Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I say sincerely that the fact he and constituents of Donegal have had to get into such a level of technical detail shows the complexity and seriousness of this issue for people in the constituency, and the seriousness with which the Deputy takes it as their representative. I would be happy to set up a technical briefing with officials from the Department of housing. I would also encourage the Deputy, his constituents and all Oireachtas Members from Donegal to fully avail of the consultation that is now open in respect of getting these standards right. The timeline is now clear. The consultation opened on Monday. It is expected that we will be in a position to adopt any revisions in quarter 3 of this year. There would be a number of policy matters to consider if the draft standard was adopted. For example, the scheme design has always had regard to scientific evidence. Decisions regarding the remediation of affected homes have been made in good faith on the basis of the current scientific evidence as set out in the existing version of the I.S 465 standard, which dates from 2018. As drafted, the replacement standard raises the issue as to whether scheme funding would need to be expanded to allow costs related to replacement foundations. There are a number of policy issues that we will have to address. In the first instance, we need to see the outcome of that consultation. I will certainly set up a briefing for the Deputy with officials on the technicalities.

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