Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

I am very happy to co-sign this motion today with Deputy Ward and my colleagues, and I do so on behalf of the people of County Mayo and on behalf of the people for whom I have been fighting for the past 15 years. It is 15 years since we first noticed the houses start to crumble in Erris. Pat the Cope Gallagher is in the Chamber, and he will know many of those houses and families impacted. I am appalled by this countermotion the Government has tabled today and by the language that is in it. I will go through some of it. It states, "nor a compensation scheme". How the hell does the Minister think the Government would ever compensate the families who have been impacted by defective concrete blocks? How does he think it would compensate the children who were maybe three years old at the time when they first noticed that their homes were crumbling? Their childhoods have been robbed from them by this Government and Fianna Fáil and by the cost of the Galway tent because that is what it comes down to. I want people listening today to know that the cost to them - to the taxpayers and everyone who pays VAT in this country - of the Fianna Fáil light regulation and no regulation is €2.2 billion-plus. That is what they are paying back. That is what they are being asked to pay. I will go through some of the rest of it but lives have been destroyed and lives have been cut short and there are people who are no longer with us who were caught up in this through no fault of their own.

The countermotion states "100 per cent of eligible expenditure". Somebody looking at that who does not know exactly what carry-on is happening here and how the Government is gaslighting homeowners may think that is the problem solved. It states, "eligible expenditure". How can it be 100% when people are €50,000-plus short of what it is costing them to rebuild their homes never mind rebuild their lives? Then, it goes on to mention, "the PRS relative to DCB, and the flexibility sought by DCB homeowners", so really it is the homeowners' fault that they do not have a 100% wraparound scheme as was provided before. This is a disgraceful countermotion.

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