Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister to the House. He has ten minutes for his opening speech.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Acting Chairperson. I am pleased to have the opportunity to introduce the Second Stage of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill 2025 to the Seanad and I thank the Members for facilitating the debate on this very important Bill.

As outlined previously, this Bill intends to make amendments to the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022. A number of issues have arisen to date that will be addressed by the amendments while also ensuring that everybody is fairly dealt with and supported. The amendments in this legislation are designed to make more improvements to what is already a comprehensive scheme for impacted homeowners.

Moving on to the contents and structure of the Bill, it contains 28 sections, which I will now turn to in some more detail. The primary provisions are contained in a limited number of sections, namely, sections 7, 8, and 14, with the supporting provisions for these arrangements contained in the other sections. Rather than go through each section individually, I will instead highlight the key elements of the provisions for Senators here today.

The most recent increases in the grant scheme cap and rates of up to 10% will now be made available to a wider group of relevant owners and they will be able to apply retrospectively for spending they have incurred. It will allow relevant owners who incurred qualifying expenditure since 29 March 2024 that was unpaid due to them reaching the maximum scheme cap in place at the time of €420,000 to now be able to apply to their designated local authority to have a new remediation option grant amount determined in line with the increased scheme cap and rates. Upon receipt of this new grant amount, relevant owners will then be able to submit unpaid invoices for consideration and payment to their designated local authority in line with their new grant amount.

In recognition of the evolving scientific standard underpinning the scheme, relevant owners who were previously given a non-demolition option, namely, options 2 to 5, and who are yet to commence works or ceased works on site as of 6 November 2024, will now be able to apply for a technical review of their determined remediation option and grant amount in line with an expected new IS 465 national standard, which is due for publication, as I understand it, early in 2026.

Under the 2022 Act, relevant owners who have reached the maximum scheme grant cap cannot apply for ancillary grants. The amendment contained in the Bill will allow this cohort to apply for ancillary grants while still ensuring the overall total payment to the homeowner remains within the grant scheme allowable amounts. The 2022 Act does not allow a person who does not satisfy the definition of a “relevant owner” to become a relevant owner where he or she is or was in a relationship with a relevant owner. It was brought to my attention that this was unfair to certain applicants. The amendment will facilitate this for married couples, those in a civil partnership or cohabiting.

The time within which homeowners will be allowed to complete their works is being doubled from 65 weeks to 130 weeks. This is an acknowledgement of the practical challenges many were facing in complying with the existing timeframes. I feel sure that all key stakeholders will welcome it as a practical and helpful measure.

The Act allows the sharing of certain information with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland by designated local authorities where it is necessary and proportionate. Following a request my Department received from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, the Bill contains an amendment that will allow it to share information with designated local authorities in order to ensure it does not double-fund payments it makes under its energy retrofit scheme to defective concrete blocks, DCB, scheme applicants.

Finally, the retrospective element of the Bill may result in certain applicants receiving additional funding where a designated local authority has created a charging order over their rental property, upon completion of remediation works. The amendment will allow for the creation of a second charge, if required.

Two specific issues around how the DCB scheme operates have come to my attention in recent months, and I included these as additional amendments on Committee Stage. The first relates to allowing an exemption from the general principle of the scheme, that is, that houses be remediated in more or less the exact location as they are now. Noting the difficulties that certain vulnerable relevant owners and family members may face in finding suitable alternative accommodation, this amendment allows the construction of adjacent dwellings in limited circumstances. I think this change will make a real difference to families, for example, whose current homes have been modified to take care of the medical needs of family members.

The second relates to facilitating owners of certain conjoined homes, for example, semi-detached or terraced homes, to enter the scheme at an earlier time, thus potentially facilitating joint building work. In a number of conjoined dwellings, one dwelling may meet the damage threshold of the grant scheme and the other, although displaying visible signs, may not meet the damage threshold at the time. The amendment allows, in certain situations, for the requirement of a dwelling to meet the damage threshold to be waived in order to facilitate an early grant option and determination by the Housing Agency.

On Second Stage of the Bill in the Dáil on 2 December, I signalled my intention to bring forward a number of amendments to the Building Control Acts 1990 to 2020. Following Committee and Remaining Stages in Dáil Éireann on 10 December, these are now included in the Bill. The Building Control Acts provide for the regulation of the design and construction of buildings in order to ensure the safety, health and welfare of people, within the built environment. In addition, they provide for the making of building regulations and building control regulations and set out the legislative basis for the system of enforcement.

The amendments provide explicit powers for the Minister to prevent a building being used until such a time as the particulars of the relevant certificate of compliance on completion have been entered on the register maintained by the building control authority. This underpins the strengthening of building control regulations introduced in 2014 in response to the then emerging defects in construction.The amendments also provide a legal remedy for the uncommon situation whereby works which have commenced or been completed in respect of a building without submitting, by either act or omission, an appropriate valid notice to the building control authorities may be regularised. In addition, the amendments provide for the strengthening of enforcement of the building regulations. In this respect, the amendments provide the building control authority with the power to require the owner or occupier of a building, or any person responsible for the construction of a building, to open up construction works, as may be reasonable in certain circumstances, to be able to ascertain that the relevant requirements of the building regulations in respect of the works have been complied with.

The amendments provide for the withdrawal of an enforcement notice and regulation-making powers relating to enforcement notices.

The amendments also provide authorised officers of building control authorities with the power to issue a warning letter in respect of compliance with the building regulations or building control regulations, or both, following an inspection they had carried out.

In respect of building regulations, the amendments introduce an additional power under which the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage may make building regulations.

Finally, the amendments also change the names of certain building control certificates issued under the Building Control Acts 1990 to 2020 to better reflect their purpose.

I place on record my appreciation for the collaboration we have had with members of the Oireachtas housing committee in assisting us in progressing this Bill to this point. It is clear these proposed changes will bring about an improved regulatory environment for the benefit of all stakeholders.

