Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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105. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when he will release the funds to allow Donegal County Council to remediate the huge amount of homes in their housing stock affected by defective concrete blocks. [65160/25]

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

The Act also provides for the Defective Concrete Blocks Social Homes Scheme. This is a scheme for the purpose of enabling a designated local authority or an Approved Housing Body with dwellings located in a designated local authority area to remedy damage caused to dwellings, owned by the local authority or Approved Housing Body, by the use of defective concrete blocks in their construction.

Section 36 of the Act provides that social homes will receive the same remediation options as those covered under the Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme for private housing, and the same grant cap, grant rates and damage threshold requirements. Thus, any legislative changes to the Act will apply where appropriate, equally to social homes affected by Defective Concrete Blocks, as they do to private housing.

The manner in which the Scheme will be operationalised in practice by local authorities has been the subject of careful consideration before the Scheme can be finalised. A draft Scheme has now been prepared by my Department and it is my intention to bring proposals to Government shortly so that work can begin on remediating social homes in the affected counties.