Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I wish to make three main points in my contribution: building defects are a legacy of lack of oversight from this Government; it is clear the parameters around redress are wrong and we are leaving people behind so let us fix it; and, finally, the burden for fixing this problem has been placed until now, on people who did not do anything wrong.

Building defects are a legacy of a lack of oversight, and this legacy has crept into every aspect of people's lives. It is the wall that collapses, the dangerous fire escape they have to pray they never need, and the mould that chokes them in their own home. It comes in the demand letter from a management company threatening debt collectors if an owner does not pay remediation fees upfront, while no remediation scheme is yet in full operation for defective apartments, which my own constituents have raised with me. It manifests in people forced to live in unsafe conditions and without adequate, well-resourced schemes to fix this problem and that treat these victims with empathy and respect, these people cannot live their lives.

It is clear that the parameters around redress are wrong and we are leaving people behind. Let us fix it. I thank Deputy Charles Ward for today's motion, which addresses this, but also for his tireless efforts in bringing this issue to the Dáil floor, and into the mainstream discourse of our country. It must feel for him at times like he is shouting into the void. I assure the Deputy on behalf of the Social Democrats, we are proud to cosign this motion, and give it our full support. This motion sets out how no family should be denied redress because they do not meet a superficial damage threshold, when an engineer can attest that their home is structurally unsound, how nobody should wait for years in an unsafe home because of administrative delays, and how nobody should live in limbo, not knowing if and when they will get support, be it financial, mental or material.

My final point is that the burden for fixing this problem has been placed on people who did not do anything wrong. I wish to quote some of the people affected by this crisis. Dr. Áine Sperrin is a friend of mine, a former colleague, a Donegal woman and a human rights expert. She states:

“The bureaucratic and logistical burden on people trying to navigate this scheme, the material load of sourcing alternative accommodation while trying to minimally disrupt children's lives is a huge stressor on parents, who are also balancing work commitments to pay mortgages for soon-to-be piles of rubble. Families are spending huge amounts of money attempting to heat and light homes with literal holes in the walls and water leaking around electrical appliances."

She goes on to articulate in eloquent human rights language how this is impacting on a range of rights across health, education, privacy and adequate standard of living, the hidden impact on the rights of disabled people, refugees and migrants, and on social justice and social cohesion itself in the counties affected.

Marti McElhinney is a spokesperson for DCB Downgraded, a group that has mobilised to deal with the specific aspect of the issue addressed in this motion. She said:

These downgrades were made without any site visits, based solely on desktop reviews of reports, some already four years old, while in the interim our homes continued to deteriorate due to Internal Sulfate Attack (ISA) caused by Pyrrhotite in the blocks. All interim deterioration was never noted.

All downgraded homeowners in our group have submitted appeals since February 2024. Twenty months later, not one has been adjudicated. This untenable and devastating limbo leaves our families imprisoned by the walls of our deteriorating homes.

There must be 100% redress now.

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