More than €235 million has been spent on the DCB scheme to date as more than 3,000 homeowners are at various stages of the scheme. The rate of spending and works completed is accelerating. To reflect this a record amount is being allocated to fund the scheme in 2026. I will conclude by pointing out that the fundamental and important legislative measures contained in this Bill will continue to deliver help and assistance for the many homeowners in the counties affected by the scourge of defective concrete in their homes. I look forward to the contributions from Senators in discussing and debating this Bill. I commend the Bill to the House.

Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is very welcome to the House. I thank him and his officials for all the work that has gone into the scheme. A lot of work was done in the last term under the previous Minister and now I welcome the changes the Minister is announcing today.

It is worthwhile having a refresher on the journey we have come on in dealing with this issue on the ground. We all took an awful lot of flak in this House and the other House, especially in Donegal. We had many Oireachtas Members calling for the scheme to be scrapped as it was a waste of time. If we had taken their advice, those 3,511 online registrations would not be started today. Those 812 commencements that have been notified to homeowners would not be started today. Those 583 houses that are now on their way in Donegal would not be started today. The 229 houses in Donegal that are completed would not have been started. Thanks to those who stood by in government and stayed with the journey we took, and to the Ministers and officials, there are 229 families in Donegal who are getting ready for Christmas in brand new houses and are very happy in that position. Most of them got 100% redress. That has to go on the record strongly because you are constantly challenged in government and rightly so, but sometimes the spoof that is spun out of these Houses is a little hard to take. If some of the spoofers had their way, there would be a whole lot of people in Donegal sitting in crumbling houses that might even have fallen on them on at this stage. Thanks to the efforts and work that has gone on thus far, there is real progress in Donegal we can report.

That said, there are still issues with the scheme. Some of those I have brought to the Minister’s attention and I am delighted he is dealing with them, especially for those disabled families. I know a number of them in Donegal. One of them very close to me is Seán Gibbons and Louise, his disabled child. Due to the recommendations the Minister has in this part of the legislation they will in the new year be able to move on and build their house side by side. That is very welcome. I hope there is enough flexibility there for all the vulnerable families. Some fathers will take their children upstairs at night and one boy got adaptations and that. I hope we have enough flexibility to make sure that for all these people something as simple as a doctor or occupational therapist’s recommendation will get them through the hoops and get them qualified for the scheme. That is a massive piece of work for those who are in an awful situation of not having a house to occupy while their new house is being built.

There are still some outstanding issues and it would be remiss of me not to mention them. There are people who built very big houses and if they want the 100% scheme they will have to downsize. They are still paying mortgages for the large house they built originally. They are at a loss. It is a difficult call but it is something I ask the Minister to take into consideration again. They are at a loss and are as entitled to 100% as anybody else. With me it is 2,500 sq. ft. and I can probably get my house built and there are cases of it in Donegal. Despite what some said in the other House last night, there are houses of 2,500 sq. ft. getting built with 100% grants in Donegal. Whether I am at 1,000 sq. ft. or 1,500 sq. ft., if I had to reduce my house to 2,500 sq. ft. from, say, 3,500 sq. ft. or 4,500 sq. ft. I am still paying the mortgage for the 4,500 sq. ft. house and am expected to live in a house of 2,500 sq. ft. There is a disadvantage there. External walls and the boundaries of houses and garages are not included in the scheme but the same issues pertain. I would like the Minister to also have a look at those situations.

The other situation arising relates to the mortgageability and the insurability of the houses. The issue raising its head is that if I want to sell my house in Donegal tomorrow I am required to get it tested. If it is tested and it shows sulphates that are above the levels, and in some cases well above the levels, but there is enough cement that the sulphates are not acting – meaning the house is not showing any signs of cracking because there was enough cement in my blocks – I still will not be able to sell my house because I am above the limits. Apparently something similar happened in Wales decades ago. I have sent examples of it to the Minister’s Department. There, a sliding scale was put in where apart from just the science and engineering, physical inspections would take place on a sliding scale where the determination of an engineer would say whether a house was good to go. We need something similar for the market in Donegal and eventually across the other counties as well. If we do not, the market is in real bother. I ask the Minister to have a look at the information I put in there when he gets the opportunity.

I also welcome the Bill’s treatment of conjoined dwellings. With my engineering hat on, the obvious thing with all these houses is that for whatever reason the south-west side of a house is the side affected first and the side that is affected the most. Where you have a conjoined house it is the house on the south-west side that is affected and the north-east side is least affected, so it is practical and very welcome.

We have come a long way with this scheme. There has been a lot of emotion and a lot of difficult nights spent in houses across Donegal. Despite all that has been said in the lower House this scheme, which is not perfect yet, is a long way from where we were six or seven years ago. A lot of families are getting a resolution here and I commend the Bill to the House.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister and his officials. I acknowledge the enormous amount of work that has been on this matter. I served for nearly ten years on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and this was a matter we discussed at great length. Senator Blaney is right that there were many detractors of some of the proposals. Emotions ran high in both Houses, but we must remember that we are talking about people's homes. We are talking about people who were strapped for cash and whose homes were crumbling under the ground. There was an expectation that they could build like for like. I do not say I agree with that, but that was an expectation.

I know Buncrana and that part of Donegal more than other parts, but today I want to just focus on Donegal. Members may have heard on the BBC the other night commentary on Donegal in regard to this matter. I am sure RTÉ did likewise. I want to touch on a few issues. The Department confirmed that more than €235 million has been spent on redress so far. It says that, as of October, 1,700 remediation determinations have been issued so far, with remediation works completed on more than 320 buildings and commenced on more than 1,000 others. However, a member of Donegal County Council, Joy Beard, who is one of the 100% Redress campaigners, expressed serious concerns and warned that thousands of families are still in dire straits, living in homes where the conditions are unsafe and unhealthy in the run-up to Christmas. Whether it is the run-up to Christmas or to Easter, nobody should be in that situation. Ms Beard said many householders cannot come up with the upfront costs they need to participate in the scheme, they cannot make up the shortfall between the grant and the building costs and there is not enough accommodation for these families to be rehoused at a time of housing crisis. I do not doubt that the Minister understands all of that, because I know he does. That is important.

