Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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283. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government , further to Parliamentary Question No. 276 of 1 October 2024, if he has engaged with the Housing Agency to ensure that it is actually adhering to this guideline (details supplied); if he is aware that 86 affected homeowners in Donegal, who have had their Government-approved engineer’s recommendation for remediation, overruled by the Housing Agency, have escalated their cases to the EU Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50862/25]

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) commenced on 22 June 2023 which contains the current grant scheme and the related Regulations were adopted on 29 June 2023.

The 2022 Act sets out the role of the Housing Agency which acts as agent on behalf of the local authorities under the terms of the Scheme. As previously outlined the Housing Agency has confirmed to my Department that the presence of pyrrhotite is taken into consideration in their analysis.

An Appeals Panel has been established to assess appeals made under the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the use of Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB) Grant Scheme. The Panel offers those affected by decisions made by the Housing Agency and Local Authorities an opportunity to have their cases assessed by an independent group of industry experts.

The points of appeal that are available to a DCB applicant include the validation stage by the local authority, the damage threshold determination made by the Housing Agency, the remediation option, and the grant amount approved and where a local authority refuse to make a grant payment pursuant to grant approval.

It should be noted that the Appeals Panel is statutorily independent in the performance of their functions of myself as Minister, my Department and of the Housing Agency.