Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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83. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update on the promised building defects redress scheme and funding for interim measures and emergency works pending the opening of the full redress scheme. [12087/23]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister to give us an update on the progress with the redress scheme for homes with Celtic tiger-era defects. Specifically, can he give us an indication of when he hopes to bring forward the legislation to underpin the scheme? Also, possibly more urgently, can he tell us when interim funding for emergency works will be made available? As the Minister knows, since he has met homeowners recently in a number of developments, they are losing their insurance cover and urgently need that interim emergency funding.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this most important issue. As he will know, I received Government approval on 18 January to draft legislation to establish supports for the remediation of fire safety, structural safety and water ingress defects in purpose-built apartment buildings, including duplexes, constructed between 1991 and 2013. I know the Deputy agrees that the legislation we need will provide a statutory basis for the establishment of a remediation scheme aimed at protecting the safety and welfare of those living in apartments or duplexes with such defects. It is a commitment I made in opposition, and one that I am happy to see through now. We have worked on this across the House.

I briefed stakeholders on the Government decision at a public webinar which was held on Monday, 27 February. More than 680 people registered to attend that webinar and I understand their desire for information as and when it becomes available and as we work through the process. I will continue to do that with them. A registration portal is being developed by the Housing Agency, which is at an advanced stage and which will serve as a knowledge base, allowing people to input information on their own specific developments. In order to ensure that important life-safety works are not paused, remediation works related to fire safety defects, entered into or commenced from 18 January 2023, will form part of the remediation scheme. I want to be very clear about that. Those costs will be covered. When I discussed it with residents at the webinar, it was an important step forward that they knew that any immediate works that needed to happen from a safety perspective will be covered in the overall costs. We are working on a hardship scheme, for want of a better phrase, for management companies that do not have the ability or the financial resources to do some of the initial remediation work. We are working through that as well, and I informed residents of that. Obviously, those works will need to be agreed with the local fire safety services. A code of practice in the context of the Fire Services Acts, to provide guidance to relevant professionals, including guidance on interim safety measures, is at an advanced stage of being developed.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I suppose the two specific questions I asked remain unanswered, so I will ask them again. Can the Minister tell us when he hopes to introduce the legislation? Even a ballpark figure in terms of the quarter would be helpful. Can he tell us when that hardship fund will be available for application? People need to know. With respect to retrospection, what certainty will the Minister be able to give to people if they are taking a decision to spend money now on remediation that it will be covered be retrospection? Also, can he clarify the position of approved housing bodies, AHBs, and the small number of houses - not apartments and duplexes - particularly in multi-unit development schemes that also have defects but so far have not been included? As the Minister is aware, Millfield Manor in Newbridge is the most famous case where defects were in houses as well as, we suspect, in apartments and duplexes.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will know, the Government decision is focused directly on multi-unit developments, apartments and duplexes initially, because that is where the predominance of the issue is. We have to focus, first and foremost, on fire safety because that is public safety. I can say, and I am happy to say it on the record of the Dáil again, that retrospective costs that deal with the fundamentals of the scheme around fire safety, water ingress and structural issues will be covered.

They will not cover maintenance if an apartment block has not been maintained. That is understood to be fair by residents, the Construction Defects Alliance and the Apartment Owners' Network. Moneys that have already been paid by residents to remediate their properties will be covered under this scheme. We are preparing the legislation and setting up an implementation group, which we did for the defective concrete blocks too, that will include residents, the Apartment Owners' Network and the Construction Defects Alliance. I want the legislation to pass this year but people should not stop the work they are doing or that they have contracted to do.

We are working through the detail of the hardship fund right now. We do not want to set up a fund in the absence of the full scheme but we need to be able to provide assistance to certain people or apartment blocks where they do not have access to funding to allow them to do some of the initial safety work, if not the full remediation. We want to get the scheme up and running.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister knows we want to work with him on this, notwithstanding differences on detail or other matters. There is a genuine concern. We have seen with the enhanced redress scheme for defective blocks that the legislation was passed in the middle of last year but the scheme will effectively not be open for applicants until the middle of this year. Will we have the same kind of situation with respect to this? I am concerned about a January 2023 date for the start of retrospection. Many people who funded works prior to that will feel left out. Will the Minister clarify if that is the case? In multi-unit schemes where there are houses, they will be included because many also contribute to the owners' management company. Crucially, does the Minister have a notional date for the opening of that hardship scheme?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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To be clear, based on the surveys and the work done by the working group, about 14% of properties have been remediated already. Where those remediation works fall under the objectives of the scheme relating to fire safety, water ingress and structural issues - to be very clear - those costs will be covered. It obviously has to be certified work carried out by professionals and certified on a fire safety basis. That has worked quite well. Those works will absolutely be covered.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Sorry for cutting across the Minister, but when will it be backdated to?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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If the building is from between 1991 and 2013, it falls in the scheme. I have not set a backstop date as such. If the works were done before a certain date I want those to be included.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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So anybody can apply.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We have seen a significant increase in applications to that scheme for defective concrete blocks. Anyone who applies now for stage 1 or stage 2 approvals will get the uplift of the new defective concrete blocks scheme.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It will not be open until the middle of this year.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We need to pass the legislation. Co-operation across the House on this has been very good. Having legislation in place is a priority because we need bespoke legislation. People should not pause the works that they are doing or contracting because they are now safe in the knowledge that those costs will be covered

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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What about houses in multi-unit schemes?

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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Our time for this question has elapsed. We will move to Question No. 84.