I want to look back. That is one of the reasons I took the example of the 100% Redress campaigners. Let us be realistic. They received a mandate in the local elections – Joy Beard in south Inishowen, Tomás Seán Devine in Letterkenny, Ali Farren in north Inishowen and Denis McGee - and we have one 100% Redress TD. There was clearly a lot of anger, disappointment and expectation. They have democratic mandates from the people they represent, as do others. No less than them, I also pay tribute to those members of all parties and none who have advocated strongly. There is a real focus now and a feeling that something needs to be done. I looked at the commentary of the 100% Redress campaign but I also looked at members of Sinn Féin, who are very strong in this area as well, as are all parties.

The common themes are that all rental properties and those being zoned at community level by local authorities and community-based organisations should be included in the scheme; a grant rate must reflect the cost of the rebuild in accordance with modern building regulations; emergency funding should be released quickly to the most vulnerable and all those occupying unsafe properties; and an audit is required of all public buildings to understand the full extent of the problem. These are all extracts from contributions and media comment. There are demands that the Government, its agencies and local authorities provide suitable temporary accommodation as a matter of urgency; promote and continue scientific research into the cause of the defective blocks; and require local authorities to publish monthly statistics on the status of applications, the number of properties remediated, the grants, the moneys outstanding and the time taken to get on with the inquiries. That is the scenario. I do not think any of us need a lecture on that. We all understand that across these Houses.

I acknowledge the importance of the Bill. I want to work with the Minister, as I know many Members of this House want to do. We know and acknowledge the significance of this Bill, the purpose of which is:

to amend the eligibility criteria for applications for grants in respect of alternative accommodation...to provide for a further mechanism for the assessment of certain attached dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks [I acknowledge that this is all clearly set out in the Bill]; to provide for an application for an increase in the amount of a grant for remediation of certain dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks; to amend the time limit for the payment of a grant for remediation; to provide for the construction of a new dwelling in exceptional circumstances; to provide for the review of certain approved remediation options and a procedure for the approval of a new remediation option and grant; to enable certain joint owners to become relevant owners; to provide for charging orders for additional payments and their release; to provide for information sharing between specified public bodies; to amend and extend the Building Control Act 1990 to provide for regularisation certificates of compliance on completion in certain circumstances ...

The Minister is proposing a good suite of measures in the Bill. I am not going to rush in here with a load of meaningless amendments that are not going to get us far. What we need to do now is progress these key objectives. It is very important that we progress what the Minister is setting out in this Bill and that we talk in the coming days. I looked at the debate in the Dáil and saw where it went. At the end of the day, the people who are expected to live in these circumstances need support and redress. I support the direction of this Bill. What we need to focus on is the timing of all of this.

The message I will leave with the Minister is that we need communication. Where there is a void or an absence of accurate information, discontent arises. It is a very difficult situation. There are communities pitched against communities. In recent years, there have been difficulties for politicians on all sides on this matter. People are frustrated, disappointed and angry. They have seen their homes crumble with no hope of fixing them. It is a very difficult situation for everyone involved. We need to progress this legislation. I hope the Minister will respond in a fair manner to amendments because it does not augur well for this Government or the previous one that most amendments that come to this House on any matter are rejected. We have seen in the past three weeks that most Ministers come into this House, read bits of paper, thank us for our contributions and say they are sorry that they cannot deal with the issue in question. That is not a respectful way to deal with the Upper House. If the Minister is reasonable and fair and comes halfway to addressing some of these amendments, we will progress this Bill.

I do not doubt the commitment of the Minister or his officials to the Bill, but I urge him to please use the time to communicate well the progress. That is what people want. It gives us hope when we go there and see houses being built and people moving into homes. I have been there. I have walked around the place and met with people. I have sat with them and listened to their stories. They are deeply frustrated and hurt and they do not have a bob in their pocket to put it right. They expect the State to step in. We must remember that it was light-touch regulation or no regulation that allowed this situation to happen. We would not be in this situation if we had proper controls and systems to prevent what has happened. I urge the Minister to communicate well and to engage in a meaningful way on the amendments. I believe we can progress this legislation. There is a pathway here, through what the Minister has set out in this Bill, to remedy the situation and give confidence. It is going to be slow, costly and challenging but together we can make a difference for the people who live there.

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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Before we proceed, I welcome the pupils and teachers of Kilberry National School, County Kildare, guests of Deputy Mark Wall. I hope they are enjoying their visit. This is a really interesting place to visit. I am told that the law is there is no homework for the rest of the day.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Is it law?

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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There will be no homework for the rest of the week.

PJ Murphy (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister and his officials for their presence. We are looking at the approval of a number of positive amendments to a Bill that was intended to relieve a large number of unfortunate homeowners, predominantly in the north west, from the financial burden of rectifying the disastrous consequences of defective concrete blocks used in the construction of their homes. From the outset, this well-intended Bill has been controversial, to say the least. A large number of people whom the Bill was intended to assist have again and again expressed great dissatisfaction at a number of key elements in the working of the scheme. Today's amendments aim to address a number of the root causes of that dissatisfaction. What is proposed here will significantly improve the workability of this scheme for many affected homeowners.These amendments will widen the group of relevant owners who can avail of the most recent increases in the grant scheme cap and rates. It will allow relevant owners who have incurred qualifying expenditure since 29 March 2024 that was unpaid due to them reaching the maximum scheme cap in place at that time of €420,000 to now be able to apply for their designated local authority to have a new remediation option grant amount determined in line with increased scheme cap rates. This amendment will also facilitate for married couples and those who are civil partners or are cohabiting to satisfy the definition of a relevant owner. The absence of this in the 2022 Act was proving problematic for a number of applicants to the scheme.

