Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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800. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will amend the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 to ensure that homeowners who are willing to reduce the size of their homes for the rebuild are not financially penalised for doing so and are paid an amount that reflects the square meterage of their existing home. [29571/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Remediation of Dwellings Damage by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) commenced on 22 June 2023 which contains the current grant scheme and related Regulations were adopted on 29 June 2023.

The scheme facilitates the remediation of existing houses that have been damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks. The grant awarded to an applicant under the Scheme, where the remediation option is full demolition and rebuild, will be based on the size of the original dwelling or the size of the home the grant recipient intends to build in the case of downsizing. I and the Government have an obligation to the Exchequer and participants in the scheme to ensure that the grants approved are appropriate to the size of home being rebuilt and that homeowners rebuilding a home of the same size are commensurately grant aided.

I wish to emphasise that the scheme does facilitate downsizing, with reference to Section 17(5) of the 2022 Act, and while downsizing may not be financially rewarded under the scheme, there is no penalty on homeowners who choose to downsize.