Results 981-1,000 of 6,627 for speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: I do not mean in any particular context. The Department would have been notified because we have been dealing with these problems for a long time, as I certainly have been in Mayo, given they were first identified, as the witnesses will know, in Erris and Belmullet and on the Mullet Peninsula. That was in about 2013. I heard pyrrhotite being mentioned at that time, actually in the context...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: I am not talking about that. Obviously, the Department would have been aware of it homeowners started to contact it. At that time, did the Department or the then Minister become aware there was a significant issue, with homes falling down?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: With regard to pyrrhotite, the Department was not aware there was a possibility that it was not just mica in Donegal and pyrite in Mayo.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: I am trying to establish why it was confined to mica in Donegal. It had to be mica, and only mica was tested for.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Looking back now we see the restrictiveness. This is not a normal circumstance but in such circumstances would the Department look at what was happening globally with regard to buildings and homes in other countries damaged by pyrrhotite?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Are the quarries now being tested for pyrrhotite with regard to the aggregate that makes up the blocks?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is it fit for purpose now? Can we be assured it is fit for purpose with all that Mr. Wickham has described?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: When Mr. Wickham says "market surveillance" are there checks so the Government can stand over it in terms of regulations? One of the biggest surprises we got when we started looking at this, because we automatically assumed the materials coming out of the quarry were insured, guaranteed or regulated, was that we quickly realised that everything, from the noise to the environment and...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: What responsibility does the Government have?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Who checks it?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: If we were in a similar situation today, who would be responsible if it were found out that the materials used to build houses came from certain quarries, with regard to €2.2 billion, at least, that must be paid out now? Would it be insurance companies? Would it be the quarries? Who would it be?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Are we leaving all this to the markets? Mr. Wickham keeps repeating the word "market". Are we really leaving oversight to the industry and the markets?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: It would be criminal to do that.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Was it a crime when the materials were supplied for all the homes that have been impacted and we are dealing with here and now?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Mr. Wickham is saying it was not a crime then but it would be a crime now.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is the reason it was not a crime then based on the fact that it was not-----

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Does Mr. Wickham see why it is difficult for people to have confidence when we have the layers and layers of responsibility that he is talking about? It is just very difficult to get to who is responsible and who would be responsible if there were to be a similar situation again. Let us take the example of someone who has their home built today and it is built with materials coming out of a...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: I just wonder how it is that there is nobody who can be sued now in relation to what has happened here. This is costing taxpayers over €2.2 billion. Mr. Wickham is saying that everything was compliant at the time and that everybody was responsible but nobody was responsible. I am just not sure what would happen if the same problem were to occur today. When Mr. Wickham says it would...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Yes, that would be helpful. The opening statement from the Central Bank states: "We also note the clarifications provided to the Department by the representative bodies on how the scheme should work to ensure renovated properties can meet the standard criteria for mortgage and home insurance applications." Will Mr. Murphy speak further to that?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Okay. I thank Mr. Murphy. I will not continue. I thank all the witnesses for coming in and for their engagement on such a serious matter. We will have further engagement on it, including next week at the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage.