Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps the Minister of State might arrange a meeting with me as various options could help apartment owners in the short term to access money at low interest rates, and these have not been given due consideration. There is an all-party recommendation on redress that was made in 2017 but there has been no progress in that regard. The Minister of State's response is a little hypocritical. He has said responsibility and liability for legacy issues and defects will not be addressed because of numbers, as it is possible that 70,000 to 100,000 apartments will have such legacy issues. The Government will not deal with them as a result. If a person is in Donegal or Mayo and there are only 300 such properties, the Government will give a dig-out. All our citizens must be dealt with equally and honestly. This is not happening.

I could read quote after quote from Ministers about the mica problem. I welcome efforts to remediate the mica problems but apartment owners are not being addressed with the same sense of fairness. What is the difference between a redress process for problems arising from pyrite and mica and one for an apartment owner who purchased the property as a family home and who is now left high and dry? One group of citizens in the country is to be dealt with in one manner while the apartment owners will be dealt with differently. That is unacceptable.