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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Christopher O'Sullivan (FF), Cork South-West

I propose to deal with amendments Nos. 16, 50, 55 and 56 as tabled by Deputy Ward. Amendment No. 16 proposes to replace text in section 5 of the Principal Act. It will require designated local authorities to publish statistics on a quarterly basis under various headings. My Department already maintains and publishes statistics relating to the scheme, updated on a monthly basis on its DCB webpage.
Any additional statistics required on foot of amendments contained in this Bill will be considered, where appropriate, and incorporated into the published scheme of statistics going forward.
Amendment No. 50 proposes to insert a new section in the Bill that would mandate the production of an annual report into the operation of sections 23A and 23B of the Bill, including various statistics. I am satisfied the reporting requirements contained in the principal Act are adequate as they include the full operation of the Act and amendments brought under the Bill will be encompassed in these reports where required. Furthermore, I have already pointed out my Department publishes monthly statistics pertaining to the grant scheme and the make-up of these statistics will be reviewed and updated where required upon commencement of the amendment Act. This will give real-time information that can easily be accessed online by Deputy Ward and, of course, other stakeholders.
Amendment No. 55 proposes to insert a new subsection that mandates the appeals panel to publish certain anonymised information pertaining to the decisions it makes. The appeals panel is already under significant pressure to issue decisions to appellants and mandating further work for it to undertake at this time is counterproductive. Statistics around the work of the appeals panel are under review and, where appropriate, will be published in due course. The appeals panel is statutorily independent of the Department and the Minister. It is a matter for it, in the first instance, regarding the information it provides. I understand it is open to looking at how it communicates its work. The Department stands ready to assist and fund this, if required, including, for example, the use of a bespoke appeals panel website. However, for now I understand the panel is quite rightly concerned about improving the speed at which it can issue decisions to homeowners and is concentrating its efforts on this issue for now.
Amendment No. 56 proposes an amendment to mandate the production of an annual report that summarises technical data that may be held by designated local authorities or the Housing Agency. Information of this nature does not relate to the operation of the grant scheme under the principal Act and for this reason I cannot support this amendment. For the reasons set out above, I am unable to accept these amendments.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:27+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-10