First, I acknowledge the great work of Mayo County Council over many years working with a very difficult scheme. I particularly acknowledge the work of Clodagh Gleeson, who has helped many families through what is the most horrendous time. She has worked tirelessly, day and night, to assist many families in the most stressful time of their lives. This is such an important issue. It affects thousands of people and their homes. This issue has been going on for so many years and yet this Bill was only published by the Government today. This was an insult, not just to TDs in this House but to the families who have campaigned and who have been working so hard on this. This should have been an opportunity to engage with families like the ones who came up to Dublin last week from the Mayo pyrite action group. Those families were eagerly anticipating this Bill. I wanted to reach out to those families regarding this Bill but the Government failed to provide that chance. That is deeply cynical. It is wrong that the Minister has rushed such an important piece of legislation. He has not allowed any pre-legislative scrutiny in relation to this, one of the most important issues facing so many families across Mayo, Donegal, Clare, Wexford and in other pockets of this country. The increase of 10% is welcome and I certainly support that. We have campaigned for an increase and, indeed, the retrospective payment. However, does the Government not realise the level of construction inflation over several years? This scheme is still a capped scheme. It is still capped and will be now at €462,000. That is not 100% redress. It is important to remember this was a mistake not of the family's own making; it was the Government's lack of regulation that caused this. It was well able to charge VAT on these building projects but it was unable to provide the oversight necessary, and now these families are suffering as a result. While €462,000 might appear a lot and several years ago would have gone a significant way, have the Ministers of State priced building at the moment? It will not offer 100% redress for these families. It is only right and proper that the Government should go back to the drawing board, look into this and actually implement a scheme which has 100% redress. I do not believe it should be capped. I welcome the fact that, following consultation with the stakeholder oversight committee, the time to complete works will increase from 65 to 130 weeks but there are long delays. I was working with a family in Mayo which has been waiting over two years in relation to this committee. On the exclusions for early builders, I would like to ask what is the difference between a family who paid for a house in February 2024 and one who paid in April 2024. There are families in that scenario who will no doubt be ringing my office tomorrow. What shall we tell them? This is the Ministers' Bill and I would like a response to that. I welcome the amendment but there is a long way to go in addressing the issues so many families across Mayo face. A family in my constituency has been forced into making a retention planning application for an attic-space conversion. It will cost the family more money. I ask the Ministers of State to look at those issues which might seem small from their lovely seats in Leinster House but those issues force families to spend more money on a house that is crumbling. A workaround or solution could be found involving an engineer or a declaration from a solicitor. The family is not looking for meterage in relation to the conversion; it is just looking to get on the scheme but this is a barrier. All these issues create additional costs for families. The entire attitude of the Government needs to change. It needs to look at this not as a Government grant or subsidy that individuals are lucky or privileged to access. It is a compensation scheme for the State's failing. It is really important the Government changes its attitude to this. This is not a grant. I welcome the scheme but will continue to fight for the families to ensure we achieve 100% redress and address the many other issues in relation to this.

Sentiment score: 0.02