Charles Ward (Donegal, 100% Redress Party)

Since becoming a TD, I have raised the defective concrete crisis every single week in this Chamber. I have stood here 23 times outlining the many issues with the Government's scheme, and have highlighted the lived experience of the impacted homeowners. My message has been consistent. The scheme is not working for the families. They are struggling. Every week I am standing here pleading with the Government to listen. Then I go home to Donegal and see first-hand the heartache as new cases come forward, while the defective concrete continues to be used to this day. It is unforgivable for the Government to leave the people in Donegal in such distress. I am once again using this opportunity before the end of term to outline some of the many issues with the scheme. I ask the Taoiseach over the break to reflect on this and come back with a new, fairer scheme that addresses these issues and leaves absolutely no one behind.

The first issue is the technical failures and the lack of scientific rigour. There has been no full technical review or timely IS 465 update. There has been a failure to provide interim guidance once the science was established. Homeowners were give the wrong options under the original scheme and not allowed to seek full demolition under new terms. There is a failure to consider whether ongoing damage, review decisions and the opinions of professional chartered engineers were often dismissed in favour of partial remediations. Homes have been left in limbo for years waiting on decisions. Technical data has often been ignored and disregarded. There is a failure to physically inspect the properties. There is no scheme in place for social housing. The treatment of individual properties like semi-detached houses being split is absolutely crazy.

The second issue is the financial hardship and unfair costs caused by the scheme. Delayed payments are leading to builders actually walking off the sites, which then leaves the people renting houses forced to rent them longer. The people are left in limbo as they are waiting on builders to come back because the payments have not been processed. As well as this, there is inadequate support and very poor administration of the scheme. There are workforce and capacity issues. There are measurement and valuation problems, grievance and transparency failures, human and community impacts and damage to adjacent properties. I do not have time to outline the list but I have a full, very detailed list I am happy to provide to the Taoiseach. I am asking him to listen to the homeowners. Will he iron out these issues with us and commit to creating a new, fairer scheme before the new term?

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