The first amendment relates to allowing for an exemption from the general principle of the scheme, for example, that houses be remediated in more or less the exact same location as they are now. Noting the difficulties that certain vulnerable relevant owners and family members may face in finding suitable alternative accommodation, this amendment, as the Minister just said, will now allow for construction of adjacent dwellings in limited circumstances. I feel this is a very important measure and will greatly reduce stress levels for a number of particularly vulnerable families during what will inevitably be a very difficult period.

The second amendment relates to facilitating owners of certain conjoined homes, for example, semi-detached or terraced homes, to enter the scheme at an earlier time thus potentially facilitating joint building works. In a number of conjoined dwellings, one dwelling may meet the damage threshold of the grant scheme and the other, although displaying visual signs, may not meet the damage threshold at the time. These amendments will allow in certain situations that the requirement for a dwelling to meet the damage threshold may be waived in order to facilitate early grant option on determination by the Housing Agency. On this point, the bizarre situation of one particular semi-detached unit just outside Ballybofey in County Donegal comes to mind where one adjoining unit was approved for demolition under the scheme and its adjoining home was merely approved for remediation works. This particular amendment will help to avoid the recurrence of such bizarre anomalies within the scheme. Importantly, the main amendment before us today will also allow for retrospective grant payments on production of receipts or invoices.

To date, more than €235 million has been spent on this scheme, and 3,022 homeowners are at various stages of the scheme. Counties Donegal, Clare, Limerick, Mayo and Sligo currently fall within the remit of the scheme, and this will now be extended to the Wexford and Fingal local authority areas. While I am very much aware that today's amendments do not address every concern that has been outlined by the campaign groups, I have no doubt that a number of the most problematic anomalies within the scheme will be rectified by the amendments before us today. This is a very complicated scheme and aims to assist people in what is a very difficult situation. Today's amendments are not a silver bullet that will satisfy all concerns but are indeed a very large step in the right direction. I commend these amendments to the House.

Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister. This legislation has been a long time coming, and while we stand here and speak about it this evening, there are families across the west and north west who are still living in houses that are cracking and crumbling and, in some cases, genuinely unsafe to live in. I have sat in kitchens in west Limerick, Askeaton and Abbeyfeale and listened to families tell me the same stories as my colleagues in counties Donegal, Sligo, Clare and Mayo. They have heard of people who did nothing wrong but who are now living in fear of the next Met Éireann warning and thinking to themselves if this will be the night the walls will move and shift again.

I remember the day in 2022 when the original legislation was rammed through. The homeowners in the Public Gallery of the Dáil were absolutely traumatised. They had engaged with the State in good faith, and they were betrayed. The betrayal has echoed all the way from Donegal to Mayo to Clare and Limerick.

The truth of it is that we have created a first-class and second-class system for our citizens in this State. When the defective blocks happened to be in Dublin or Leinster, the pyrite remediation scheme delivered genuine 100% redress, done directly by the State with no haggling with contractors, no labyrinth of paperwork and no forced debt. If people live in Donegal, Mayo, Clare, Sligo and many other counties, however, the message has been that they can have redress, but only some of it; their home will be rebuilt, but they will have to find tens of thousands of euro to support that building; their suffering is acknowledged, but it is not fully recognised. This is not equality, it is not fairness, and it is certainly not 100% redress.

I have met families who are stretched to breaking point - young couples, older couples, people who built their homes with local tradesmen and pride. They are being told that their house must be demolished. They must take out loans they cannot afford or downsize the home in which they raised their children.

The Government had the power to fix the caps immediately when the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, SCSI, reported in March 2024. Instead, we waited month after month, watching costs rise while hope fell. Now, we get a chance, and we see it is still incremental, exclusionary and grossly unfair. The Government expects people to accept an arbitrary cut-off date of 29 March 2024. How can that be justified? How can it tell families in Limerick, Clare, Mayo, Donegal and Sligo who moved early, followed the rules and put their trust in this process that they are now too early to be treated fairly?

Minister after Minister told us and told homeowners that nobody would be left behind, but here we are. Families are being left behind. Social housing is being left behind. Schools, childcare centres and community buildings with defective blocks are being left behind. Some people in Limerick have been waiting eight or nine months. I received an email from somebody just this week telling me that the core samples were taken in March of this year, and they still do not have that report back. How can that be acceptable? Where are the guarantees that the blocks coming out of the quarries today are actually up to standard and safe? Where is the urgency in this? Where is the actual humanity in all of this?

This scheme has left people in the State in a state of ongoing trauma. They are people whose only mistake was trusting that the blocks they were sold were sound, and that the State would stand by them if they were not. We cannot continue with half-measures, arbitrary dates or rhetoric that pretends 100% redress is coming when it absolutely is not. The people of Limerick and so many counties in this country, like those affected in every county, demand equality, not charity. They deserve what those in Dublin received: a true State-delivered 100% redress scheme without hidden costs, without forced debt and without discrimination. No family should be told to find €50,000 or €60,000, and in some cases more, that they simply do not have. No homeowner should be punished for entering a scheme too early. No social housing tenant should have to pay rent on a house that is actually falling apart around them. Families are not asking for anything, just fairness. It is time to deliver on that fairness and 100% redress.

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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Next up is Senator Stephenson. Is she sharing time?

