 1991 and 2013 are affected. What the people affected by this want is not help but very clear 100% redress, full retrospection, for it to be done rapidly and for the State to pursue the builders responsible. It is very simple. I do not understand why we are so long on now from the original report from the working group and why we cannot have the proposals before us. I am not saying the implementation of it can be done overnight, as of course it cannot, but the principles should be announced immediately. If the scheme does not meet those things it will not be accepted. I say that very clearly.

I asked the Minister for Finance about this on Leaders' Questions a couple of weeks ago and he said we would not be satisfied no matter what. If it is those things, I will be satisfied, and the homeowners will be satisfied. If it is not, they will not be satisfied at all and the campaign will be kicking up a gear. To reflect on the points Deputy Mac Lochlainn made, these people are very aware that those affected by mica got a scheme that said "100% redress" in the headline but then there was a bit of small text that meant it was not 100% redress. They will be on the lookout for that and they will not be fooled.

Finally, I pay tribute to those who have spoken out, who are living in conditions where they sometimes cannot sleep because of the fear of what could happen to their homes. They have put their energy into campaigning, to protesting and speaking about their own personal experiences, and to putting massive pressure on the Government. They are a formidable group of people. If the Government gives them anything less than 100% redress, it will be making a very big mistake.

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