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Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Crazily, Engineers Ireland has qualified, trained, eminent engineers on its register whose recommended option is being overruled by other engineers on the register. What is Mr. Owens's view on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The difference is that one set of engineers is not indemnified while the other set is. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Having listened to the whole exchange today, I think about the ordinary person at home. Whether affected by defective blocks or not, taxpayers are currently in circumstances in which what the Government calls a multibillion-euro redress scheme, the biggest in the history of the State, is based on a standard that was a desktop study. There is eminent scientific evidence emerging that it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: In fairness, in Engineers Ireland's evidence to the housing committee almost a year ago, it made it clear that some of its members – I would argue most of them, but that is my interpretation – had a major concern about IS 465. That evidence was given in front of representatives of the National Standards Authority of Ireland. Is Mr. Owens concerned that it has not even issued...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Is a certificate of remediation provided for option one under the current scheme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: There is some doubt about that. The reason I raise this is that the insurance and banking representatives present have said they will issue insurance or mortgage cover based on a certificate of remediation. What happens if there is a certificate of remediation and the person follows the guidance of the Department, or of this State, stating it is not a problem to build on the foundations?...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: We are asking people to take on the remediation option recommended by engineers working for the Housing Agency, who operate under IS 465, which many Engineers Ireland members believe is not fit for purpose because those engineers are indemnified. Is this not crazy? Basically, intelligent engineers who are indemnified are making recommendations and following the guidelines to the letter even...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I have a question for the BPFI representatives. Obviously, while the BPFI has a duty of care to ensure sound loans and investments, are its representatives concerned about the professional view of Engineers Ireland on IS 465 being unfinished, the failure to test foundations and the federation's having to operate on the basis of a certificate of remediation in this environment?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I am going to say it again. The other point is that we are facing the biggest redress scheme in the history of the State. When we throw in apartments and everything else, it is going to be multiple billions for the generation or generations to come. I ask Mr. Owens again if he does not find it astonishing that, essentially, we had to have an affected homeowner, who is a professor in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Absolutely. My last question is to Ms Murdock. I have asked Mr. Hayes and Ms Byrne about their concern about what we have heard. Mr. Garrett has given important evidence to the committee today. Right now, the State essentially says that the foundations are okay and that we are not required to test them. If a homeowner is recommended for option one, they just rebuild on the existing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I thank Ms Murdock. That is clear. Both the representatives of the insurance and banking industries are concerned about the evidence here today. Engineers Ireland has deep concerns on behalf of its members about getting to the point where we have science we can rely on that is robust and everybody can move forward on that basis. We are in a mess and hopefully we will find our way out of it.

Europe Day: Statements (8 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: As we are debating Europe Day and Ireland's place in the EU, I will take the opportunity to talk about one group for which the experience has been negative, our fishing and coastal communities. The issue relates to how the Common Fisheries Policy has been rolled out, interpreted and enforced in Ireland and how it has repeatedly gone unchanged. A 14-year-old girl has done more than most in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I apologise for joining the meeting late. I could not join earlier because I had responsibilities in the Dáil, but I was present for the entire session last week. My first questions are for Mr. Rafferty and Mr. Wickham. Could I ask them if they watched the entirety of last week's proceedings? Did they watch them back or get a chance to review them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: So Mr. Rafferty is aware of the testimony given by the representatives from Engineers Ireland at last week's meeting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2024)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Did it trouble him?