James Browne: Moves to Designate Fingal & Wexford for DCB Relief

Last Ciann Comhairle, Members, I welcome the opportunity today to outline for you the motion to designate parts of the administrative areas of Fingal and County Council and of Wexford County Council under remediation of dwellings damaged by the use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022. During my time as Minister, I have had the opportunity to meet with many people that the Defective Concrete Blocks issue affects. I have listened to their concerns directly, as well as to the issues raised by local representatives and advocacy groups on this matter. I am very much aware that whilst the nexus of the DCB issue is concentrated in the north-west of the country, it does unfortunately also affect the numbers of houses in other parts of Ireland as well. Wherever it does, Government stands ready to offer financial assistance to help people fix their homes and help them to move on with their lives. It is for that reason that I am here before you this evening in this House to put forward this motion, which will extend the hand of assistance under the Defective Concrete Block scheme to parts of two more local authorities, Fingal and Wexford. The number of homes affected in both administrative areas are thankfully relatively low. While mindful of the costs involved and our responsibility to ensure taxpayer funding is reportedly spent, this Government remains committed to flexibility and fairness when it comes to dealing with the situation faced by those affected by Defective Concrete Blocks. Section 5 of the Defective Concrete Block Act 2022 provides a mechanism whereby if additional local authorities believe homes in their functional area have been damaged by Defective Concrete Blocks, they can request inclusion in the scheme via the established mechanisms. This statutory designation process can commence following a request by a local authority or by me as the Minister to the Housing Agency. The Housing Agency then conducts a technical testing of dwellings in each local authority administrative area. As soon as practicable, after the completion of any testing, the Housing Agency makes a recommendation to me as Minister whether an order to designate the whole or part of a local authority's administrative area should or should not be made by Government. Both Fingal County Council and Wexford County Council, along with the Housing Agency, have now completed this process. The Housing Agency provided me with detailed reports and laboratory test results, confirming the Housing Agency's recommendation to me that an order be made under section 5.9 of the Act designating a part of Fingal County Council's and Wexford County Council's administrative area as being covered by the DCB scheme. The areas covered in Fingal are Ballybacal, Lusk, Rush and Skerries, and a total of 39 dwellings. The areas covered in Wexford are covered by Clodagh and Innescorty, with one dwelling in each location. Damages to dwellings within both administrative areas confirms there are dwellings exhibiting the typical defects as identified by the standard that underpins the DCB scheme, IS465. Some of the typical defects encountered include disintegrated blocks and pattern-like cracking. The damage is evident to dwellings at various different locations across the local authority areas. Looking briefly to the past, deputies will recall that the first defective concrete block grant scheme, often referred to as the 9010 scheme, came into effect in January 2020 and included counties Donegal and Mayo. Building on the work of that scheme, the Government approved a remediation of dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks bill 2022. On 21 June, the bill passed through the boathouses of the Oireachtas and was subsequently signed into law by the President on 23 July 2022. This current scheme includes an unprecedented suite of improvements and still represents, I believe, the largest state intervention in addressing defective concrete buildings anywhere in the world, with the scheme estimated to cost approximately €2.2 billion, excluding inflation. Changes introduced by the original legislation include a Government guarantee in regard to remediation works rather than full demolition and rebuild through eligibility for a second grant if required for a period of 40 years, provision of alternative accommodation costs, storage costs and immediate repairs, a key role for the housing agency, the extension of the scheme to Clare and Limerick, introduction of an appeals panel and the increased scheme cap and grant rates. In 2024, the grant scheme cap was increased again by the maximum permitted by 10% to €462,000, along with an increase in the scheme grants rates. Saigon County Council also became the fifth area to be designated under the scheme in 2024. I now propose to add parts of the administrative areas of Fingal and Wexford local authorities under the scheme. The designation brought forward today aims to further improve access to the grant scheme for impacted homeowners in these areas, and I believe the designation would go a long way to address the needs raised by the homeowners in their correspondence with my Department. The draft motion today follows on from the recent DCB Amendment Act 2025, which was passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas in December last. Deputies will recall some of the main provisions of the Act, which also assist homeowners in the newly designated areas of Fingal and Wexford. The Act widened a group of relevant owners that can avail of the recent increases in the grant scheme cap and rates. It also extended the time within which homeowners can complete the works to their houses. These necessary changes were as a direct result of the continuous engagement by my Department and the local authority sector with homeowners. It illustrates our commitment to continuous engagement and improvement when it comes to this significant scheme. The Memo for Government on the General Scheme for DCB in June 2022 noted the cost estimate for the scheme as €2.2 billion, excluding inflation. A provision was made within the cost estimate for the homes thought to be impacted and eligible for grant assistance within the counties of Gunnigal and Mayo, and the likely number of impacted homes if the scheme were to be extended to counties Clare, Limerick, Sligo and Tipperary. Given the possibility that the spread of impacted homes could be wider than these six counties, and to be prudent, an additional 1,100 homes are included in the overall 7,500 estimate of the number of homes expected to be eligible for grant assistance, which inform the estimate. My Department keeps all aspects of the scheme under continuous review, and I am conscious that since this estimate was made, new information has come to light from the local authority sector and others. That means this costing has to be looked at again, and this process is in progress now within the Department. The cost implications of the inclusion of Fingal and Wexford is based on the reports that I have received, and it is difficult to estimate with a high degree of accuracy. However, based on the average cost of remediation under the scheme currently, albeit in different and lower-cost areas of the country, the likely number of dwellings affected at an approximate cost of £15.5 million is predicted. It is important to note that this will be incurred over a number of years, so the cost of any one-year will, in the context of the overall scheme costs, be minimal and will not involve any additional requests for funding from the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation at this time. I will conclude by saying that, while I am satisfied that the scheme is delivering for many homeowners in affected counties, with more than €235 million spent on the scheme to date, I remain acutely aware that it needs to be closely monitored and changed as our experience and knowledge of this complex issue develops. The motion to extend the scheme to more affected areas is reflective of this commitment. This motion, if passed, will bring the total number of counties designated under the scheme to seven in total, and it builds on the Government funding for DCB work that continues to be provided as and when required on an annual basis, with a record €175 million allocated to fund the scheme in 2026. I have met with various stakeholders throughout my time as Minister, including representatives from action groups, along with a large number of county councillors from all parties and none, and senior management of local authorities. Each group raised important matters, including the need to extend the eligibility of the scheme to more administrative areas. I know that many adjustments such as this designation are essential interventions, and I would like to place on record my appreciation for the collaboration we have had to this stage with members of local authorities in assisting us in progressing this as it is urgently required. I want to assure that homeowners receive the help that they need, and today's motion is another key step in further assisting homeowners. With the support of the houses, I hope to have this progressed very shortly. I look forward to hearing the contributions from the deputies on this matter.