Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-11
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Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I welcome the Minister and his officials. I acknowledge the enormous amount of work that has been on this matter. I served for nearly ten years on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and this was a matter we discussed at great length. Senator Blaney is right that there were many detractors of some of the proposals. Emotions ran high in both Houses, but we must remember that we are talking about people's homes. We are talking about people who were strapped for cash and whose homes were crumbling under the ground. There was an expectation that they could build like for like. I do not say I agree with that, but that was an expectation.
I know Buncrana and that part of Donegal more than other parts, but today I want to just focus on Donegal. Members may have heard on the BBC the other night commentary on Donegal in regard to this matter. I am sure RTÉ did likewise. I want to touch on a few issues. The Department confirmed that more than €235 million has been spent on redress so far. It says that, as of October, 1,700 remediation determinations have been issued so far, with remediation works completed on more than 320 buildings and commenced on more than 1,000 others. However, a member of Donegal County Council, Joy Beard, who is one of the 100% Redress campaigners, expressed serious concerns and warned that thousands of families are still in dire straits, living in homes where the conditions are unsafe and unhealthy in the run-up to Christmas. Whether it is the run-up to Christmas or to Easter, nobody should be in that situation. Ms Beard said many householders cannot come up with the upfront costs they need to participate in the scheme, they cannot make up the shortfall between the grant and the building costs and there is not enough accommodation for these families to be rehoused at a time of housing crisis. I do not doubt that the Minister understands all of that, because I know he does. That is important.
I want to look back. That is one of the reasons I took the example of the 100% Redress campaigners. Let us be realistic. They received a mandate in the local elections – Joy Beard in south Inishowen, Tomás Seán Devine in Letterkenny, Ali Farren in north Inishowen and Denis McGee - and we have one 100% Redress TD. There was clearly a lot of anger, disappointment and expectation. They have democratic mandates from the people they represent, as do others. No less than them, I also pay tribute to those members of all parties and none who have advocated strongly. There is a real focus now and a feeling that something needs to be done. I looked at the commentary of the 100% Redress campaign but I also looked at members of Sinn Féin, who are very strong in this area as well, as are all parties.
The common themes are that all rental properties and those being zoned at community level by local authorities and community-based organisations should be included in the scheme; a grant rate must reflect the cost of the rebuild in accordance with modern building regulations; emergency funding should be released quickly to the most vulnerable and all those occupying unsafe properties; and an audit is required of all public buildings to understand the full extent of the problem. These are all extracts from contributions and media comment. There are demands that the Government, its agencies and local authorities provide suitable temporary accommodation as a matter of urgency; promote and continue scientific research into the cause of the defective blocks; and require local authorities to publish monthly statistics on the status of applications, the number of properties remediated, the grants, the moneys outstanding and the time taken to get on with the inquiries. That is the scenario. I do not think any of us need a lecture on that. We all understand that across these Houses.
I acknowledge the importance of the Bill. I want to work with the Minister, as I know many Members of this House want to do. We know and acknowledge the significance of this Bill, the purpose of which is:
to amend the eligibility criteria for applications for grants in respect of alternative accommodation…to provide for a further mechanism for the assessment of certain attached dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks [I acknowledge that this is all clearly set out in the Bill]; to provide for an application for an increase in the amount of a grant for remediation of certain dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks; to amend the time limit for the payment of a grant for remediation; to provide for the construction of a new dwelling in exceptional circumstances; to provide for the review of certain approved remediation options and a procedure for the approval of a new remediation option and grant; to enable certain joint owners to become relevant owners; to provide for charging orders for additional payments and their release; to provide for information sharing between specified public bodies; to amend and extend the Building Control Act 1990 to provide for regularisation certificates of compliance on completion in certain circumstances ...
The Minister is proposing a good suite of measures in the Bill. I am not going to rush in here with a load of meaningless amendments that are not going to get us far. What we need to do now is progress these key objectives. It is very important that we progress what the Minister is setting out in this Bill and that we talk in the coming days. I looked at the debate in the Dáil and saw where it went. At the end of the day, the people who are expected to live in these circumstances need support and redress. I support the direction of this Bill. What we need to focus on is the timing of all of this.
The message I will leave with the Minister is that we need communication. Where there is a void or an absence of accurate information, discontent arises. It is a very difficult situation. There are communities pitched against communities. In recent years, there have been difficulties for politicians on all sides on this matter. People are frustrated, disappointed and angry. They have seen their homes crumble with no hope of fixing them. It is a very difficult situation for everyone involved. We need to progress this legislation. I hope the Minister will respond in a fair manner to amendments because it does not augur well for this Government or the previous one that most amendments that come to this House on any matter are rejected. We have seen in the past three weeks that most Ministers come into this House, read bits of paper, thank us for our contributions and say they are sorry that they cannot deal with the issue in question. That is not a respectful way to deal with the Upper House. If the Minister is reasonable and fair and comes halfway to addressing some of these amendments, we will progress this Bill.
I do not doubt the commitment of the Minister or his officials to the Bill, but I urge him to please use the time to communicate well the progress. That is what people want. It gives us hope when we go there and see houses being built and people moving into homes. I have been there. I have walked around the place and met with people. I have sat with them and listened to their stories. They are deeply frustrated and hurt and they do not have a bob in their pocket to put it right. They expect the State to step in. We must remember that it was light-touch regulation or no regulation that allowed this situation to happen. We would not be in this situation if we had proper controls and systems to prevent what has happened. I urge the Minister to communicate well and to engage in a meaningful way on the amendments. I believe we can progress this legislation. There is a pathway here, through what the Minister has set out in this Bill, to remedy the situation and give confidence. It is going to be slow, costly and challenging but together we can make a difference for the people who live there.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:27+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11