Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

191. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will report on the actions taken by his Department in relation to the announcement of enhancements to the defective concrete block scheme made on 30 November 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11042/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I brought a Memorandum to Government on an enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme on the 30 November 2021. It included an unprecedented suite of improvements to the current scheme. Government approved the enhanced scheme which it is estimated will cost approximately €2.2Bn.

Full details in relation to the changes announced are available at the following link;

www.gov.ie/en/press-release/e365e-minister-obrien-announces-enhancements-to-the-defective-concrete-block-scheme/.

As part of the implementation of the Government decision on changes to the enhanced scheme, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) agreed to produce a report on up to date construction costs for the type of remediation works carried out under the scheme. I have received the SCSI report on Construction Costs for the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, which was published today, 3 March 2022, and I have now requested that the Expert Working Group on the implementation of the scheme analyse the report and make recommendations on how to operationalise its findings.

I intend to bring the final details of the scheme and the required primary legislation to Cabinet in April.

In the interim, three enhancements from the new scheme have been brought into effect through amendments to the existing scheme regulations. On 24 February I signed the Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 to amend the Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2020 so as;

i. to make provision, in the case of an application for confirmation of eligibility received before the date of the coming into operation of these regulations, for the recoupment of the fees connected with the provision of the engineer’s report without the need for a prior stage 1 confirmation of eligibility;

ii. to make provision for the inclusion as an allowable cost ‘essential immediate repair works’, up to a value of €5,555, which are identified by a competent engineer in a ‘building condition assessment report’ and relate to the structural stability of any part of a home affected by defective concrete blocks;

iii. to make provision for an increase from 75% to 85% in the value of stage payments which can be recouped to an approved applicant prior to the final grant payment.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

193. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the pyrite and mica redress scheme making particular reference to the sliding scale; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11991/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I brought a Memorandum to Government on an enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant (DCB) Scheme on the 30 November 2021. It included an unprecedented suite of improvements to the current scheme. Government approved the enhanced scheme which it is estimated will cost approximately €2.2Bn.

Full details in relation to the changes announced are available at the following link;

www.gov.ie/en/press-release/e365e-minister-obrien-announces-enhancements-to-the-defective-concrete-block-scheme/.

As part of the implementation of the Government decision on changes to the enhanced scheme the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) have agreed to produce a report on up to date construction costs for the type of remediation works carried out under the scheme. I have received the SCSI report on Construction Costs for the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, which was published today, 3 March 2022, and I have now requested that the Expert Working Group on the implementation of the scheme analyse the report and make recommendations on how to operationalise its findings.

I intend to bring the final details of the scheme and the required primary legislation to Cabinet in April.

In the interim, three enhancements from the new scheme have been brought into effect through amendments to the existing scheme regulations. On 24 February I signed the Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 to amend the Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2020 so as;

i. to make provision, in the case of an application for confirmation of eligibility received before the date of the coming into operation of these regulations, for the recoupment of the fees connected with the provision of the engineer’s report without the need for a prior stage 1 confirmation of eligibility;

ii. to make provision for the inclusion as an allowable cost ‘essential immediate repair works’, up to a value of €5,555, which are identified by a competent engineer in a ‘building condition assessment report’ and relate to the structural stability of any part of a home affected by defective concrete blocks;

iii. to make provision for an increase from 75% to 85% in the value of stage payments which can be recouped to an approved applicant prior to the final grant payment.