Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The issue here is that we have had statutory instruments since 1949 and we have had building control regulations and standards right through the decades that followed. This is a profound failure in State regulation and it is staring the Minister of State in the face. I am sure he has watched the documentary and has seen for himself the impact of this, as has the former Minister of State, Senator Coffey.

I cannot understand why he cannot ensure that the terms of reference of this panel are amended immediately to allow it to examine the impact on the private and public housing stock. Why is that important? It is important because then the Minister of State will have a full sense of the scale of the challenge that lies ahead. He gave a vague commitment that the county council in Donegal or Mayo can submit costings and there might be a capital grant. We are talking about a significant amount of money that would be taken away from other local services in Donegal to be deployed towards this issue. Will the Minister of State amend the terms of reference?

The Minister of State has pointed out his own involvement in the pyrite campaign in his own county and well done to him on that. The families there were rightly given a pyrite redress scheme and fair play to them for the campaign they put in. Will the Minister of State make a commitment here and now that the Government will put in place a mica redress scheme to assure families in Donegal and Mayo that the nightmare they are living through will be addressed by this State and this Government, whose profound failure caused the problem in the first place?