Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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527. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on his engagement with the construction, quarry, local manufacturing, insurance and banking sectors on establishing an industry levy to cover part of the costs of remediating homes and other buildings impacted by defective blocks or other building defects such as fire safety and water ingress defects. [20746/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Government contains several commitments to support the ordinary home-owners who have been affected by these issues and it is the Government’s firm intention to find appropriate solutions for those who are affected. 

My colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, has established an Independent Working Group to examine the issue of defective housing. Officials from my Department participate in this Working Group.

The objectives of the group are to identify the scope of relevant significant defects in housing, to evaluate the scale of housing affected, to propose a means of prioritising defects, to evaluate the cost of remediation, to recommend appropriate mechanisms for resolving defects and, to consider financing options in line with the Programme for Government commitment to identifying options for those impacted by defects to access low-cost, long-term finance. A final report is due to be completed by Q2 2022.

I understand that, as part of the working group’s deliberations, the group are engaging with a range of interested parties, including homeowners, public representatives, local authorities, building professionals and industry stakeholders to examine the issue of defects in housing.

As part of the Government’s commitment to address this issue there was a Government decision taken on 30 November 2021 regarding the Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme, which agreed a number of actions to help address the defective blocks issue. One of those proposed actions was that a levy on the construction sector was to be put in place to raise in the region of €80 million a year.

My officials, with the assistance of colleagues in other Departments and agencies, as well as from Revenue, have been working on identifying and evaluating a range of options in regards to such a levy. Once this work is further advanced and the Working Group has reported it may be necessary to seek the views of relevant stakeholders and my Department will do so at that time.