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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I thank the Minister for coming into the House today. We have to get this right and we want to get it right. I know that the Minister visited Donegal so I know that he has seen at first hand, as I have, the impact this has had, especially at this time of the year when putting up Christmas lights. There is water pouring down inside people's houses, and I know the Minister knows this. We know it is a man-made catastrophe and it has befallen the communities the length and breadth of the north west. The devastation that has been experienced in those communities will leave a long legacy, and we all know this. Families are spending years paralysed with fear that the roofs are going to fall on their heads and the floors are going to collapse below them. Hard-working parents and communities did everything right to build these homes for their children. They have taken out mortgages. We have seen this right across communities - community centres, schools, crèches - in Donegal, Sligo and all down the west coast. I commend the work of 100% Redress and Deputy Charles Ward on raising this and the fact that he has been elected to the Dáil. It shows how much of a catastrophe it actually is. I also commend the four councillors in Donegal, Councillors Joy Beard, Ali Farren, Tomás Devine and Denis McGee. They are living there and are dealing with people who are living in defective homes. The emotional fallout from that for them is enormous as well and I think that has to be put on the record.

There are some welcome tweaks in this Bill, there is no doubt about it, but it does not tackle the fundamental issue that the scheme we have does not work. It is a scheme that does not deliver the end-to-end redress that these families need and deserve. Putting a sticking plaster on a failing grant scheme is just not good enough, and the need for the Housing Agency to review determinations is simply not good enough either. It only underlines why we need a proper end-to end-scheme. Option one, namely, full demolition and reconstruction, is the only viable option. We all know of cases, and I have seen them myself in Donegal, and it just makes no sense, where one of a pair of semi-detached houses was demolished because it was seen as defective while the other one was left standing. This illustrates the bit-part nature of the scheme. It is welcome that the Government is moving to rectify this, but I note the concerns raised that it does not go far enough. The incremental approach of the Government to this scheme, making a tweak here and a twist here and delaying all the while, is failing the communities. At this time of the year people are trying to heat their homes but the heat is going straight out through cracks in the walls. The families are exhausted. They are campaigning to fight for this and they should not have to. The Government could do the right thing. I know the Minister has been to the north west and he has seen this. He could introduce an end-to-end scheme because we know it works. We saw this on the east coast where there was the pyrite remediation scheme and it did work but this Bill is not allowing this. It is a slow, incremental change and we can see that people are continuing to have to fight. They would not keep fighting if they thought this Bill was okay. All those amendments would not have been tabled in the Dáil last night if it was okay.

The moral imperative to stand by a family who repaired their home on 28 March is just the same as for those who did so on 30 March. The arbitrary nature of that date sums up the Government's attitude to these families. It is an attitude of disinterest and disdain that has been plain to see throughout this whole saga. Unfortunately, this Bill does nothing to reassure me that it is going to change. It is a sticking plaster when it is evident that we need to have a wholesale reset. The Minister has seen communities destroyed, not just in Donegal but also in Sligo, Limerick, Leitrim and Mayo. We need to see a full end-to-end scheme, not based on grants, because we know that the State can do it - we have done it before - but based on actually delivering the reconstruction of work the families have done across the way, which they are crying out for.

Frances Black (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. Today we are not just debating a routine amendment, we are being asked whether this State will finally face the consequences of catastrophic regulatory failure and whether we will stand with the families whose homes and lives have been devastated by defective concrete blocks. I really do not think the amendment before us meets that responsibility. It does not reflect science, the scale of the trauma or the lived experience of the people enduring this crisis every single day. For too long we have used the phrase "mica homes", but mica is not the cause of structural collapse. The scientific evidence is clear that the real cause is internal sulfate attack driven by reactive iron sulphides such as pyrrhotite. When pyrrhotite expands, it destroys concrete from within, and yet thousands of families were condemned to years of misery without petrographic testing, chemical analysis or often without any evidence at all. That mislabelling has trapped families in homes that cannot be sold, leaving them unable to move, remortgage or rebuild their lives. They are carrying a stigma created not by science but by the State. We urgently need a national conveyancing standard so that homes are judged on evidence and families cannot be left living under a cloud that never should have existed in the first place.

We have to remember the human reality of this. Families are living in homes where rain pours down internal walls, floors heave, tiles shatter and mould spreads across children's bedrooms. Parents are trying to heat homes that physically cannot retain heat, leaving them with enormous, unaffordable energy bills. Some have resorted to wrapping their children's bedrooms in tin foil just to keep the heat in. Then there are the downgraded families, many of who have waited more than two years for appeals. It traps people in unsafe homes. It takes away any ability to plan, protect their children and move forward. It is deeply unfair and profoundly harmful. Even for those who receive full demolition and rebuild, many cannot begin because they need tens of thousands of euro up front for engineering, testing, accommodation, deposits, disconnection charges, etc. That is not 100% redress. It is an insurmountable barrier. The claim-back system forces builders to shoulder financial risk and push homeowners into debt. The State, which caused this crisis through regulatory failure, is the only party not carrying the risk. We acknowledge the 8.7% grant uplift based on March 2024 SCSI data, but it came too late. Many early movers were left behind again, falling into debt of thousands of euro through delays created by the State. The scheme must be updated more frequently. Construction inflation does not wait for an annual review.As of October, only 205 homes have been rebuilt in Donegal, and I know that is all across the country. Many early remediations - partial repairs - are now proving to be inadequate. Full demolition and rebuild is the only permanent solution. Thousands of foundations were never tested, even though the same quarries supplied the aggregates. Why assume the foundations are safe, if the walls failed from reactive sulphides? Rebuilding without foundation testing is absolutely reckless.

We must also speak about the families who discovered defective blocks during construction. They followed every rule. They used State-approved products. Their home became uninhabitable before they even moved in. They are carrying mortgages for structures they can never live in. They are excluded from the scheme entirely. This is one of the greatest injustices in this crisis and it must be corrected.

We also have the 43 early mover families. These families were personally promised by the former housing Minister that they were not going to be disadvantaged. They stepped forward because their homes were unsafe. They acted in good faith, yet today, they are excluded because of the arbitrary cut-off date of 29 March 2024. This date has no justification and no connection whatsoever to the reality of this crisis. It is simply a line on a page that has pushed 43 families into debt. This debt is created entirely by the Government's delay, not by anything they did. The promise made to 43 families must be honoured. What does a ministerial assurance mean in this country if we cannot stand over that?

