Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 September 2022
222. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the estimated cost to the State of implementing the proposal from the affected homeowners for the penalty-free downsizing of properties that have to be demolished and rebuilt under the remediation of dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks scheme in order that those homes will cost under the €420,000 cap to rebuild. [44685/22]
View answerFollowing on from the Government decision of the 30 November 2021 in respect of the enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme, the Government approved the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022 on 21 June and the Bill passed through both Houses of the Oireachtas and was subsequently signed into law by the President on the 23 July, 2022.
The purpose of this Act is to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and enhance the scheme as agreed by Government on 30 November 2021. Full details can be found at www.gov.ie/en/press-release/328d7-minister-obrien-welcomes-progress-on-enhanced-defective-concrete-blocks-grant-scheme/.
The grant awarded to an applicant under the Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, where the remediation option is full demolition and rebuild, will be based on the size of the original dwelling or the size of the home the grant recipient intends to build in the case of downsizing. I and the Government have an obligation to the Exchequer and participants in the scheme to ensure that the grants approved are appropriate to the size of home being rebuilt and that homeowners rebuilding a home of the same size are commensurately grant aided. Setting up a two tier grant system with different grants for the same home size would be fraught with difficulty.
I wish to emphasis that the scheme does facilitate downsizing and whilst downsizing may not be financially rewarded under the scheme it would incorrect to state that the scheme financially penalises homeowners who choose to downsize.
