Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise the issue that has been mentioned here today, namely, the mica crisis. I totally support the campaigners who are beginning their protest at Convention Centre Dublin and marching to the Dáil today. I have had experience with the pyrite remediation scheme. It worked very well. It was introduced with a level 3 assessment from an engineer, which was a visual inspection. From there, the programme rolled out. The mica redress scheme is being assessed completely differently, as we are aware. In fairness, the Government has addressed the issue, but has only come 90% of the way. At this stage, we need to go the final furlong.

The €8,000 that people have to come up with to start their assessment and get the ball rolling is just too big of a lump sum to begin with. The county council should possibly bear that burden. Also, there are a few other issues that are causing the scheme to stall currently. The cap of €275,000 is too low. So far, around 50 homes have been assessed. The average size of the homes assessed is 2,500 sq. ft, while the original estimated figure in respect of these houses was just over 2,000 sq. ft. The payment of €120,000 or €130,000 per cost of rebuild for these houses should probably be linked under the scheme. The 10% shortfall is also a problem with the scheme. Holiday homes are exempt. Getting insurance is a problem for people who, in some cases, rebuild the outside leaf of their house but are not rebuilding the internal leaf. They will need some sort of State guarantee going forward.

Finally, I would like to mention the chair of the mica redress committee, Councillor Martin McDermott, who has been doing Trojan work on this issue. Indeed, I met Councillor McDermott and the group leader for Fianna Fáil, Councillor Ciaran Brogan, in the last few weeks . They outlined to me the issues and the problems that they face on the ground and the work that needs to be done. I know that the Taoiseach visited Donegal. I have also spoken to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage about the issue. I know that work is being done. Hopefully, we will have some clear news after the Cabinet meeting today.