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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Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF), Donegal

I will try to follow the logic of what the Minister has said. He knows about the first scheme in 2020 and the second scheme in 2022. When the second scheme came in, the Government did not just look forward, it made sure that the early movers availed of the increased cap. So how on earth can the Minister argue differently now? In 2022 the people who came in through the original scheme were able to avail of the new caps that were introduced in 2022. There is no consistency here.
There is no point in us going back and forth tonight; I am not going to convince the Minister. However, he has the opportunity to bring an amendment into the Seanad. I appeal to him, without having a big blazing row back and forth, to please follow the logic of what he did in 2022 when the early movers were not punished. They were dealing with the same prices as the Minister knows. That report was developed through 2023 and into 2024. It is really cruel to leave these families behind. The Minister does not have to accept this tonight. I know that our amendments have been ruled out of order. We are appealing to him that when the Bill goes to the Seanad to make the amendment then and remove this arbitrary deadline. We should not punish early movers. The Minister should stay consistent with the approach his predecessor took in 2022. Flawed as that legislation was, at least it was good that the increased cap was available to those going through the scheme already.

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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