Defective Concrete Blocks Social Homes Scheme 2026: Motion
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF), Donegal

The issue is that the Minister has been listening to the wrong people. He has been to Donegal and he has listened to some of the homeowners but he has been listening to the wrong people. I am genuine about this and I ask him to go back and engage with some of the affected homeowner groups and speak to more than just his own party colleagues in the county. The scheme is leaving huge numbers of people behind. The Minister and I know the reason he has not introduced a fully funded scheme, as he would have with any other local authority or approved housing body project, is because of the failings of the original scheme. The Minister knows that if he publicly announced a fully funded scheme for the local authorities he would expose that the primary scheme does not involve 100% redress.
If we took it as read that Donegal County Council, for example, would have to go ahead with this, the matched funding could potentially be €100 million. This is the reality because of the gap multiplied by the number of houses. The Minister is doing this at a time when we have a new standard. He is telling the local authorities not to test the concrete foundations even though the new standard says they should. He is telling them they could replace the outer leaf when the new standard says they cannot. It is actually in defiance of the science to go ahead with a new scheme based on what looks like the previous standard, which has been discredited.
The Minister has not consulted with the local authorities and approved housing bodies. This does not have their fingerprints on it. It is the Minister trying to match up with the existing scheme. He is making a huge mistake, as my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, has said. We cannot block this motion going through today as we are not going to stop money going to local authorities to move on with this but it is just wrong.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23