Virtually nothing that the Minister of State said has not already been communicated to me and other Deputies in the constituency by way of parliamentary questions. It does not address the central question. Right now, people who live in Adamstown, Lucan and Clondalkin desperately need the high-frequency DART service into and out of the city centre to be delivered, as was originally promised, by 2030. Nobody understands why, when the NDP expenditure plan was published in November, no funding was allocated for DART+ S…

Sinn Féin will be supporting both sets of exempted development regulations. They are modest and reasonable and, in our view, they are sensible. We have no issue with them proceeding. However, I will put on the record of the Dáil my deep dissatisfaction at the manner in which the Minister has processed these regulations. As Members will know, this is the second time these regulations have been brought before the committee and the House in the space of a few short weeks. They were originally presented as a single reg…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to make emergency provision to defer the termination dates of certain tenancies that fall, or would fall, during the period beginning on the day after the date of the passing of this Act and ending on 1 July 2026 in order to mitigate the risk that persons whose tenancies would otherwise be terminated during that period would be unable to obtain alternative accommodation; to make such provision on a phased basis to enable tenancies affected to be term…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I thank the Minister for his opening remarks. This is an entirely unacceptable way to introduce significant legislative changes to the Building Control Acts. Building control may not be a matter of huge media or public interest but it is absolutely essential to the well-being of people in their homes. We know that because we are currently dealing with the general scheme of the legislation to introduce a redress scheme for the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of homeowners and tenants impacted by building defect…

I will respond to the Minister. It is clear that the Minister does not actually understand the significance of the amendment that has been tabled by Deputy Ward. The problem is that deleterious materials in concrete are not confined solely to concrete blocks. They are in poured concrete and other materials. One of the fundamental weaknesses of the original regulations and the former Minister, Darragh O'Brien's 2022 scheme is that they confine the issue of deleterious materials to block only. I know the Minister is …

It would be helpful if the Minister were to provide a little more context for amendment No. 63 and the circumstances in which those regulations may be used. What is the origin or intention of this amendment? This is just to help us fully understand its purpose and scope, and whether it relates to the more substantive issue of amendment No. 74 and the regularisation process related to the Building Control Acts. With respect to amendment No. 74, in my contribution to the motion of instruction that we discussed earlie…

I move amendment No. 5: In page 5, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “ Report on gap between cost of remediation and grant under scheme 2. Within 3 months of the passing of this Act the Minister shall lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report examining the gap between the actual cost of remediation for eligible homeowners and the grant provided under the scheme. The report shall set out recommendations for reform of the defective concrete block scheme to ensure that it provides 100 per cent …

I will press amendment No. 5.

I move amendment No. 6: In page 5, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “Report on legislative changes necessary for end-to-end remediation scheme 2. Within three months of the passing of this Act the Minister shall lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report detailing the necessary changes to primary and secondary legislation to allow for the operation of an end-to-end remediation scheme for all those impacted by defective concrete blocks and related building materials.”.

I move amendment No. 7: In page 5, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “Report on barriers to inclusion in scheme 2. Within three months of the passing of this Act the Minister shall lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report examining barriers to full inclusion of affected homeowners and others in the scheme including: (a) the operation of the damage threshold; (b) the issue of semi-detached properties; (c) the issue of side-by-side remediation; (d) the issue of retrospective payments. The rep…

I am not at all clear on what this amendment does and its relevance for a semi-detached dwelling, for example, where one dwelling is deemed to be awarded a grant the other has previously not been. It might be helpful if the Minister were to try and explain in plain English, particularly in a case where you have attached or semi-detached dwellings, what this amendment is trying to do. Obviously, as Deputy Mac Lochlainn outlined, this is a very significant issue. It is one where we have had examples in Mayo, Donegal …

My question is kind of the same as the first time. The Minister of State said this provides greater flexibility and it will effectively allow for the bypassing of that damage threshold. Will the Minister of State try to give us an explanation of how that is going to work? Having read this amendment four or five times, I am not clear. Is the Minister of State saying that if there are two homes side by side and both have applied for inclusion in the scheme, and one has been awarded a grant but the other has not becau…

After Dublin.

Without repeating the same argument, it would be helpful if the officials could produce a briefing note on how this is going to work that could be shared with the Oireachtas housing committee, for example. The committee members could share it with their colleagues. I am not at all clear how and against what criteria it will operate. It is clear the Minister is not going to give us that information here. That is fine but even a short briefing note from the officials explaining how they envisage this measure will wor…

I fully support the amendments, but I would like to make a comment on the section before we proceed. We have spent the past three and a half hours dealing with a wide range of deficiencies within the scheme, but section 8 is the substantive element of the legislation. It relates to the application for an increase to the remediation option grant. That is something for which people on this side of the House, particularly those from the impacted counties, have been making the case for quite some time. It is important …

The Minister has not explained the reason for the date. Let me just emphasise the chronology here. When Darragh O'Brien rushed through the legislation in 2022, the expectation was it would take some time for the regulations for the revised scheme to be completed. The Minister was crystal clear that he did not want homeowners to wait until the new regulations were introduced and therefore he gave a public commitment that if they proceeded to apply for inclusion in the original scheme, when the regulations for the ne…

The definition of "madness" is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result and that is exactly what the Minister is doing with this so-called plan. It is not a new plan and anybody with a shred of honesty who has read it would say that plainly. It is the same old failed policies repackaged, rebranded and re-presented one more time but this time with far less feeling. In fact, the only changes in this document from those of the Minister’s predecessors are the reintroduction of policies …

Well said.

I do not know if the Minister is a cinema fan, but he may at one point in his life have seen Terry Gilliam’s futuristic sci-fi movie “Brazil”. Having listened to the Minister's speech and having read the notes twice before and watched back his interaction with the committee - I was sick last week so I could not attend - it is a little bit like something from the movie, which means that I have no idea what he just said. I am going to be very honest with him. This is not to challenge it; we are not opposing this prop…