Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

I commend Deputy Charles Ward on bringing forward this detailed and comprehensive motion. The campaign for 100% redress is one I fully support. It is indicative of the support for that campaign that all the Opposition across the House have supported Charles's motion today. The motion highlights the fact that light-touch regulation, facilitated and supported by the State, is the root cause of the devastation that this defective concrete has caused for thousands of families, particularly in Donegal and indeed right across the west of the country.

The Government calls the 2022 Act enhanced, yet the reality for homeowners is very different. Thousands are still living with partial repairs, repeated works and ongoing risk. The have to respond to a crisis that the State itself created, yet it fails to acknowledge that responsibility. Worse, the standards it enshrines are outdated and built on assumptions that have been disproven by current scientific research. Homeowners therefore continue to bear the cost of the Government's failure, both financially and emotionally, while the State pretends that the problem has been solved.

The human impact of this devastation should be remembered. You can see a situation where an individual or couple decide to buy or build a home, take years saving for income to support that and take more time finding a mortgage to buy or build that home. There is the joy of the completion and moving into the home, and then there is devastation that the house is totally falling apart. Every morning, you get up to find a new crack, a new hole and more mould. You wake up in the middle of the night to noise. What section of the house is now at risk? Is the ceiling coming down? Is the roof coming off? This is mental and financial torture.

There are applications for redress or grants, partial approvals and appeals. Appeals have been left unresolved for two years, leaving families in unsafe homes, in breach of the State's duty to provide timely remedies. The appeals system is slow, opaque and structurally flawed. Families are under huge pressure financially and mentally. The mental pressure, distress and depression have been highlighted in a study called "An earthquake in slow motion: The mental health impact of Ireland's defective concrete crisis". It is a study produced by Oisin Keenan and Professor Karen Kirby at Ulster University.

It highlighted the significant psychological effects of the crisis, including trauma, stress and long-term mental health harm, confirming that redress must also address well-being as well as structural safety. I absolutely support the campaign for 100% redress for families affected by this. It is time for the Government to take note of the devastation this scheme has created and the absolute mess that the 2022 Act has created, and remedy the situation once and for all.

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