Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 November 2023
95. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the emergency funding for interim fire safety works in buildings with fire safety and other defects; to provide a potential timeline on funding allocation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48980/23]
View answerI am at risk of turning into Deputy Durkan given I am asking the same question repeatedly.
That is not necessarily a bad thing
The Deputy has a long way to go.
I was referring merely to repetition.
The Deputy needs a full preamble.
Once again, members of the Not Our Fault campaign were outside Leinster House yesterday looking for the interim scheme in respect of housing defects. When will the scheme open and when will they be able to address the defects?
I answered this question earlier in response to Deputy Ó Broin but am happy to do so again. We will have another webinar for residents next Monday, which will be attended by representatives of the Housing Agency. Between 400 and 600 people have attended various webinars and we are directly engaging with residents in this regard. I want the interim scheme relating to fire defects to open for applications this month, if at all possible. I assure residents that the Government and the three parties that constitute it are fully committed to the scheme. We will need legislation next year - there is no question about that - but, in the meantime, we will open the applications for the interim measures to promote safety. We have done quite a lot of detailed work with the Housing Agency on specific apartment schemes as well. It was important to get the code of practice agreed because we need to know when people are applying what types of work can be done and what is in scope.
We needed the input of the chief fire officer, those experts and fire engineers as well. That took a lot of time - rightly so. We have now published that so there is clarity on what needs to be done and the process. We have also opened the information portal. A number of developments and individuals can now input their details into that. We are capturing a lot of that data. We will go through that specifically in the webinar on Monday evening. We are close to opening the interim scheme for applications.
As I mentioned to other Deputies earlier, on an administrative basis, for those who paid for works already, are certified and will meet criteria, we will early next year start reimbursing them and making retrospective payments. Where people and the management company are in a position to go ahead with works, they should, if they have the finance to do it. They will get that money back on a 100% basis. I hope that gives the Deputy an update. I thank him for his particular interest and engagement on this issue.
The code of practice and portal are welcome but they have been open for a while. I am representing the frustration of the Not Our Fault campaign and other constituents who are regularly outside protesting and looking for this. I appreciate what the Minister is saying around owners' management companies, OMCs, but the reality is there is tension between residents and many owners' management companies. The OMCs do not have the money and look to get it for the works from residents who do not have the money. There is a variety OMCs. There is a deep tension at times. There are issues with insurance and huge risk. The code of practice and portal are welcome but I have to give voice to that frustration that it is taking its time and has been slow. I welcome that it will open this month; I hope it does.
I was party to the negotiations on the programme for Government. There are apartments and schemes in my area and I have friends, family and constituents affected by this. I engaged directly with people right the way through. The legislation is important; that will be next year. This scheme will be with us for a number of years. It needs to be underpinned by primary legislation. I get that people want this done now but we have to make sure the interim and permanent schemes do what people want them to do. The commitment the Government has given to reimburse 100% of costs is crucially important. While I get that people have been frustrated with some delays this year, we have moved a long way forward. There is not just hope for people; there is certainty that we are stepping in based on a market failure, supporting residents and homeowners and moving forward with this. We intend to have the interim scheme for applications open this month.
