Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

I listened to the Minister for housing earlier and if ever there was an example of a Minister out of touch with the lived realities of homeowners and tenants impacted by defective concrete blocks and building materials, that was it. My God, he clearly has no understanding of the reality that people who represent these counties are articulating today. Given that it has been 15 long years since homeowners and tenants first brought this to Government's attention, it highlights a callous disregard and a lack of urgent action for people who have done nothing wrong.

In 2010, homeowners in Donegal, Mayo and other affected counties started to highlight the impact of defective building materials. In 2017, the Government commissioned and then published an expert group report. In 2018, the Cabinet agreed to have a remediation scheme but it did not open until 2021 and within a matter of months homeowners knew that that scheme was broken. In 2022, Darragh O'Brien rushed through legislation and refused to countenance 84 specific amendments drafted by homeowners to make the scheme fit for purpose. Here we are in 2025 and with fewer than 250 homeowners who have had their homes remediated, the Minister tells us that is good progress. We are seven years on and a tiny fraction of the number of people affected by this crisis have had their homes remediated, and none of those people got 100% redress. They were down by tens of thousands of euro.

At every stage when problems have been highlighted to the Government, the response has been delay, including delay in bringing forward the emergency legislation agreed a year ago to lift the cap. We still do not know from the Minister when it is coming. There has been delay in the long-awaited updating of the scientific underpinning of the scheme, IS 465:2018. There has been delay in getting Sligo and Fingal into the scheme. It has been delay, delay, delay. As other Deputies have said, we know what works; the Fingal pyrite scheme works. That is what should have been done in this instance. The worst thing is the Government is about to make exactly the same mistake when it comes to Celtic tiger-era defects. All homeowners affected by building defects caused by shoddy building practice and light-touch Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael regulation deserve equal treatment. Anything less than that is unacceptable. I am proud to stand here to support this cross-party motion today.

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