Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Minister to the House. I welcome this Bill, which represents a long overdue beginning to a resolution of the pyrite scandal and the trauma and disruption it has caused to so many lives and to families and homeowners in the affected areas. I wish to pay tribute to people such as Sandra and Peter Lewis and others in the Pyrite Action Group, who coolly and effectively lobbied over a long period for their voices to be heard and the wrongs visited upon them to be made right. Like other Senators, I wish to pay tribute to the late Shane McEntee, who worked very hard in his local area on this issue. As previous speakers have mentioned, the pyrite scandal is an extreme of example of the lax regulation, negligent building practices and development that happened during the so-called Celtic tiger years. It is not unrelated to scandals such as that of Priory Hall and others. All these were the result of greed, which drove Ireland in those times and meant that corners were cut, profits were maximised and responsibility essentially was reduced to not even being an afterthought. Homes were thrown up without any consideration for the quality of the work, location or materials. This placing of profit over quality led to the dream homes of many families essentially becoming a living nightmare as pyritic heave set in. Families that had spent huge sums and had taken on large debts were left with crumbling homes. A large responsibility in this regard should be placed at the doors of the quarry and construction industries, which failed to ensure their products and materials were up to standards. While it is most unfortunate that a levy scheme has not been worked out to see these parties pay their share, I am glad the scheme has not been delayed further by this. The Minister mentioned legal difficulties in his speech and he should refer to them further in his response. Other Senators also have mentioned a particular problem with the resolution process being that it does not include people who took it upon themselves to repair their homes. One must recall these people took the initiative to so do out of desperation, rather than in a situation in which the costs were easily afforded. While they no longer fall into a category of priority focus, in the longer term they should not be overlooked and should receive benefit of some kind further down the road.

The issue of HomeBond has been raised by a number of Senators and I could not make my contribution without referring to it and to the disregard it has had for its customers and how it has let down those customers extremely badly. Moreover, the manner in which it treated the Oireachtas committee when asked to appear before it to answer questions is indicative. I have a few concluding questions. The Minister mentioned he was in the process of engaging with HomeBond and he should provide Members with an update in this regard. Similarly, when does the Minister expect to receive the draft scheme from the board? While he mentioned it in his speech, what is the timeframe for this scheme following the enactment of the Bill? I acknowledge a funding allocation was made this year and further allocations will be made from the stimulus programme. What additional funding does the Minister believe is needed from that stimulus in practice over the next couple of years?