TD condemns decision to skip scrutiny of new defective blocks legislation

Deputy Charles Ward has slammed the decision of the Oireachtas Housing Committee to waive pre-legislative scrutiny of the forthcoming Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme (DCB) Amendment Bill.

The Redress Party TD described the move, taken by TDs during a private session from which the public and media were excluded, as a serious betrayal of homeowners and a failure of accountability.

He said the new legislation, which will amend sections of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022, contains serious flaws and fails to address issues that he and affected homeowners have been highlighting for months.

Deputy Ward said the Bill will exclude 43 homeowners who completed their rebuilds or repairs before the Government’s retrospective payment cut-off date, and will not allow for side-by-side rebuilding despite repeated assurances from Housing Minister James Browne that these measures would be included.

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Although not a member of the Oireachtas Housing Committee, Deputy Ward attended the meeting as a substitute for his technical group colleague, Deputy Brian Stanley (Laois).

“As both a TD and an affected homeowner, I am appalled that the Government has ignored the voices of families living in crumbling homes and have pushed a flawed Bill forward, behind closed doors,” the Redress Party TD said in a statement.

Speaking about the decision to waive pre-legislative scrutiny (PLS), he added: “I do not know how other Committee Members voted, and I was explicitly told that this information would not be disclosed. It was a cowardly move made behind closed doors, and it showed utter disrespect for homeowners and for the democratic process itself.”

Deputy Ward said the Minister for Housing requested the waiving of PLS due to the urgency of the situation, but described that as the same “hollow excuse” used by then Taoiseach Micheál Martin in 2022 to avoid scrutiny of the original scheme.

“We all saw the result - a dysfunctional, bureaucratic, and ineffective system that trapped families in endless delays. That was not urgency, it was negligence dressed up as action,” he said.

The Drumkeen-based TD described the latest decision as “a betrayal of those families and a stain on parliamentary oversight.”

“We have already waited this long, we could have waited a short while longer to get it right. Instead, the Minister chose to ram through a half-baked Bill that fails to deliver on the promises he made just months prior and leaves major issues unresolved.”

Deputy Ward continued: “I speak with affected homeowners every single day. They are not asking for shortcuts; they are asking for justice, for a process that works, a scheme that delivers, and a system that respects them.

“This amendment Bill should have been the moment to restore trust. Instead, the Government have chosen secrecy over openness, haste over honesty, and politics over people.”

Data released previously by the Department of Housing stated that 220 applicants had completed their repairs, while 977 homeowners had commenced rebuilding or repair work under the DCB scheme by the end of August.

Overall, the Department said there have been 2,870 applications to the scheme - including 2,198 from Donegal - of which 1,592 have been processed, accepted and approved for grant funding.

Grants for DCB homeowners are currently based on 2023 caps and construction rates.

The amending legislation will update the law to reflect increases approved by the Government more than a year ago, raising the scheme’s cap by 10% from €420,000 to €462,000, and increasing the square-foot construction rate by between 7.4% and 8.7%, depending on the property type.

Those increased payments and caps will be applied to homes where work was not concluded prior to 23 October 2024.