We have up to 2,000 social housing homes in Donegal that are affected, and we have many others all over the country. Councils have spent vast sums on temporary repairs just to keep these homes barely habitable. We keep hearing that a social housing remediation scheme is imminent, yet no plan has been produced. Where are the thousands of families expected to go when there is not one long-term rental available in many communities?

I want to raise the deeply concerning issue of side-by-side builds. Only last week, the Government issued a press release promising side-by-side rebuilds for exceptional needs families, yet the commitment is missing from this amendment. That omission is alarming and undermines trust. Side-by-side reconstruction is humane, cost-neutral and protects vulnerable families. It should be available to all families with adjoining lands as it keeps communities together and frees up rental capacity. The principle has been accepted and now it should be legislated for.

I have to speak about banking, insurance, mortgageability and the national standard IS 465. Without addressing these issues, even rebuilt homes will remain unsellable. A multi-stakeholder group, including banks, insurers, valuers, auctioneers and conveyancing solicitors, has warned that IS 465 does not work in the real world. These are the people who determine whether a family can get a mortgage, renew insurance, sell a home or switch lender. Their message is unambiguous: IS 465 is not protecting consumers, is not giving banks confidence, is not giving insurers certainty, and is not giving families the certainty of knowing their rebuilt homes will be fully accepted in the housing market. Unless this standard is urgently reformed, we risk rebuilding homes that are unmortgageable, uninsured and unsellable. That is not redress; it is a new form of entrapment.

Finally, community buildings, schools, childcare facilities, sports clubs, community halls, small businesses and second homes all remain excluded. These buildings are the backbone of rural Ireland. Their exclusion threatens the social fabric of entire communities. Families are losing their homes, health, financial security and their hope. Unfortunately, this amendment does not change any of that. We need full demolition, full rebuild, foundation testing, side-by-side builds, updated grant rates, a fair conveyancing standard, a reformed IS 465, action on banking barriers, a social housing plan and a State-managed scheme worthy of the people we serve. Let us act with courage, let us honour the families who trusted us and let us rebuild not only homes but also trust, safety and hope. I commend Deputy Charles Ward on the work he is doing and also the councillors Senator Cosgrove mentioned, particularly Councillor Joy Beard in Donegal.

Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
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I would like to share time with my colleague, Senator Curley.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. At the outset, I commend all political voices in Donegal who have been working to try to find resolutions to this issue. One councillor, above all others, stands out in my mind: Councillor Marty McDermott, who has been working tirelessly on this issue for a long number of years. He has been recognised as a very fair and reasonable voice in relation to this.

I am from Donegal and am fully aware of the tragedy and stress that has been bestowed upon the families affected by this crisis. They are going a through a living nightmare at the moment. That is what it is. It has affected people's physical and mental health. It has even affected relationships within homes. They are totally innocent in all of this.

The State has been handed this massive issue to try to find a resolution to. To be fair, it is trying to build a mechanism from the ground up. It is fair to say that there will be learnings along the way. The Minister, Deputy Browne, has visited Donegal and seen at first hand the trauma I am referring to. I welcome the fact that he has brought in amendments that go some way to making life easier - if it is possible to do so - for those affected families. A great bit of work has been done in relation to this issue, and more needs to be done. I anticipate that we will be back in here again with more amendments to this legislation because we are learning a lot as we go along. It is important that, as a State, we take those learnings to arrive at a point as quickly as we possibly can to try to put those families in secure homes.

As I said, I welcome the set of amendments brought forward and the progress made. Progress has been made; it would be unfair to say it has not. It is also fair and reasonable to say that more needs to be done. We need to move faster. I would like to focus on the issues related to the upfront costs. Many families cannot get into the scheme because they simply do not have money to start off. Those people are left on the sideline and that is not fair. We need to come up with a mechanism in order to make that happen.

Elderly people also a need a hand. The trauma and form filling associated with all of this is traumatic for any young person, never mind an elderly person. We have to be conscious of that as well. It is important that the revised IS 465 is published as soon possible. The State is giving a 40-year guarantee. We need to make sure that what we are doing stands the test of time and that the taxpayer does not have to pick up the tab for work the State does thereafter.

Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)
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During the summer, I had the pleasure of going to Inishowen. Councillor Martin McDermott brought me to his brother's house. It was just really sad. I stood and watched a man with tears in his eyes while he allowed me to stick my hand into the wall of his house and literally pull dust out. It is not something you cannot believe until you go and see it. The level of devastation this has visited on people makes it a really emotional issue up there.

Like Senator Gallagher, Councillor McDermott has constantly been on about the vulnerable people who are trying to apply for this scheme but may not have the wherewithal to do so themselves. They need help from the State during the application process. The upfront costs make it prohibitive for a lot of people to access the scheme in the first instance. They are two issues we are going to have to constantly work on into the future.

Councillor Fionán Bradley also contacted me about the social housing scheme. There has been no real movement on that yet. He is hoping we can start on that in the very near future because it is a huge issue in Buncrana. Finally, there is the issue with community buildings. County Anthony Molloy in Ardara has a huge issue with naíonraí and other community buildings. He is hoping to see urgent progress made on that. Go raibh míle maith agat, Senator Gallagher, for the shared time.

Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on the remediation of the dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks. I want to acknowledge the thousands of families, particularly those in my home county, Donegal, and those in Mayo, Clare, Limerick and Sligo, who continue to live with stress, uncertainty and financial hardship through no fault of their own. This Bill is an important step, but we also have to be honest about the fact that it does not address the root cause that created this crisis.Until the issues relating to the failures in the manufacturing of aggregates, testing and proper rules and oversight are addressed, we will face the same issues again and again.

