Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is quite a despicable act of politicking that people would take the opportunity to laud the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, who has only been in place since December, and completely ignore the incredible work done by his predecessor, who was in the Department for seven years. It is shameful that anyone would do that.

I want to talk about apartment defects and the fact that there are homeowners who are looking at massive bills that they are unable to pay. There are people in large apartment complexes who have no insurance because the works on such defects cannot be done. The reason for this relates to the redress scheme. It took a great deal of work to put the scheme in place. Up to €2.5 billion in funding has been set aside, but we are not delivering or giving a timeline in respect of the scheme's delivery. That the Government would go to the trouble of agreeing an apartment defects scheme and then not deliver it with the sense of urgency that is required feels as if we are snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Last night, there was an online meeting between apartment owners and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Minister was absolutely willing to spend the time at the meeting. However, none of the questions posed by the apartment owners was addressed. There is a difficulty in that successive apartment complexes are not getting their insurance renewed as it falls due because there are defects to be remedied. Owners cannot get loans to meet the bills they need to pay in order to get the work up and running. Professional management companies - I am not referring to the owner-management companies - are forcing votes in order to oblige people to pay - they know these people do not have it - and masking the position with regard to the work they should have carried out in the past number of years. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on the apartment defects scheme and on when it will be delivered. We need clarity on when this scheme will be delivered for apartment owners.