Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 January 2023
323. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if counties Clare and Limerick have been formally accepted into the defective concrete block remediation scheme; and the other counties that have formally applied to his Department to be included in the scheme. [3308/23]
View answerThe purpose of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 ('the 2022 Act') is to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and enhance the current grant scheme, as agreed by Government on 30 November 2021. The administrative areas of the following counties have been designated by the 2022 Act for the purposes of the enhanced grant scheme: Clare County Council; Donegal County Council; Limerick City and County Council; Mayo County Council.
Prior to the commencement of the 2022 Act, contact has been made with my Department by a number of local authorities not designated in the 2022 Act relating to potential defective concrete block (DCB) occurrences in their administrative area. Section 5 of the 2022 Act contains details on the process for the inclusion of additional local authority areas into the Enhanced DCB Grant Scheme, which, it should be noted, may include a request by me, as Minister for Housing, or a local authority to The Housing Agency, and whereby The Housing Agency thereafter carries out testing of dwellings in a given local authority administrative area. As soon as practicable after the completion of any testing, The Housing Agency shall make a recommendation to me, as Minister for Housing, that an order should or should not be made by the Government to designate the whole or part of a local authority's administrative area. Local authorities seeking to formally apply to be included in the enhanced grant scheme may do so upon commencement of the 2022 Act.
The 2022 Act will be commenced once the related Regulations have been finalised. Draft Regulations have been prepared, which will be the subject of consultation with key stakeholders before the Regulation are finalised and adopted in early 2023. It is intended that the consultation with key stakeholders, which will be conducted by the appointed Homeowners’ Liaison Officer, will commence before the end January 2023.
My Department has published a comprehensive “Your Questions Answered” to ensure homeowners have the most up to date information available to them. It can be accessed on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/775c0-defective-concrete-blocks-grant-scheme-your-questions-answered/