The system has failed homeowners for decades. Ireland relied on outdated EU harmonised standards for aggregates and concrete blocks. These standards do not require the testing needed to detect mica, pyrrhotite or harmful sulphides. Manufacturers were allowed to self-certify and local authorities had neither the power nor resources to carry out independent inspections. This is how defective blocks entered thousands of homes while complying on paper to outdated rules. The EN 771-3 testing standard does not require manufacturers to test for harmful sulphides. The same standard applies today. This failure is not a failure of the homeowners; it is a failure of the regulatory system.

This Bill does include several improvements including increased grant caps and rates, extended eligibility, a technical review option when the revised IS 465 is published, more time for homeowners to complete works and a more flexible approach for vulnerable families and for conjoined homes. These changes will help, but support after the damage is only one part of the solution. We must now do the work to prevent this from ever happening again.

What must be done next, especially for my native County Donegal? Donegal has been the epicentre of this crisis. The geology of the county and the scale of the problem means Donegal requires targeted action. If harmful minerals are found, start with demolition before any other work. Partial repair options simply do not work where pyrrhotite or sulphides are present. Unless engineers can prove otherwise, demolition should be the starting point.

We also need the automatic retesting of Donegal homes under the revised IS 465. Many homes were assessed using earlier, weaker testing. Homeowners must get a fair chance under the new standard. A Donegal liaison unit must be established. A dedicated single point of contact would dramatically reduce delays, confusion and administrative pressures on families. Homeowners need flexibility to rebuild adjacent or relocate where required. For families with vulnerable members, or where the existing footprint is unsuitable, rebuilding on the exact location is not realistic. We need to recognise that communities have been displaced. When entire estates are demolished, families need support with relocation, schooling and services.

Over the weekend, I received a number of distressing phone calls, emails and letters from homeowners, childcare providers and schools, in particular. The childcare providers have nowhere to go and will have to cease the care they provide for working parents who desperately need this service. This needs to be addressed for affected childcare facilities and schools.

The amendment Bill improves the remediation process but does not address the root cause: defective materials entering the supply chain due to weak and outdated testing standards. Donegal homeowners deserve not just support after their homes fail but assurance that no family will suffer the same fate in the future. There needs to be strengthened testing during the manufacturing process. There also needs to be mandatory testing of all aggregate substances, as well as independent inspections and a Donegal-specific remediation approach. This is essential. The State must act not only to remediate but to prevent.

Thousands of people, including children, are looking in from Donegal. The Government must now commit to a number of changes to prevent a repeat of this crisis. The mandatory testing of aggregates during the manufacturing process must be written into Irish law and not left to voluntary practice. A national construction materials inspectorate must be established. Independent, unannounced inspections of quarries and block plants must become standard. There must be manufacturer accountability. Producers should be required to carry insurance or a bond guaranteeing the quality of their products. The owners of conjoined homes and homeowners in affected estates need to be treated fairly. Neighbours should not be trapped because one house meets the threshold and the other does not.

Grant caps should rise automatically with construction inflation. Families should not end up short because costs rise faster than policy. Downsizing also needs to be looked at.

These measures are only one part of what needs to be a much broader response that addresses not only the consequences but the causes. We owe it to the people of Donegal and other affected counties to ensure this never happens again. Remediation without prevention is not a solution, it is a cycle. Let this Bill be the moment where we not only help families rebuild their homes but rebuild trust in the systems that are meant to protect them. The issue of the 43 people who were left behind needs to be sorted. It really does. Donegal needs an end-to-end scheme.

I am standing here and my heart is breaking. Members of my family live in homes affected by this. I see the stress they are under. I know what this is doing to families; it is tearing them apart. We need to introduce a proper scheme that will help the people of Donegal and other counties. It has to be done. It needs to come soon. As my colleague said, when you can put your hand through the gable of your friend’s or your family’s house, it is too late.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Before I call on the next speaker, I welcome Senator Brady's guests, Gerard and Catherine Dennigan, and Tommy Flynn from Longford. They are most welcome to Seanad Éireann.

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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Well done to Senators Gallagher and Boyle. Senator Blaney was in here earlier and he was more defensive. He said there has been real progress with the scheme. I disagree with him. If there had been real progress made and people were satisfied, the 100% Redress Party would not have had four councillors and one TD elected. The people of Donegal voted with their feet. They are not satisfied. They are not happy. They are fighting for their lives and for support. They felt they had to go outside the normal parties to get that. The people who are suffering and living the nightmare that is happening in Donegal got themselves elected and got themselves here.

When I canvassed in Donegal last February, I met Joy Beard. I pulled up at her house. It is only half there. She lives in a caravan behind her house. It was a real eye-opener for me to go up there and see exactly what is happening. Anyone who is dealing with this issue, who is drawing up regulations or Bills, or administering or advising should go up there and see what is happening. It puts it in perspective.

I went into the Dáil Chamber with Senator Manus Boyle yesterday and watched the amendments. I watched every one of Deputy Charles Ward's amendments being refused. Charles Ward had 18 pages of amendments to the Bill and the Government rejected every one of them last night. It also refused amendments proposed by the Opposition.

I have been to Donegal and visited homes affected by defective concrete. As other Members said, I could have put my fist through the walls. People's homes are crumbling before their eyes. People who are living in those homes and who have lived experiences spent hours painstakingly putting together amendments only for the Government to turn around and reject every one of them. Anyone connected to this redress scheme should go and visit Donegal. The attitude seems to be that the Government knows best. Pat The Cope Gallagher, a Government TD, said that the current set-up is not working. He is right.

What homeowners are going through - costs, accommodation, funding, bureaucracy, time, the delay for test results - is a never-ending, exhausting and complicated mess. Why are families waiting nine or ten months to find out what they already know? No family should be put through that. There is inequality regarding postcodes. The pyrite scheme in Leinster got 100% redress with very little battling.

