Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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99. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on whether Fingal local authority will be included in the defective block scheme; the timeline as to when the decision will be signed off; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32913/25]

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

The scheme is now open to applications in five counties: Clare, Donegal, Limerick, Mayo and Sligo 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/.

When a local authority that is not designated under the Scheme determines through the established mechanisms that homes within their functional area have been damaged by defective concrete blocks, they can seek to have the scheme extended to include any such county or part of such county.

Section 5 of the Act contains details on this process. This statutory designation process can commence upon a request by a local authority or by myself, as Minister, to the Housing Agency. The Agency thereafter carries out technical testing of dwellings in a given local authority administrative area. As soon as practicable after the completion of any testing, the Housing Agency shall make a recommendation to me whether an order to designate the whole or part of a local authority's administrative area should or should not be made by the Government.

I understand that Fingal County Council, in accordance with Section 5(7) of the Act submitted a request to the Housing Agency on 21 September, 2023 for inclusion in the scheme. The Housing Agency appointed a Chartered Engineer from their existing framework panel to assist in their investigations and consultations. The investigations (including concrete block sampling and testing) and consultations required under the Act started in December 2023.

Subsequently, the Housing Agency received the concrete block test results from the properties sampled within the administrative area of Fingal County Council which showed that these properties were presenting signs of damage as a result of defective concrete blocks.

These test results provided the Housing Agency with the information required to appoint their Chartered Engineer to commence investigations and consultations.

The Housing Agency has confirmed to my Department that its investigations and consultations have now been completed. I recently received the report from the Housing Agency and I will be considering the recommendations made in the near future.