John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this matter and for the opportunity to provide an update on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. As the Senator rightly pointed out, there is currently an interim scheme for people with fire safety defects in their apartments and duplexes where they can and, indeed, are drawing down money to complete remedial works on their homes.

In December 2023, the then Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, announced the opening of the interim remediation scheme for fire safety defects in eligible apartments and duplexes. The scheme provides for the funding of eligible emergency fire safety defect works to provide an acceptable level of fire safety in buildings pending completion of the full remedial works. Apartments and duplexes built between 1991 and 2013 with eligible defects qualify for the scheme. Full remedial works, which will include all necessary fire safety measures as well as those related to water ingress and structural damage, will be funded within the scope and defined parameters of the statutory scheme when in place. Through the scheme, owner-management companies, OMCs, will receive funding to carry out the necessary remediation works. Only applications from authorised representatives of OMCs will be considered and funding is not directly allocated to any individual homeowner.

The administration of the scheme is being managed by the Housing Agency on behalf of the Department of housing. Applications are made to the Housing Agency via its website. The application process is broken into eight distinct phases. Phase 3 requires significant input from OMCs, involving engagement of a competent professional, which is a registered architect, surveyor or engineer, to carry out a thorough fire safety investigation and the subsequent identification of required works. Phase three can be broken down as follows: the selection and engagement of a competent professional through a dynamic purchasing system hosted by the Housing Agency for the discovery of fire safety defects and the identification of the necessary works, followed by completion by the competent professional of the fire safety risk assessment and the preparation of a proposed interim remediation works plan subject to engagement with local authority fire services, and, finally, procurement of a competent builder via the eTender process and a determination of costs. The appointed competent builder will be required to carry out the necessary eligible interim remediation fire safety works under a public works contract.

To support the implementation and increase the efficiency of the scheme, four pathfinder projects are under way. The projects have been selected from the more-than 200 applications made to the interim remediation scheme up until the end of May, representing 595 residential units. They vary in size and complexity and will provide valuable insights for both the interim and statutory schemes. The pathfinder process, which will also inform the development of the statutory scheme, is facilitating the design of templates and standards for documents to be prepared by competent professionals, including procurement arrangements, proposals for fire safety assessments, fire safety risk assessments, interim measures, remedial work plans and other project related paperwork. Funding has already been released to the pathfinders to pay a majority of their professional fees. It is expected that the actual work on the ground will begin in these pathfinder projects in the coming weeks. This work will be funded subject to eligibility and meeting the governance requirements around certification for the scheme.

Regarding the statutory scheme, I will address those points in my follow-up reply.