Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-11 ============================================================ Christopher O'Sullivan (FF), Cork South-West I thank Senators for their contributions. We have been bringing this through all Stages of the Dáil and Seanad and it is striking to hear the testimonies of a lot of the TDs and Senators. Some have lived through this themselves and experienced what it means to have a home built with defective blocks. Some people have family who have been impacted. I cannot but be moved by some of the heartbreaking stories we hear of people's experience, mainly in Donegal but in other counties as well. We are listening and that is why the Minister, Deputy James Browne, prioritised this as soon as he took up office. From the get-go, it was a priority to acknowledge that the scheme needed amending and changing, and that it needed to be more flexible. That is the is the purpose of the legislation. I want to thank Senators today for continuing to represent and be a voice for those people who have been impacted. The Bill itself intends to ensure that everybody affected by the defective concrete blocks crisis is fairly dealt with and supported. The amendments in this legislation are designed to improve upon what is already a comprehensive scheme for impacted owners. Every Senator here is keenly aware of the scale of the crisis that confronts us when it comes to defective housing. The scheme and the significant funding behind it is a clear illustration that the Government is committed to helping all those affected to fix their homes and to move on with their lives. The Government knows that impacted homeowners have been through a difficult and often distressing time. We accept that the current scheme, while working well, needs to be continuously monitored so that interventions can be made to allow the scheme to work as intended. What we are legislating for today is an improved, workable and fit-for-purpose scheme that responds to the issues raised by homeowners. The group of relevant owners who can avail of the most recent increases in the grant scheme cap and rates will widen thanks to this Bill. They will be able to claim this additional funding retrospectively. Homeowners who were given a non-demolition option and who are yet to commence or who ceased works by 6 November 2024 will be able to apply for a technical review of the remediation option and grant amount. The time that homeowners have to complete their works is doubled. This addresses the very real problem many were experiencing in sourcing contractors in the current building market. Last night on Committee Stage in the Dáil, two further amendments were introduced which I believe will make a very real difference to the lives of affected homeowners. The first allowed for a more flexible approach to be taken with regard to how semi-detached and terraced houses can be dealt with under the scheme. The second will assist certain vulnerable families, notably those with members with medical needs, by allowing them to rebuild their homes adjacent to their current damaged home. They will then be able to continue to live in their current home, a home that has often been very specifically adapted for family members. This should hopefully ease the burden and the understandable stress they were experiencing. The two Committee Stage amendments in particular show clearly that the Government has listened to the concerns of scheme participants and is ready for action when it is needed. Senators will be aware that the main objectives of the amendments to the Building Control Acts are to underpin, extend and strengthen the system of building control enforcement to support compliance with the building regulations. As previously outlined, the amendments to the Building Control Acts provide for a submission of certificates of compliance on completion prior to the opening, operation or occupation of the building; a regularisation process for certain works on buildings; the conferring on the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the power to make regulations relating to enforcement notices; the withdrawal of an enforcement notice; the opening of works in certain limited circumstances; the issuing of a warning letter; the extension of the powers of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to make building regulations; and the change of names of certain certificates issued under the Act; and to make the consequential amendments required to take account of these changes. In terms of the proposed regularisation process, the amendment provides for a process of regularisation for the uncommon situation whereby works have commenced or been completed on the building without submitting, by either act or omission, an appropriate valid notice to the building control authorities. This amendment does not intend to create an alternative to the current building control process. I want to assure all Members that while the primary function of the building regulations is to ensure the health and safety and welfare of people in and around buildings, these amendments will make certain that building regulations and building control regulations are further strengthened and clarified to benefit all stakeholders. The amendments contained in this Bill again clearly illustrate the Government's commitment to continue to improve the building control regime that is in place to ensure that required standards of buildings are met. In this context, it was agreed on Committee Stage last night that the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage will be consulted on giving effect to building control amendments and I look forward to that engagement in due course. I have listened carefully and with interest to the contributions made by Senators during the Second Stage debate. I thank them for their contributions and their generous support for the intent behind the Bill. I am confident that the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill can address the challenges being faced by affected homeowners and I call on all Senators to support the Bill. The passage of this very important legislation will be a further milestone along the road of better remediating the many homes impacted by defective concrete blocks. I believe that with this Bill, the Government has responded to homeowners' concerns and fears. We stand ready to continue to do this and I would point out that the impending update of the national IS 465 standard and the statutory requirement to review the 2022 Act will provide us with a platform for further contemplation in this regard. The passage of the legislation will be a significant step forward. I think we can all agree that these amendments will make a real difference. I look forward to enactment, preferably before the end of the year. I can assure the House that we will continue to work closely with all Members of the Oireachtas and listen carefully to their views as we move forward in this process. To put it simply, with this Bill, we are acknowledging that the original scheme needed tweaks and amendments. We were listening and what we heard was that there were incidents, especially when it came to conjoined, terraced and semi-detached houses where it was not fit for purpose. The Bill allows for a bypass of that damage threshold which was causing a lot of issues. One of the most important provisions in the Bill is the retrospective application of the increased cap as so many people were left outside of the availability of that increased cap. These are just two of the things that the Bill does. It does more than that. It improves the scheme and allows more people to access it. Therefore, I ask Members of this House to support the legislation. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. 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