Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Defective concrete blocks is a complex issue. This Government has been engaging with homeowners and various organisations from the very beginning. I met with some in my previous time as Taoiseach. The 2025 funding for this initiative has increased by over 50% from €45 million to €70 million. That means something is going on. There is activity, without question. The overall scheme is expected to cost €2.2 billion. The Government is committed to that and did commit to that. I am informed that currently, there are more than 2,000 homeowners at various stages of the scheme.

Changes are on the way. Grant rates were set and increased in 2024, based on expert advice, at a level that ensures homeowners will get the money they need to put their homes right. To ensure the grant scheme follows the most up-to-date science, changes were made to the scheme late in 2024 to take account of the most recent research. A forthcoming Bill will make amendments to the grant scheme to allow changes to be implemented by the administrators of the scheme, namely, the local authorities. There has been progress since the Act came in in 2022 and commenced in June 2023 and, as the Deputy has said, there have been various changes in respect of that.

There has been an increase in the scheme grant rates of between 7.4% and approximately 8.7%. Again, the scheme is kept under constant review by the Department. It has identified the process of reviewed changes to the scheme that will make it better for homeowners. That will be made shortly in a defective concrete amendment Bill. The programme for Government commits to undertaking the planned review of the scheme. The Deputy is correct. The forthcoming Bill will address matters such as the application of increased scheme rates and the overall cap, along with some other technical amendments to ensure the smooth operation of the grant scheme for homeowners. The Deputy is correct to say that the NSAI review is under way. That is awaited and is expected to be completed perhaps in quarter 1 of this year. That will obviously be important in terms of future amendments to the scheme or policy options in respect of it. However, as the Deputy knows, an expert group has been formed under the chair of Paul Forde to examine all research to date to provide advice as to the implications of all this research to the grant scheme. There is an independent appeals panel as well and that has commenced the process of assessing appeals.

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