Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If I had known that all those questions would be asked I would have been better prepared to answer them. I will try my best.

The Government has approved initial funding of €10 million for a pyrite remediation scheme, with additional funding to be allocated over the next two years from the capital stimulus programme which will be announced in early 2014. The initial phase of the remediation programme will deal with circa 1,000 houses which it is estimated are in need of immediate repair, and will be delivered under the auspices of the Pyrite Resolution Board. The legislation to put this into effect will be enacted before the end of the year and will commence in the Seanad. The post-2015 funding position will be dealt with having regard to the position at that time and developments in the meantime.

This is not a compensation scheme; it is a scheme to remediate homes which have significant pyritic damage and where the homeowner has no other viable means of redress and can establish this to the satisfaction of the Pyrite Resolution Board. The terms of the scheme require prior approval and the scope of the scheme is limited to dwellings which have significant pyritic damage as defined in the Irish Standard 398-1:2013 Reactive pyrite in sub-floor hard-core material. As it is a targeted scheme and requires prior approval, it follows that the terms of the scheme cannot be retrospectively applied and this is in line with how schemes generally operate. There is always a cut-off point for new schemes.

While I have stated on many occasions that the State is neither culpable nor liable for the pyrite problem, nonetheless the Government has, in the public interest, decided that solutions should be provided for that group of homeowners whose homes have been significantly damaged by pyritic heave and who have been left with no viable means of redress. The terms of the pyrite remediation scheme, already published in outline by the PRB, will not be affected by the new funding arrangements which will have other advantages and enable the PRB to have the programme implemented in a more direct and efficient manner, now that the taxpayer is funding it directly.

I am acutely aware of the long delay that many affected homeowners have had to endure waiting for solutions to the pyrite problems in their homes. The purchase of a home is likely to be the largest single investment most people will make in their lifetime and they have a justifiable expectation that their home will be a place of enjoyment for themselves and their families for many years. I am reforming the building control regime which has left a Celtic tiger scar on many people with problems in their homes, not least in Priory Hall but also with pyrite and in unfinished estates. However, for homeowners affected by pyrite, living in their homes has not turned out to be the enjoyable experience they had hoped for.

I understand how these situations have developed and I will pursue, once the court cases are finished opportunities and solutions to see how we can extract some financial assistance and redress from the builders and developers who caused this problem. Much remediation of homes has already happened because people had insurance or the developers and builders who were involved in the scheme and raised the possibility of assistance with them personally have dealt directly with certain homeowners in order to reduce the impact. Hundreds of homes have been remediated in this fashion. The new pyrite remediation scheme will help 1,000 householders over the next two years. I am implementing a scheme where my predecessors looked on and did nothing.