It is disappointing but, sadly, not surprising that there is so little mention of the defective concrete crisis in the new housing plan. It is a crisis that has impacted my native County Donegal and many countries throughout the whole country, and worse, it is referred in this to as a legacy issue. This is far from a legacy issue. It is alive and present and persistent. It is happening right now, and inaction will guarantee that this will continue into the future. It is a lived reality every single day for many of my constituents in County Donegal. It is the reason that homeowners cannot keep homes warm any more for families this winter. It is the reason children now fear weather warnings and the reason that every happy moment is tainted, as I said to the Minister, like me trying to put the Christmas lights up on a wall that no longer exists and is just plaster. This is not a legacy issue. This is my daily life and that of everybody else affected - thousands of us. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg, and the denial from the Government is staring us straight in the face. We need this sorted. It is basically in every county in Ireland. It is in Wexford right now as we speak in the Minister's constituency. I have been down there. People have shown me. We have a pyrrhotite issue there and a pyrrhotite issue in Donegal. It is the same problem with defective concrete geographically at two different ends of the country. It is not going away, and the Minister needs to do something about it.

Sentiment score: -0.12