Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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323. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if counties Clare and Limerick have been formally accepted into the defective concrete block remediation scheme; and the other counties that have formally applied to his Department to be included in the scheme. [3308/23]

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 2022 Act') is to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and enhance the current grant scheme, as agreed by Government on 30 November 2021. The administrative areas of the following counties have been designated by the 2022 Act for the purposes of the enhanced grant scheme: Clare County Council; Donegal County Council; Limerick City and County Council; Mayo County Council.

Prior to the commencement of the 2022 Act, contact has been made with my Department by a number of local authorities not designated in the 2022 Act relating to potential defective concrete block (DCB) occurrences in their administrative area. Section 5 of the 2022 Act contains details on the process for the inclusion of additional local authority areas into the Enhanced DCB Grant Scheme, which, it should be noted, may include a request by me, as Minister for Housing, or a local authority to The Housing Agency, and whereby The Housing Agency thereafter carries out testing of dwellings in a given local authority administrative area. As soon as practicable after the completion of any testing, The Housing Agency shall make a recommendation to me, as Minister for Housing, that an order should or should not be made by the Government to designate the whole or part of a local authority's administrative area. Local authorities seeking to formally apply to be included in the enhanced grant scheme may do so upon commencement of the 2022 Act.

The 2022 Act will be commenced once the related Regulations have been finalised. Draft Regulations have been prepared, which will be the subject of consultation with key stakeholders before the Regulation are finalised and adopted in early 2023. It is intended that the consultation with key stakeholders, which will be conducted by the appointed Homeowners’ Liaison Officer, will commence before the end January 2023.

My Department has published a comprehensive “Your Questions Answered”to ensure homeowners have the most up to date information available to them. It can be accessed on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/775c0-defective-concrete-blocks-grant-scheme-your-questions-answered/

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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324. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the defective concrete blocks scheme legislation will be fully implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3336/23]

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 is to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and enhance the current grant scheme, as agreed by Government on 30 November 2021. The administrative areas of the following counties have been designated by the Act for the purposes of the enhanced grant scheme: Clare County Council; Donegal County Council; Limerick City and County Council; Mayo County Council.

The 2022 Act will be commenced once the related Regulations have been finalised. Draft Regulations have been prepared, which will be the subject of consultation with key stakeholders before the Regulation are finalised and adopted in early 2023. It is intended that the consultation with key stakeholders, which will be conducted by the appointed Homeowners’ Liaison Officer, will commence before the end January 2023.

The Regulations will provide for detailed matters within the 2022 Act which are to be prescribed, for example the grant rates, the damage threshold, and the form and content of various reports, certificates, forms, and declarations. Grant rates, to be included in the final Regulations, will be based upon updated regional construction costs for 2023 to be provided by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.

Guidelines to facilitate, promote and support a consistent approach to the operation and administration of the enhanced defective concrete blocks grant scheme by designated local authorities are also being drafted by my Department. Ensuring that the regulations and guidance are comprehensive and that all relevant stakeholders have been consulted and that the enhanced scheme will work for everyone, is the main priority.

Pending the opening of the enhanced grant scheme, applications can continue to be made to relevant local authorities (comprising Donegal County Council and Mayo County Council) and processed under the current Defective Concrete Block grant scheme. The current scheme is underpinned by the Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) Regulations, 2020, as amended by the Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 andDwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2022.

My Department has published a comprehensive “Your Questions Answered”to ensure homeowners have the most up to date information available to them. It can be accessed on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/775c0-defective-concrete-blocks-grant-scheme-your-questions-answered/