It is a very important scheme. I am glad the Deputy referenced that it is an enhanced scheme, an improved scheme on what was there before. We all know its purpose, which is to remediate dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks. We passed the Act to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and greatly enhance the current grant scheme and that was agreed by Government on 30 November 2021. The 2022 Act will be commenced once the related regulations have been final…

In the first instance, I would like to inform the Deputy that we have to work through this, and I believe people will understand the regulations are important to underpin the scheme and its operation. There is no pause on applications coming through. Anyone who applies to the previous scheme will get the uplift of the new scheme and, thankfully, people are applying and we are seeing an increase in applications. The Housing Agency has boots on the ground in Donegal, with a specific team there. It is also providing a…

Yes, it is for defective blocks and I want to be very clear on that. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, in particular, has been in contact with me, as have other interested Deputies, on that point. I believe there will be a very small number of homeowners in the affected regions who have had work completed. It will have to be certified and invoiced appropriately, etc., for it to access the scheme but I intend that will be part of the regulations we publish. Importantly, when these regulations are published, the join…

With regard to certified works, works which have been done already and on the retrospective element of that, we will look at the date. We will be flexible and we will do that in consultation with representatives. It is only fair and proper that we do that and it will be a very small number of properties. Just to let the Deputy know, we have had 150 applications in Donegal which have been processed and have gone through the stages since December. We have also provided assistance there to ensure people’s applications…

There is not quite 500 of those.

Local authorities have asked the Housing Agency to look through those cases. If we had accepted the views of some others in the Opposition to wait until IS 465 was fully interrogated, we would not have the scheme up and running now. It is important it is and that it is there. We will take on board the feedback we get and the research done on IS 465, which we will look at and share with Deputies also. It is moving now and that is a good thing.

I thank the Deputy for his question. Budget 2022 provided record levels of investment to support housing programmes, levels which we have not seen before, including for the delivery of increased levels of social and affordable homes. Exchequer funding of €4 billion was made available, comprising €2.6 billion in capital and €1.4 billion in current funding. Additional capital funding was available through the Housing Finance Agency and the Land Development Agency. As I have already stated publicly, my Department put …

I will refer to a couple of the examples used by the Deputy. He mentioned the paying down of local authority debt. Does he know why they are doing that? There are encumbered sites throughout this country that have not been able to be developed for the social housing the Deputy says he wants because the local authorities have been carrying a very significant debt, some of them for up to two decades. We have used that reallocation to local authorities on the basis that they will deliver and start to build on 38 diffe…

On the delivery of our affordable housing programme, I remind the Deputy that he and his party voted against the Affordable Housing Act. For the very people who are living with their folks-----

-----later than they would like to, we have now provided avenues for them to get into home ownership. That is why 16,700 first-time buyers were able to buy their own homes in the past 12 months, many of them through the first home scheme, which had more than 800 approvals. Again, the Deputy's party opposed that scheme. Many of them used the help-to-buy grant that gives them €30,000 of their own tax back, which, again, the Deputy opposed. He cannot have it both ways. We will never turn this around-----

-----in a year or two years. However, I am pleased to say to the Deputy that we will quite significantly exceed the target of 24,600 in overall delivery set for 2022, which is a big step up from the previous year. We have a very good pipeline for 2023. We will deliver more new-build social homes in 2022 than we have done in decades. I am fully open to criticism. That is what I would expect from the Opposition and that is fine. However, some constructive criticism and acknowledging progress is also important, as is …

-----or to build on State-owned land, such as that in respect of the Land Development Agency, was again opposed by him.

I know what Deputy O'Callaghan is against-----

-----but I have no idea what he and his party are for.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 88, 101, 103, 114, 138, 158, 161 and 220 together. I thank all the Deputies for their questions and the number of Deputies asking shows how important this matter is in relation to legacy defects. I know Deputies of all parties and none have been working hard on this. We know there are significant legacy defects in a large number of apartments and duplexes and as a result many owners of apartments and duplexes face really difficult and dire financial situations alongside, and we cann…

I thank the Deputies for their questions which I will go through starting with Deputy Conway-Walsh, if the other Deputies do not mind. As I mentioned earlier, and as I discussed with both the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, a very small number of properties under the defective concrete block scheme may have had work done already. What I said about certification is that a qualified engineer has to certify that the work is of a required standard, that it is invoiced correctly…

Deputy Gould would probably object to it.

Like Sinn Féin's guys.

I thank the Deputy for the question. On overdue decisions within the board, I met with the new board of An Bord Pleanála last week and have asked it to come forward with a plan for the backlog, particularly but not exclusively in areas of residential development. We have provided over the past 12 months sanction for an additional 59 staff so far. This Thursday I will publish the consolidated planning Bill, the most significant reform of planning legislation embarked on since at least 2000. It will continue our refo…

I thank the Deputy for his question. The issue of outages in Galway has been raised by the Deputy and by some of his Dáil colleagues. I will contact Niall Gleeson, the chief executive of Irish Water. I am in regular contact with him. It is important Deputies are aware that Irish Water now has a €6 billion capital programme to deal with legacy issues we have had for decades. Having said that, communication is key and Oireachtas Members should be contacted and kept informed when issues arise. Following the Deputy’s i…