Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, I wish to welcome the Minister to the House and to thank him for his presence here. I thank the Minister and his officials for the huge amount of effort that they have made to try to come up with a satisfactory resolution to the nightmare for the people affected by mica in County Donegal and other counties. I would like to pay tribute to those families who have been living through a nightmare for the past ten years or more, and who are desperately looking for something very simple to enable them to get their lives back on track, to rebuild the homes that they took mortgages out on and to get back to the way they were. We are talking about compensating people for the damage done to their buildings. Regardless of how much compensation is given to any individual homeowner, it will not come anywhere close to compensating them fully for the nightmare that they are living through. Everybody in this Chamber knows somebody who is going through it at the moment. I wish to pay tribute to the families affected for the dignified manner in which they have conducted the campaign. They travelled to Dublin in their thousands this time last year. The manner in which they conducted themselves on that day was recognised by everyone. I pay tribute to them for that.

I also want to pay tribute to the Minister's officials and his Department for their effort to try to find a resolution to the issue. It is the second attempt to try to get a scheme that is acceptable to people. As my colleague Senator Blaney outlined earlier, this scheme is a vast improvement on the first one. However, what disappoints me is that despite so much effort going into the scheme, there are many people who still have genuine questions that remain unanswered. I welcome the fact that we are finally implementing legislation to try to address the issue, but there are still gaps. People still have many questions that so far have not been answered. I suppose it is understandable that no piece of legislation can fully encompass everything that is required. If any of us were going to build a dwelling house or any other building tomorrow morning, we would learn that things are very hard to plan from start to finish. Things happen and issues arise that no one can foresee or legislate for. This legislation is no different. I welcome the fact that we are finally up and running with this. I was heartened by the comments of the Minister at the start of the debate today, when he said that he will leave nobody behind in this, and that people will not be short-changed. He said that if people have issues, he will listen to them. Of all the contributions I have heard today, that is the one that gives me the greatest solace. I thank the Minister for that. The people and families affected are not looking to make money out of the scheme. All they are trying to do is to end up with the home that they have dreamed of from day one - ten years' hence in some cases. That is all they are looking for - no more and no less. No person affected should have to put their hand in their own pocket to get back to where they were over ten years ago. I am heartened by the Minister's comments.

It is also important that before we look forward too much, we look back. As a few speakers have mentioned today, we must ensure those who are responsible for this nightmare are held to account.