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

It is a very important scheme. I am glad the Deputy referenced that it is an enhanced scheme, an improved scheme on what was there before. We all know its purpose, which is to remediate dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks. We passed the Act to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and greatly enhance the current grant scheme and that was agreed by Government on 30 November 2021. The 2022 Act will be commenced once the related regulations have been finalised.

To get to the nub of the question, draft regulations have been prepared and will be the subject of consultation with key stakeholders before the regulations are finalised and adopted in early 2023. The draft regulations have been with the four local authorities to seek their feedback. It is intended that the consultation with key stakeholders, which will be conducted by the appointed homeowners liaison officer, will commence next week with the homeowners themselves through John O’Connor, and that will go through the draft regulations with the groups. The regulations will provide for detailed matters within the 2022 Act which are to be prescribed, for example, the grant rates, the damage threshold and the form and content of various reports, certificates, forms and declarations: basically, the working of the scheme.

The grant rates to be included in the final regulations will be based on the regional construction costs for 2023. That is something we debated before. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland is doing that work and we said we would review it. Thankfully, we are doing this because we have seen quite sizeable construction and materials inflation in that period. That work is being done by the SCSI. Pending the opening of the enhanced scheme - it is important people know this - applications can continue to be made to the relevant local authorities. I am glad to tell Deputies we have seen a significant increase, particularly in Donegal, in applications being submitted and being processed. I am seeking that we get to a position where we will be able to provide a monthly report on the progress with this. People are engaging with this. I would like to inform Deputy Ó Broin that we will have consultation next week with the homeowners and we will receive their feedback. We aim to have the regulations published by the end of February, subject to the feedback that we get from homeowners, because we want their input into this.

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