It is not fine and the Bill will not fix the problem. It is also not realistic. We need nothing less than a 100% redress scheme that is fair and accessible.I agree with Deputy Ward that there needs to be a public inquiry into how this went so badly wrong for the people of Donegal. The Minister of State must listen to the people who are trying to talk to him. I agree with the Senators from Donegal who spoke about the trauma. There is going to be generational trauma from this for years to come. These people need support. They need the Minister of State to listen and to be able to change if he feels it should be done, not because somebody says he cannot.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senators for their contributions. We have been bringing this through all Stages of the Dáil and Seanad and it is striking to hear the testimonies of a lot of the TDs and Senators. Some have lived through this themselves and experienced what it means to have a home built with defective blocks. Some people have family who have been impacted. I cannot but be moved by some of the heartbreaking stories we hear of people's experience, mainly in Donegal but in other counties as well. We are listening and that is why the Minister, Deputy James Browne, prioritised this as soon as he took up office. From the get-go, it was a priority to acknowledge that the scheme needed amending and changing, and that it needed to be more flexible. That is the is the purpose of the legislation. I want to thank Senators today for continuing to represent and be a voice for those people who have been impacted.

The Bill itself intends to ensure that everybody affected by the defective concrete blocks crisis is fairly dealt with and supported. The amendments in this legislation are designed to improve upon what is already a comprehensive scheme for impacted owners. Every Senator here is keenly aware of the scale of the crisis that confronts us when it comes to defective housing. The scheme and the significant funding behind it is a clear illustration that the Government is committed to helping all those affected to fix their homes and to move on with their lives. The Government knows that impacted homeowners have been through a difficult and often distressing time. We accept that the current scheme, while working well, needs to be continuously monitored so that interventions can be made to allow the scheme to work as intended. What we are legislating for today is an improved, workable and fit-for-purpose scheme that responds to the issues raised by homeowners. The group of relevant owners who can avail of the most recent increases in the grant scheme cap and rates will widen thanks to this Bill. They will be able to claim this additional funding retrospectively. Homeowners who were given a non-demolition option and who are yet to commence or who ceased works by 6 November 2024 will be able to apply for a technical review of the remediation option and grant amount. The time that homeowners have to complete their works is doubled. This addresses the very real problem many were experiencing in sourcing contractors in the current building market.

Last night on Committee Stage in the Dáil, two further amendments were introduced which I believe will make a very real difference to the lives of affected homeowners. The first allowed for a more flexible approach to be taken with regard to how semi-detached and terraced houses can be dealt with under the scheme. The second will assist certain vulnerable families, notably those with members with medical needs, by allowing them to rebuild their homes adjacent to their current damaged home. They will then be able to continue to live in their current home, a home that has often been very specifically adapted for family members. This should hopefully ease the burden and the understandable stress they were experiencing. The two Committee Stage amendments in particular show clearly that the Government has listened to the concerns of scheme participants and is ready for action when it is needed.

Senators will be aware that the main objectives of the amendments to the Building Control Acts are to underpin, extend and strengthen the system of building control enforcement to support compliance with the building regulations. As previously outlined, the amendments to the Building Control Acts provide for a submission of certificates of compliance on completion prior to the opening, operation or occupation of the building; a regularisation process for certain works on buildings; the conferring on the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the power to make regulations relating to enforcement notices; the withdrawal of an enforcement notice; the opening of works in certain limited circumstances; the issuing of a warning letter; the extension of the powers of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to make building regulations; and the change of names of certain certificates issued under the Act; and to make the consequential amendments required to take account of these changes.

In terms of the proposed regularisation process, the amendment provides for a process of regularisation for the uncommon situation whereby works have commenced or been completed on the building without submitting, by either act or omission, an appropriate valid notice to the building control authorities. This amendment does not intend to create an alternative to the current building control process. I want to assure all Members that while the primary function of the building regulations is to ensure the health and safety and welfare of people in and around buildings, these amendments will make certain that building regulations and building control regulations are further strengthened and clarified to benefit all stakeholders. The amendments contained in this Bill again clearly illustrate the Government's commitment to continue to improve the building control regime that is in place to ensure that required standards of buildings are met. In this context, it was agreed on Committee Stage last night that the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage will be consulted on giving effect to building control amendments and I look forward to that engagement in due course.

I have listened carefully and with interest to the contributions made by Senators during the Second Stage debate. I thank them for their contributions and their generous support for the intent behind the Bill. I am confident that the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill can address the challenges being faced by affected homeowners and I call on all Senators to support the Bill. The passage of this very important legislation will be a further milestone along the road of better remediating the many homes impacted by defective concrete blocks. I believe that with this Bill, the Government has responded to homeowners' concerns and fears. We stand ready to continue to do this and I would point out that the impending update of the national IS 465 standard and the statutory requirement to review the 2022 Act will provide us with a platform for further contemplation in this regard.

The passage of the legislation will be a significant step forward. I think we can all agree that these amendments will make a real difference. I look forward to enactment, preferably before the end of the year. I can assure the House that we will continue to work closely with all Members of the Oireachtas and listen carefully to their views as we move forward in this process. To put it simply, with this Bill, we are acknowledging that the original scheme needed tweaks and amendments. We were listening and what we heard was that there were incidents, especially when it came to conjoined, terraced and semi-detached houses where it was not fit for purpose. The Bill allows for a bypass of that damage threshold which was causing a lot of issues. One of the most important provisions in the Bill is the retrospective application of the increased cap as so many people were left outside of the availability of that increased cap. These are just two of the things that the Bill does. It does more than that. It improves the scheme and allows more people to access it. Therefore, I ask Members of this House to support the legislation.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

PJ Murphy (Fine Gael)
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Next Tuesday.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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When is it proposed to sit again?

PJ Murphy (Fine Gael)
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Next Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.