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

I commenced the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) on 22 June 2023, which contains the enhanced grant scheme and adopted the related Regulations on 29 June 2023. The new scheme is now open to applications in four counties: Clare, Donegal, Limerick and Mayo with comprehensive information of all aspects of the Scheme available on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/service/8002e-enhanced-defective-concrete-blocks-grant-scheme/.

Section 5 of the Act contains details on the process for the inclusion of additional local authority areas into the enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB) Grant Scheme. This statutory designation process can commence upon a request by a local authority or by myself, as Minister, and whereby the Housing Agency thereafter carries out technical testing of dwellings in a given local authority administrative area.

The Housing Agency wrote to me on 29 February 2024 and recommended that an order under Section 5(9) of the Act designating Sligo County Council in respect of the whole of its administrative area be made and I accepted this recommendation.

As set out in the Act, an order for the inclusion of a local authority in the Enhanced DCB Grant Scheme may only be made by Government. I will shortly seek Government approval (by means of a Memorandum for Government) to the designation of Sligo County Council, to arrange for the moving of a motion for a Resolution in each House of the Oireachtas and subject to the passing of such a Resolution then request the Government to make the Order.