Defective Building Materials
Dail Éireann — 2021-11-25
============================================================

Malcolm Noonan (GP), Carlow-Kilkenny

I thank Deputy McHugh for keeping this matter consistently on the agenda and doing so in a constructive manner, which is important.
Following the conclusion of the working group report and building on the cross-party Dáil motion of June 2021, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, wrote to Opposition spokespersons on housing to seek their views and input into potential changes to the scheme. The Minister has sought their views on major documents such as Housing for All, and has accepted Opposition amendments to legislation such as the Land Development Agency Act and the Affordable Housing Act. This initiative by the Minister and the approach he takes have to be commended in terms of trying to garner amendments and changes from Opposition spokespersons to help with the work he is doing. Deliberations and consultations are ongoing in respect of the range of issues identified in the report of the working group, and the Department has engaged with all stakeholders on the matter with a view to ensuring any proposed changes can be implemented as quickly as possible. It should be recognised, however, that the scheme is complex and there will be a lead-in time for implementation, with some potential changes requiring either amending regulations or perhaps new primary legislation.
The Minister intends to bring a memorandum to Government in the immediate term, setting out proposals for improvements to the scheme, its future administration and various other matters raised in the report of the working group. Once the decision on improvements to the scheme is made, further information relating to the sequencing and timelines will be available. Overall, there are three key principles which inform consideration of improvements to the scheme, namely, that they are timely, reasonable and consistent. I believe that is what the Deputy is requesting as well. I am confident the improvements to the scheme can meet these key objectives.

---

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/2021-11-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-11-25