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

I thank the Deputies for their questions which I will go through starting with Deputy Conway-Walsh, if the other Deputies do not mind. As I mentioned earlier, and as I discussed with both the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, a very small number of properties under the defective concrete block scheme may have had work done already. What I said about certification is that a qualified engineer has to certify that the work is of a required standard, that it is invoiced correctly and that a paper trail in relation to that work being done exists. We are finalising the regulations on the defective concrete block scheme. I will engage with residents through the homeowner liaison next week to show them the draft regulations in the Deputy's own county, in Donegal and other affected counties.

It is a national scheme. It was recently said on RTÉ that there were counties that were locked out of this scheme. That is absolutely not the case. The legislation we passed in the Dáil provides for other counties to be added by way of regulation. For example, we added County Clare under the old scheme, which an Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, Deputy Carey, is well aware and for which he campaigned. The scheme is open. The local authority will put the submission together and say, for example, that it has 30 homes in Wexford. That submission comes to us and we will assess it and add them to the scheme. We will work through that in the coming weeks. I want the regulations on defective concrete blocks published by the end of February, subject to all the stakeholders agreeing.

I will go in reverse order and in response to Deputy Paul Murphy's question, there is a very good document on frequently asked questions, FAQs, which I sent to many of the OMCs, about what happens next. What I will do is establish an implementation group, which worked well on defective concrete blocks, to work through these issues, particularly emergency funding. I am not closed to that at all. In some areas, we allowed that in the defective concrete block scheme such as for immediate safety issues. I do not envisage the use of loans, to be honest. I do not want to complicate it too much. It will take us a year to get this through. I expect legislation will take a year to progress. I will do it as quickly as possible. I will ask for the co-operation of Opposition Deputies. Indeed, Government Deputies have been heavily engaged in this. The scheme is fully funded.

In respect of Deputy Lawless's question, some 12% of apartments and duplexes have been remediated and one third are in the process of this. We may from time to time come across a person who does not want to engage with that. However, all common areas are included in this because one cannot remediate an apartment block without dealing with its common areas and we are going to do that. We have some experience of that in the context of pyrite in infill. There could be an investor living abroad who does not want to engage but we get through it. It relates to a very small percentage of cases.

On legal recourse, I am establishing a senior counsel review. Fundamentally, the reason this is happening is because of very poor workmanship and, in some instances, bad materials. Those who were responsible know who they are. They have a moral responsibility to contribute to the scheme. I am looking at legal avenues - it will not be easy; it will be complex - as to how we could seek recompense in that area. There has been a market failure. As a Deputy who represents an area that has been plagued by defects such as these and pyrite before that, I believe the State must step in on behalf of its citizens. All these citizens, be they in Mayo, Donegal, north Dublin or Kildare, are taxpayers. It is a good use of the resources we have. It is important for people to get their lives back on track.

On a point already raised, I want people to continue to work they are doing. The implementation group will be established very soon. I will meet homeowner representatives next week to structure that within my Department, work through some of these issues and move it forward as quickly as possible. I will have another webinar shortly, as I did before Christmas which people found useful, to which all OMCs will be invited. This is a priority for us.

As to the question of what else is covered, it includes water ingress and structural defects. They are based on the original build. As for maintenance or lack of maintenance over time, a lift that is broken because it was not maintained would not be included. It pertains to apartments and duplexes. We are very clear about the working group report. It does not, at this stage, cover houses within the development. It is apartments and duplexes because that is where the occurrence of this problem is predominant. We have done the most extensive survey ever, which included some 28,000 homes.

Not only have the homeowner representatives been incredibly helpful, so too have many other stakeholders, such as Engineers Ireland and the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland. The Oireachtas joint committee of the previous Dáil did a very good piece of work on this. I am optimistic and hopeful that we will be able to work as a collective to move this forward as quickly as we can.

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