Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister for clarifying that thousands of families in homes with defective blocks will have to continue to pay local property tax. That is the reality. The defective blocks are there. The fact only 1,000 have an exemption shows the restrictive measures in place. There are families living with this horror and this nightmare. Let us be clear: the local property tax will not change their world. There are bigger issues with the scheme that the Government is failing them dramatically on.

There is an issue with the damage threshold arising when the test is done, it says there is defective blocks in the home and people are living with that experience. If those people fill up the cracks, for example, then they do not meet the damage threshold. Did the Minister know that? Despite the nightmare they are undergoing, Government thinks it is appropriate that they will be paying local property tax on their home. They should self-declare that the value of the home is zero because its value at that stage is probably just the land value. Very few would buy a defective blocks home and a house will not be sold in Donegal without a test in the first instance.

The issue is, as the Minister confirmed, there will be people living with defective concrete blocks in their homes and they will still, under this legislation, have to pay local property tax. That is wrong and that is why I am pressing the amendment.

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