Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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186. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if a review is being carried out to a scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25933/24]

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 (Scheme) and adopted the related Regulations on 29 June 2023.

The 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 Homeowner's Liaison Officer (HLO). Part of the Group’s remit was to produce a six-month report. It should be noted that this report is not a review of the fundamental terms and conditions of the Scheme as set down in the 2022 Act, rather it is a report on the how the Scheme is progressing since it launched in 2023.

I received this report on the operation of the Scheme covering the period July to December 2023 i.e. the first six months of the Scheme, which concluded that satisfactory progress was being made under the Scheme. The Group made a small number of recommendations based on its assessment of the first six months of the Scheme’s operation and these are receiving appropriate attention.

A review mechanism is provided within the Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB) Act 2022, which allows me, as Minister, to increase the overall grant scheme cap of €420,000 a year after the Act has been commenced by no more than 10%, in accordance with the conditions of Section 11 of the Act. My Department has asked the Expert Group, originally established to advise on a number of technical issues prior to the introduction of the Scheme, to reconvene shortly, to examine the issue and advise me accordingly.

Section 51 of the 2022 DCB Act also provides for a three-year review of the operation of the Act, which the Act itself mandates. In addition, the Act provides for a review of the operation of the Act within three months of the completion of any review of I.S. 465: 2018 by the NSAI.