Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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107. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will respond to the growing criticism of the revised defective block remediation scheme from home owners in the impacted counties. [24290/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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 enhanced grant scheme was legislated for following extensive consultation with all relevant stakeholders.

At the time of the Scheme launch, I established an Implementation Steering Group comprised of officials from the relevant Local Authorities, my Department, the Housing Agency, and the Homeowners' Liaison Officer (HLO) who have met several times over the last number of months and will keep the operation of the regulations and guidelines under review. In addition a subgroup of this group met in January and April of this year focusing on the financial aspects of the scheme and following these meetings my Department has issued updated guidance to local authorities that will enable eligible applicants have earlier access to grant funding for certain eligible works.

The Scheme is demand led and I am satisfied that it is being administered in line with the Act as set down by the Oireachtas. The scheme in place delivers significant improvements on the previous scheme for all concerned in remediating their homes and those improvements will continue to be examined by the group, within the current legislative framework, to further assist homeowners.

The Act allows for the grant rates and overall grant scheme cap to be reviewed on an annual basis and this will, if deemed appropriate, be considered in due course. Furthermore section 51 of the Act mandates a review of the operation of the Act to take place within three years of the Act's commencement i.e. before July 2026.