Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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65. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to reports that homeowners are waiting six months in some instances to receive a response from engineers in relation to the presence of Mica in their home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59870/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Following on from the Government decision of the 30 November 2021 in respect of the enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB) Grant scheme, the Government approved the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022 on 21 June and the Bill passed through both Houses of the Oireachtas and was subsequently signed into law by the President on the 23 July, 2022.

The purpose of this Act is to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and enhance the scheme as agreed by Government on 30 November 2021. Full details can be found at www.gov.ie/en/press-release/328d7-minister-obrien-welcomes-progress-on-enhanced-defective-concrete-blocks-grant-scheme/.

Pending commencement of the Act and the enhanced DCB grant scheme, applications can continue to be made to local authorities and processed under the current DCB grant scheme, underpinned by the Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) Regulations, 2020 and the Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) (Amendment) Regulations 2022.

Regulation 5 of the 2022 Regulations waives the requirement for a Stage 1 confirmation of eligibility to be in place prior to recoupment of the cost of the engineer’s fees for homeowners whose applications under the current DCB grant scheme were received by the local authority before the 24 February, 2022.

However, it should be noted that, under the current DCB grant scheme, engineers who provide reports are appointed directly by homeowners. My Department therefore has no role in the matter of the time it takes for engineers to provide reports to their clients.