Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 November 2021
277. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a house affected by pyrite owned by an Irish family that are now living outside of Ireland can be included in the defective concrete blocks scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57104/21]
View answerRegulations were made under sections 2 and 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1979, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to provide for a grant scheme of financial assistance to support affected homeowners in the counties of Donegal and Mayo to carry out the necessary remediation works to dwellings that have been damaged due to defective concrete blocks, entitled Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 25 of 2020).
Within the Regulations, section 5 (1) (b) and (c) provides for the application of the scheme to the principal private residence only. The priority of the current scheme therefore is to ensure that homeowners living in affected dwellings as their principal private residence are helped to the fullest extent within the funding resources currently available.
In response to concerns expressed by homeowners, I established a time bound working group with representatives from the Department, the local authorities and homeowner representative groups, to review and address any outstanding issues in relation to the operation of the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme. The terms of reference for this group included issues such as grant caps, homeowner contributions, eligible homes and allowable costs etc.
I received the final report of the Working Group on Defective Concrete Blocks in early October and since then have engaged in extensive consultation with stakeholders and Government colleagues on the matter. Following completion of this consultative process I intend bringing a memorandum to Government, in the immediate term, setting out proposals for improvements to the existing scheme, its future administration and various other matters raised in the Report of the Working Group.
