Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, is familiar with this issue. He would have seen for himself the impact of mica in terms of defective blocks in homes in Donegal.

The scale of this, in terms of the amount of homes affected, is not fully known at this stage but the impact is clear. There are families this evening in my county who are literally living in terror that their ceiling or gable wall would collapse on top of them such is the seriousness of this issue. There are also families in Donegal this evening who cannot insure their homes because of this problem.

My colleague, Councillor Albert Doherty, has relentlessly pushed Donegal County Council to carry out testing on some of the housing stock in the county and a preliminary engineer's report has unfortunately found that mica is impacting on the homes that were tested. There is a lot more work to be done, but it is a serious development and confirms the worst fears of many within the county.

I understand that preliminary engineer's report has been sent on to the Department and I welcome the news that the Minister has established an independent panel of experts, but here is my concern. Earlier I looked through the 200-page report and 20 recommendations of the panel of experts which dealt with the pyrite issue. Is the Minister reinventing the wheel? Have they not set a strong template? How long will this independent panel of experts take to report back?

I have met the families of which I speak in their homes. I attended a public meeting where they told their story. They are literally living in terror that the ceiling above them or the gable wall beside them will collapse on top of them. Their homes are not insured. The banks are not taking responsibility. Such is the seriousness of this issue. They cannot wait, perhaps for years, for an independent panel to report. We need urgent action.

I repeat the call of my party on the Minister to introduce a mica muscovite redress Bill as soon as possible over the summer recess, to bring that Bill before the Houses in the autumn and to implement a mica redress scheme, as this Government has done rightly for those families affected by the issue of pyrite. The impact is similar. Of course, these are separate deficiencies that affect the structure of the home but, if one looks at the 20 recommendations of the panel established on pyrite, I imagine they would almost all apply to this issue of mica.

The Department had submitted blocks for testing. What was the outcome of those tests? Did they confirm the presence of mica in the blocks that were tested?

In terms of this panel of experts that the Minister will establish, is it reinventing the wheel? Is there a danger that it would drag on for far too long? What was the outcome of the tests on the blocks that the Department has done? Finally, what can the Minister do about the insurance companies which will not insure families in Donegal as we speak?

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. At the outset, I wish to acknowledge the extremely distressing and difficult situations that certain homeowners in Donegal are facing on account of damage to the structural integrity of their homes. I also add that I firmly believe that the parties responsible for poor workmanship and-or the supply of defective materials should face up to their responsibilities and take appropriate actions to provide remedies for the affected homeowners.

It was against this background that my Department met a number of private homeowners in early December 2014. At that meeting, my Department requested the affected homeowners to make available copies of any technical reports that they may have commissioned from test laboratories on the affected concrete blocks in their homes. The provision of this information would provide my Department with an invaluable and scientific insight into the problems that have emerged in north Donegal.

In addition, as Deputy Mac Lochlainn stated, on the invite of my colleague, the Minister of State for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Joe McHugh, I visited a number of the affected homes in late February of this year to witness first-hand the damage to the homes and the real difficulties the homeowners and their families have to live with on a daily basis. Following that visit, copies of the requested test reports were provided to my Department and have now been reviewed.

From the test reports and information provided from other sources, the Department understands that problems mostly affect buildings constructed during the period 1999 - 2008, although at least one dwelling pre-dated this timeframe. There would appear to be a number of causes suggested for the alleged problems in the blocks such as low cement content, high moisture-low cement ratio, an abundance of mica, low density, low compressive strength and porosity.

My Department understands that over 170 houses have been surveyed by homeowners and are confirmed as having problems in the block work. The Mica Action Group, which represents many of the affected homeowners, is of the view that there may be other housing schemes which have not yet discovered or reported problems with the block work in these homes.

Furthermore, and as the Deputy has referred to, I understand that Donegal County Council commissioned consulting engineers to carry out sample investigations into cracking to external walls in a sample of local authority dwellings in a number of separate locations across the county. The results of these investigations will inform what further research and-or remedial works are required to the local authority dwellings.

In general, building defects are matters for resolution between the relevant contracting parties, that is, the homeowner, the builder, the materials provider and-or their respective insurers. In the event that the parties cannot reach a settlement by negotiation, the option of seeking redress in the courts can be considered.

My Department understands that legal proceedings may have been instigated in some of the cases relating to this problem. This is the appropriate course of action in the event that the responsible parties, that is, the builder, the supplier and-or their insurers, do not face up to their responsibilities and provide a solution for the affected homeowners.

Notwithstanding the general position, a technical report has been prepared for me on my instruction and that is something I am currently considering. I also understand that the local authority will work closely with the tenants and elected members in terms of implementing any remedial works that may be required to its social housing stock.

We are not reinventing the wheel. The establishment of an independent panel is being considered. However, Sinn Féin is surely not suggesting that every building defect around the country should be resolved by the taxpayer. We need to be careful. The pyrite scheme to which the Deputy refers is a scheme of last resort.

This is a matter of concern to me and something I will consider very closely with a view to making a decision shortly.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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As the Minister of State will know, families in the council areas of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, Kildare, Meath, Offaly, south Dublin and Dublin city have rightly benefited from the pyrite redress scheme and that is the template under which he should move forward. He confirms that the tests carried out by his Department, like the tests carried out on behalf of Donegal County Council, have established that there are homes affected by mica within the county. The impact is devastating and terrifying. Can the Minister of State imagine a family who know that the gable of their house is affected by seriously defective blocks which could, according to engineers, collapse? The concrete ceiling over their heads is being held up by these blocks and it, too, could collapse. This is the terror families face. There are also families who cannot have their homes insured.

The problem in taking the legal route is the same as that in dealing with the pyrite issue - the Statute of Limitations comes into play. Will the Minister of State, please, not abandon these families to legal recourse? It is clear that they purchased their homes and the blocks to build them in good faith and now they are left in this situation because of poor regulation, as was also demonstrated in the pyrite issue. The 20 recommendations made in the pyrite report stress the issues around regulation, poor standards and the need for change. The families in question are caught up in a similar debacle. I appeal to the Minister of State to put in place a mica redress scheme Bill, along the lines of what was brought forward to deal with the pyrite issue. Will he, please, not abandon the hundreds of families across the county of Donegal to the terrible dilemma in which they find themselves?

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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As I said, I am extremely aware of the difficult and distressing circumstances in which the homeowners and families in question find themselves. I have visited their homes and spoken to them. I reiterate, however, that building defects are generally matters for resolution between the relevant contracting partners, namely, the homeowner, the builder and the materials provider and-or their respective insurers. I urge the responsible parties in the cases the Deputy mentions to take all appropriate actions to provide remedies for the affected homeowners. Similarly, if any of the affected homes is covered by a structural guarantee or structural insurance, the homeowner may wish to pursue this avenue to seek redress.

The Deputy keeps mentioning the pyrite redress scheme. That was a scheme of last resort where builders or suppliers who should have been accountable could not be legally pursued by the people involved. I do not want to see any family abandoned who have been left in the lurch, but the State cannot intervene when responsible people or entities can still be pursued. That has to happen as we cannot expect the State to remedy every building defect in the country when there are people who should be held to account for the very substandard buildings they have put up for innocent families.

I am sympathetic to those involved, which is why I visited them and commissioned a report on the matter. I am considering taking it a step further, but I urge the Deputy and other Deputies such as my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh, who is closely involved in assisting the people in question, to pursue those involved to the end to ensure there is accountability. I am considering the report and will make further decisions in due course.