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

It is almost a year since the Government received the report of the working group to examine defects in housing. Laid out in the report is a shocking tale of builders cutting corners and using loopholes inserted by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in terms of self-certification with devastating consequences for apartment and duplex owners. The report suggests that a majority of apartments and duplexes built between 1991 and 2013 - between 50% and 80% - are affected by defects. That is an incredible figure. It means that between 62,500 and 100,000 apartments and duplexes are affected by a range of defects, mostly fire defects. The average cost to fix each apartment or duplex will be €25,000. I have no doubt that figure will increase rather than decrease over time.

Thanks to the campaigning of residents across the country, who came together in the Not Our Fault campaign, and the lobbying of the Construction Defects Alliance, at the start of this year the Government promised a 100% redress scheme that will include retrospection, which is extremely welcome. However, the devil is in the detail. The Government claims to have a 100% redress scheme in place for the people affected by mica. However, those people do not agree that is happening and are completely unsatisfied.

I have a number of questions. One is about the timeframe involved. The whole thing seems to be happening extremely slowly. There was the leak of a report of an advisory group set up to develop a code of practice in The Irish Timeson Monday. That suggests, and it is reflected in the paper by the Construction Defects Alliance, that the timeframe the Government is looking at is heads of Bill developed by the end of the year and, hopefully, a scheme in place by autumn 2024. This seems to be extraordinarily slow. We have known this issue has existed for years and have had the details since July of last year. If the timeframe of autumn 2024 slips, then we are probably going beyond the timeframe of the next general election.

Second is a question about retrospection. There are hints in The Irish Timesarticle of resistance in the Department to retrospection - the idea that, where people have paid out to fix their apartments or duplexes, that needs to be paid by the State, which it absolutely does. The State should then pursue the builders responsible.

The third and crucial issue is emergency funding. In January, the Minister spoke about the possibility of emergency funding. They were looking into it and so on. There is a reference now to interim funding in the report from The Irish Times. This needs to happen before the end of the year. Look at the fire that happened in Blanchardstown a couple of weeks ago. Fires can and will happen in multi-unit developments. If they have fire defects, as the majority built between 1991 and 2013 do, those fires can spread extremely quickly. It would be grossly negligent of the Government not to have emergency funding in place for the necessary measures, bearing in mind the majority of people living in these places do not even know they are affected.

Fourth, the Minister at the time spoke about speaking to the insurance companies to deal with apartment owners management companies finding it difficult to get insurance. It is not clear if there is any progress on that.

See this speech in context