Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, for being present in the House for this discussion. I welcome the Government decision in recent days to significantly enhance and increase the grant scheme to people who are affected by mica in Donegal, Mayo and Sligo. It is the right decision to try to put people back in good stead, but the reality is that the issue of defective blocks is not confined to Donegal, Mayo and Sligo. It is an established fact that pyrite is present in concrete blocks in the county from which I come, County Clare. It is an established fact that it has had an impact on many homes. It is an established fact that the blocks are crumbling and that significant cracking has taken place in houses. The appropriate testing has been done on five homes.Results have been received from the UK on the materials involved and as I said at the outset, it is an established fact that pyrite is present. Clare County Council, on behalf of the Department, was asked to submit a report with all the appropriate information required in the standard set out, that applied to Mayo and Donegal. It did that and I understand the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has resorted to what I can only describe as time-delaying tactics. I want to see this brought to a head because it is an established fact that homes are crumbling. It is an established fact that it is as a result of pyrite. We do not need any further procrastination from Department officials, through the council, to delay this process. Two people have headed up the Clare Pyrite Action Committee, namely, Dr. Martina Cleary and Mary Hanley, and they have done sterling work. I have spoken to them over the past few days and they are disheartened because of the approach of the Department. Of course there are details that must be resolved and worked out. We are all prepared to work through that but some certainty should be shown to the homeowners in County Clare, and wider afield, where such materials are in blocks. In the first instance, the Department should be made to show respect to these people and to let them know they are going to be part of the scheme. Everybody knows there will be details to establish and work out. Nobody is expecting to have their home repaired before Christmas this year, nor next year either in many cases. Everybody accepts that this will go on for years, but the Department should stop messing about on the fringes. This is classic Civil Service activity, namely, dotting the i's and crossing the t's when the bottle of ink has spilled all over the page. It is not good enough. It does not show respect to the people.

I might hazard a hypothesis, with the greatest respect. Had the civil servants in the Department addressed the situation in counties Donegal, Mayo and Sligo a couple of years ago with more vigour and zeal and with more interest in getting a result, this would have been resolved a lot more quickly and cheaply. Time will bear that out. That is based on my conversations with people in the Donegal area. Quite frankly, had they been treated a little bit better and sooner, we would not be in the mess that we are in today. I appeal to the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Noonan, as a man who understands this well and who is a compassionate man who understands people, the environment and what it is like to see your home crumbling around you. He should see his way to bringing some common sense to bear in the Department. The people should be told that they are going to be part of the scheme, now that the presence of pyrite in the blocks has been established, and the Department can then move on with the detail. We can all hammer that out afterwards.