Defective Building Materials Dail Éireann — 2026-03-25 ============================================================ Joe Cooney (FG), Clare The defective concrete block issue is causing huge concern for those affected. The process is long, complicated and stressful. Those who have been approved but who have appealed that decision also find themselves in no man's land, with no information on how their appeal is being dealt with. In January I submitted a parliamentary question asking for the number of appeals made to date under the defective concrete blocks scheme, the number of appeals that had been heard by county and by year, and the current timeline for determination on appeals lodged. All of these would appear to be a reasonable ask of a body tasked to do this work. Nobody asked for personal details, just a breakdown of the work of the panel on a regular basis. The reply I received was not good, which is why we are here today. While I fully agree the appeals panel should be independent of the Minister, the Department and the Housing Agency, that does not mean they should not ask for and receive regular updates on the work being delivered. When elected Members such as me ask for that information, I should get it without any delay. The fact that I do not raises questions. I understand there were up to 180 appeals at the end of 2025, with a number of them coming from my county of Clare. Some of them have no idea as to when they will get a decision, which is disappointing. One family who were in touch with me lately are ready to start but can do nothing until their appeal is heard. They surely have a right to know when that will happen so they can make plans. It is in the interests of the people who have appeals in the system to have them dealt with as fast as possible. It is not too much to ask that they might have some guideline as to how long the appeal will take. It is also in the public interest to know that a body doing work on behalf of the State is held accountable for it. We cannot manage what we do not measure. If there is no obligation for the panel to provide such regular updates, then there is little hope this work will be delivered in a timely manner. I am not asking for a State secret to be shared. I would just like for the work of the panel, the number of appeals submitted and decided and the length of time taken to reach the decisions, which is important, to be published on a monthly or quarterly basis, as the affected householders deserve. --- 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/dail/2026-03-25/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-25