Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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1958. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the progress which has been made to establish an appropriate redress scheme for home owners in counties Donegal and Mayo in circumstances in which defective block work has been found to have compromised the structural integrity of their homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37239/17]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Expert Panel on concrete blocks was established by my Department in 2016, to investigate problems that have emerged in the concrete blockwork of certain dwellings in Counties Donegal and Mayo.

The panel had the following terms of reference:

(i) To identify, insofar as it is possible, the numbers of private dwellings which appear to be affected by defects in the blockwork in the Counties of Donegal and Mayo;

(ii) To carry out a desktop study, which would include a consultation process with affected homeowners, public representatives, local authorities, product manufacturers, building professionals, testing laboratories, industry stakeholders and other relevant parties, to establish the nature of the problem in the affected dwellings;

(iii) To outline a range of technical options for remediation and the means by which those technical options could be applied; and

(iv) To submit a report within six months.

On 13 June 2017, the report of the was published and included eight recommendations, which my Department are now advancing.

My Department has already taken action to implement recommendations 1 and 2 as priorities.

With regard to Recommendation 1, the Department has conducted several meetings with the NSAI recently to advance the establishment of a Technical Committee to scope and fast track the development of a standardised protocol.

With regard to Recommendation 2, my Department has been in contact with Engineers Ireland in regard to the establishment of a register of competent engineers for homeowner/affected parties’ reference.  Engineers Ireland provided assurance that they will collaborate with the Department, the NSAI and others on measures to establish such a register.

On 19 July 2017, I visited Donegal and met with key stakeholders, including affected homeowners, the elected members of Donegal County Council, local authority officials, and other interested parties on the issue of the publication of the Report of the Expert Group on Concrete Blocks.

On 27 July 2017, I visited Mayo and held similar meetings with key stakeholders, including affected homeowners, some elected members of Mayo County Council, and other interested parties on the issue of the publication of the Report of the Expert Group on Concrete Blocks.

In addition and in light of the information contained in the report, I am currently considering what further actions may be required to assist the parties directly involved in reaching a satisfactory resolution to the problems that have emerged in the two counties.