Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Blaney for raising this important issue. First, I commend the residents and their representatives on the input they had into the working group. I inherited the original scheme. The scheme was agreed and launched in 2020. One of the first visits I made when I was appointed Minister in summer 2020 was to Donegal, where I visited homeowners. I met residents in Buncrana, where I announced that the scheme the previous Government had brought forward would be a multi-annual scheme. I want to assure people that whatever changes happen will happen across the board.

I also said in Buncrana that day, and the Senator was there, that any scheme I have seen in the past has always evolved. It is only by engaging with the scheme that we find out what the deficiencies are and, indeed, if there are positives in it in some areas. That has occurred. I said in a statement last week after I met the residents that the scheme as it is currently constituted does not work as intended and must be greatly enhanced. As Minister, I committed to doing that. When residents of Donegal and Mayo came to Dublin in the summer I met them. I committed to setting up a time-bound working group, and I did that. The working group was to get their views on board by meeting with the most senior officials in my Department, from Secretary General, assistant secretary general to principal officers, to go through every aspect of the scheme and the issues the residents had found with it. We did that. The residents asked for an extension to the end of September, which we were happy to give, to get separate engineering advice. I brought the Housing Agency into the process. I have said from the start, even in Donegal in July 2020, that I believe the Housing Agency should have a role in this, and I still believe that. I believe it will.

The working group report was published last Friday. It was circulated to all Opposition spokespersons on Monday seeking the input of other parties into it. I am acutely aware that residents have been disappointed with aspects of the report and some of the commentary on it. I committed to the residents that their full request, as in the residents' submission, would be one of the options that would go to the Government as well and would be published as part of the working group. The other aspect was effectively a summary of the discussions that were held to date. That is there, and I wish to reiterate to all Senators that nothing is off the table. Our job now, which I said directly to the working group when I attended the meeting on 29 September, is to work through the options and through the enhancements. I will do that. In what I will bring forward to the three party leaders and to the Government I will be proposing significant enhancements to the scheme that was brought forward by the previous Government, which committed at the time to a projected expenditure of approximately €1.4 billion. Any increases or enhancements to the scheme, and this is understood by the residents too, will lead to a further increase there, and I will have to get that agreed by the Cabinet. I am committed to doing that. We are working through the details now.

The Taoiseach is in Slovenia at present. I expect to meet with the party leaders, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in the coming days. We are preparing a submission and a memorandum to bring forward to the Cabinet. There are a number of issues on which we have made real progress. For example, removing upfront costs has been agreed, including rent cost, as well as clarifying storage. Planning exemptions have also been agreed and, importantly, a guarantee on second grant access, something that was sought, and the role of the Housing Agency. Very significant progress has been made on many of the serious issues that were raised directly by the residents and Members of the Oireachtas, such as Senator Blaney, in Donegal and Mayo. I will bring the defective block arrangements for improvements for the scheme to the Cabinet in the coming weeks. I have to get agreement for that at the Cabinet. It is not a decision I can make alone. However, I have kept the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform abreast of the work we are doing and they all have been very supportive of that.

I want residents to be able to get on with their lives. I want them to have hope and trust in a scheme that they can actually access, and for them to know that in the terrible tragedy that they have been living through, which is not of their making, the Government is here to help them to get their lives back on track. I am committed to doing that. Again, I thank the Senator for raising the matter this morning.