Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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502. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the stage at which a homeowner who has been awarded a grant under the existing and the enhanced defective block remediation scheme can draw down payment for construction works. [63741/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The purpose of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the DCB Act) is to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and enhance the grant scheme as agreed by Government on 30 November 2021.

Pending commencement of the DCB Act and the enhanced grant scheme, applications can continue to be made to local authorities and processed under the current DCB grant scheme.

Under the current scheme, a scheme participant that has been approved for payment by the local authority, may apply to a relevant local authority for payment for qualifying works once they have been completed. The grant scheme facilitates the relevant local authority to pay the grant to the applicant by way of stage payments. The number of stage payments will be based on the eligible applicant’s remedial option, with stage payments not exceeding 85% of the approved cost (previously 75% but increased to 85% following amending Regulations in February 2022).

Work on drafting the necessary Regulations to facilitate the commencement of the enhanced grant scheme is ongoing and the Regulations will provide for all matters within the DCB Act which are to be prescribed, including the requirements for the payment of the remediation option grant awarded under the enhanced scheme.