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

I received a response to a parliamentary question today. I probably knew the answer, but it does not make for good reading. I asked for the number of families in Dublin and north Leinster who have availed of the pyrite remediation scheme to date. The answer is that almost 3,000 families have availed of the scheme. I asked what contribution they had to make to that scheme, and the answer was none. That is right and proper. They were victims of a scandal, and have been rightly compensated and their homes made safe by the State. In my home county of Donegal, many families will pay over €100,000 to make their homes safe. Those affected do not get redress or justice; instead, they get a grant scheme.

They have to go out and make a square peg fit into a round hole. They have to find contractors and the prices they are being given in the grant never match up to what it will actually cost. They have to replace their own foundations if the house has to be knocked down. They have to navigate all sorts of schemes. What has happened is that the vast majority of affected homeowners are giving up. Many of them are at an older stage of life and they are living in unsafe homes. This is a profound injustice.

Why would you treat victims of a scandal who live in the west of Ireland - Mayo, Sligo, Clare, Limerick or my home county of Donegal - any differently from the victims on the east coast? Is it because of money? Are we in a situation now where you get justice, but only if it costs a certain amount of money? What we have asked for is basic decency for every Irish citizen who was failed by the light-touch regulation or absence of regulation and the close relationship between the State and the construction industry, particularly those who manufactured concrete blocks and concrete products.

There is a plan for a review of the scheme. I am again asking the Government to, please, do justice and give equality to people, no matter where they live. If you are a victim, you should get the same treatment no matter where in Ireland you live.

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