Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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832. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the measures he can undertake to address the shortcomings in the defective concrete blocks grant scheme, which result in a lack of full technical assessments and insufficient funding being provided to affected homeowners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10994/25]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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841. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the technical review of I.S. 465 regarding the defective concrete blocks scheme will commence; the timeframe in which it is expected to complete; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11058/25]

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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893. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when he will introduce a legislative amendment to clear the way for the Housing Agency to conduct technical reviews and issue second appropriate remediation option determination to the local authority under the defective concrete block grant scheme. [11611/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 832, 841 and 893 together.

The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) commenced on 22 June 2023 which contains the current grant scheme and the related Regulations were adopted on 29 June 2023.

In October 2024 a further increase to the scheme was provided bringing the Scheme Cap to €462,000 and an increase in the scheme rates of between 7.4% and 8.7% was approved on 7 November, 2024. Extending these increases to a wider group of relevant owners will be examined as part of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill which has been included in the Spring 2025 Government Legislation Programme for priority drafting.

Following the receipt of preliminary results from scientific research into damaged dwellings in Donegal, my Department announced changes to the way the scheme works for certain homeowners in November 2024. All homeowners who have been given a non-demolition option (options 2 to 5) will now be offered a choice of continuing with the work on their dwelling under the option determined or the option of a full technical review of their application by the Housing Agency. This review will be informed by the current research once the full review of the national standard (I.S. 465:2018) is complete.

As Ireland’s official Standards Body, The National Standards Authority Ireland (NSAI) has been tasked with the review of I.S. 465. The NSAI have published an update outlining the status of the review of I.S. 465, details of which can be found at www.nsai.ie/about/news/status-of-review-of-i.s-465-13th-december-2024/. I understand that they intend to go out to public consultation on a revised standard shortly and that this will help to inform the completion of the review process as soon as is practicable thereafter in line with the normal procedures followed by the Authority.

Furthermore, a review of the operation of the Act is required to commence within three months of the completion of any review of I.S. 465:2018 by the National Standards Authority of Ireland. A report to each House of the Oireachtas of the findings and conclusions resulting from that review is required not later than three months after the completion of the review.