Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming into the House. I first heard of mica about five years ago. That we are this stage today shows this Bill has been a long time coming. I pay particular tribute to the campaigners, elected representatives and the thousands of people, including the affected householders, their families and the communities who have campaigned to get the Bill to this point. As they would say, it does not far enough. Let us not forget it took two massive protests where 25,000 people attended on each occasion, bringing parts of Dublin a halt, to get the Government to sit up and listen.

It is important to say that when I read the detail, there are real improvements on what was originally proposed. There are improvements on the scale of money that is on offer and on the type of houses that are going to be covered. I had a particular concern about those living in rental accommodation. They will spend their lives living in rental accommodation and there was not an incentive for their landlord to address the mica issues in the house. They will now be included in the scheme.

However, it is a real pity that, notwithstanding the improvements, there is almost a good deal on offer here - almost. It is not a good deal though. It does not go far enough. We are within touching distance of that good deal, yet the Minister and the Department are refusing to take amendments. They are refusing to finish off and get this scheme over the line and into a place where householders will have the confidence and know they can get on with their lives and get on with rebuilding their houses. There are so many who are now bitterly disappointed about the unnecessary rigidity of the provisions of the Bill before us.

There are very serious issues. Foundations of a house are not appropriately dealt with in this Bill. There is the issue associated with downsizing. There is the issue with future-proofing. We have heard from families that they are now terrified if they help their parents get their house in order by accessing the scheme and the parents come to live with them in future they will be precluded from accessing the scheme if there is mica in both houses. Then there is the issue of retrospection. The Minister has been in Donegal and in Mayo and the other counties. He has seen the houses that are crumbling. These families have already had to spend thousands to keep a roof over their heads and to keep those houses from collapsing on their children. How can he look them in the eye and say to them there is nothing for them in this scheme? This is what they believe at the moment because there is no retrospection for those who have already had to put money into their houses. We will be putting forward amendments. We are hopeful the Minister will engage. The record of the Dáil for last week speaks for itself. Like Senators Boyhan and Cummins, I believe that after this Bill is passed the key question is what will the Minister and his Department do to go after those who created this mess in the first place. The State messed up by turning a blind eye to regulating building suppliers and building standards because the State now must pay. What will be done to those who were negligent and thereby responsible for this mess? We have not heard very much from the Department in that regard.

For almost 18 years I have been a visitor to the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal and it is where my husband comes from so I know the depth of feeling, desperation and anger felt among that community. There is a real sense of frustration that the company that sold the faulty blocks that were used in affected houses cannot be held to account because of the ten-year statute of limitations on product liability. There is an anger and frustration in the community that the company was able to fold and its directors could set up a new company. For the past few years posters about a company can be seen all over the Inishowen Peninsula, which asks people to boycott the company thus leaving its workers in a very difficult situation. Nobody should be subjected to intimidation but the key issue is that the company has been allowed to continue trading. How can we channel frustration into action?

I wish to emphasise that this issue is not just about mica. It is about the near 100,000 apartments across Dublin and the rest of the country that have fire defects. The Department has established a working group but the Minister knows that the State will have to step up to the plate and cover for the fact that the Government in the early 2000s chose to turn a blind eye to regulating builders and building suppliers. We need to hear what the Government is doing. To the families and communities who are looking at proceedings here, I must state that there have been improvements but such efforts do not go far enough. We plead with the Minister to make a number of simple changes to the Bill, which the Labour Partly and I believe would deliver a good deal for the people who have been affected by mica.