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

I do not know whether the Minister of State has had a chance to review the transcript of the committee meetings but if he did, he would been disturbed at what emerged. It is very clear, and the testimony from Engineers Ireland was very concerning, that IS 465, which is the standard that underpins a multibillion euro redress scheme, the biggest redress scheme in the history of the State, is not fit for purpose.

We have a situation where the engineers making recommendations on behalf of homeowners, these engineers having been trained in the standard and affiliated to Engineers Ireland, are being overruled by engineers in the Housing Agency on what to do to remediate homes. The scheme is based on a desktop study. It is not based on actual peer-researched science. This science is emerging that the cause is not mica but pyrrhotite and internal sulphate attack. This means a very different remediation approach is needed. It is taking too long for the Government to respond to this reality and homeowners have no confidence.

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