Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-10
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Charles Ward (RDR), Donegal

I move amendment No. 16:
In page 6, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following:
“ Amendment of section 5 of Principal Act
4. Section 5 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (5):
“(5) A designated local authority shall be responsible for the performance, in its designated local authority area, of the functions assigned to it by or under this Act, and shall, within 3 months of the end of each quarter, publish on its website a summary of:
(a) the number of applications received;
(b) the number of decisions issued under sections 17, 18, 22, 23A and 23B;
(c) average and median decision times;
(d) number of appeals lodged and their outcomes; and
(e) such other statistics as may be prescribed.”.”.
Amendment No. 16 is essential because homeowners have no visibility of how long applications take or where delays are happening. Councils are already struggling, with ancillary grants taking months. Effectively, it is becoming very hard for local authorities to make progress due to the number of staff moving. There is a bottleneck that means families are stuck waiting. If the Minister resists this, it shows he is adding to the council’s workload. The council has been put to the pin of its collar and is not resourced enough.
Amendment No. 50 seeks to introduce accountability and transparency into a system that has long been opaque. By requiring the Minister to produce an annual report on the operation of sections 23A and 23B, the Parliament and the public will finally have a clear, factual picture of how the defective concrete remediation scheme is working and functioning. Homeowners, the Oireachtas and stakeholders will know how many applications are received, validated or referred to the Housing Agency, how long decisions take, which remediation options have increased and the outcome of appeals, which is very important. No one should have to rely on redacted FOIs and ink-covered paper. This amendment would be a great help.
Amendment No. 55 would ensure that every decision must be published in anonymised form within 90 days, showing the facts, reasoning and outcomes. Homeowners are trapped in appeals that can last for years, while the Housing Agency hides behind claims of independence. We have the Housing Agency and the Appeals Board passing the buck from one to the other, while both are operating like a secret service with no timelines or transparency. Homeowners deserve to see how these decisions are made. Enough of the secrecy and delay. Families should be able to pursue their lives without stress and uncertainty. Transparency is needed so they can trust the system.
Amendment No. 56 is necessary because the Minister must make public how deleterious materials are detected, where problems are occurring and what risks are emerging. Risks are emerging everywhere. We need to make people aware of this. Publishing regional patterns and international comparisons helps to prevent repeated mistakes in the future, allows for early intervention, which is important, and builds trust that the Government and the scheme are operating together. Where we have pockets of pyrite, pyrrhotite and other deleterious materials, we can see it coming and react to it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:27+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-10