Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 April 2021
815. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will convene a meeting or correspond with the banks and financial institutions to call on the banks and financial institutions to assist families in County Donegal who have been affected by MICA defective concrete blocks in their homes given the recent comments by Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal in relation to the matter. [20574/21]
View answerI met earlier this year with members of the Donegal Mica Action Group and one of the issues raised was that of finance and the potential role which banks could play in assisting affected homeowners. As oversight of the financial institutions is outside the scope and remit of my Department, I wrote to the Minister for Finance on the matter.
The Minister for Finance replied on 9 March and expressed firm support for the existing provisions of the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme. The Minister advised that neither he nor his Department have any role in relation to the commercial decisions of individual regulated entities, such as decisions they may make on applications for credit, or in respect of individual actions they may take to assist households with a mortgage which is secured on a residence affected by mica or pyrite.
The Minister also advised that in relation to those banks in which the State has a shareholding interest, commercial independence is specifically provided for in a legally binding "Relationship Framework" document which states that each bank continues to be a separate economic unit with independent powers of decision, and that it is the respective boards and management of each bank that determines its commercial policies and conducts its day-to-day operations. The Minister stated that he is precluded from any involvement in the commercial decisions of such banks, and it would not be possible or appropriate for him to intervene with individual banks on this matter.
The Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme is not a compensation scheme and is very much a scheme of last resort for homeowners who have no other practical options to obtain some form of redress. My Department in formulating the scheme concluded that a contribution of 10% from affected homeowners was appropriate to:
- control costs;
- incentive the use of the appropriate remediation option and
- promote the reuse of materials where this is feasible.
