Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Meaning no disrespect to Senator Dooley, it is ironic to talk about the accessibility of the courts given what we are going to be discussing in the next session and what the Government is trying to do with judicial review and railroading through the barring of people from access to justice.

There are two parts to the issue around section 29. One is the idea of preventing people from taking cases in future if they have not already initiated legal action.Nobody is arguing. We understand that this is public money as a result of light-touch regulation by multiple Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, which is the reason that we are in this mess.

Regardless of whether one agrees that legal action is the best approach to take and the State should pursue the suppliers of defective blocks, if somebody has initiated legal proceedings now and is awarded money, then the State's taking all of that money back to cover the 100% grant whereby a person is left in debt, again is not 100% redress. Nobody should profit or make double recovery but if people had to borrow money to do the works on their house and they get an award in the courts, then the money borrowed should be taken from the award and then let the State recoup the balance.