I welcome any additions to the scheme but the scheme is not right. The scheme we are talking about includes counties Limerick, Clare, Sligo, Donegal and Mayo and other areas. The latest data shows that 3,022 homeowners are at various stages of the scheme. Of those, 326 applicants have completed remediation works with a further 1,057 applicants having notified their relevant local authority. I welcome the 10% increase. I would like to read from a letter. As everyone knows - if they do not, they will now - I am in construction and have been for all my life. Block laying is my game. I know what I am talking about. Today I received a letter from Roadstone, a CRH company. It is addressed to me, so it is for me to read out: Dear Customer, Roadstone has faced sustained inflationary pressures over the past year. Significant cost increases across our supply chain continue to impact operations, compounded by rising wage costs, heightened regulatory requirements, and the implications of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The upcoming phase-out of free CO2 allowances, effective from 1 January 2026, will further intensify these challenges. As a direct consequence Roadstone Ltd. must inform all customers of our intention to increase our prices on 1st January 2026. Guess how much it is increasing its prices? It is increasing them by 8%. The Government is saying it is allowing 10% of an increase in costs. I can speak from my own experience. I am on site in the mornings at 7 a.m. I was on site this morning before I came here. I had two site meetings before I arrived up here today. I am on site meeting engineers and different people. Some people who put in applications are told that they do not qualify for 100% redress. They qualify for the outside walls of their houses to come down, but the inside walls are not being covered. That is specialised work. Contractors like me do specialised work. I do not do any work for local authorities. All my work is directly for people. It is specialised work and it costs more. The disposal of materials is specialised work. An engineer has to sign off the building after it is done. Under today’s regulations, you cannot build on the foundations that remain. We are being asked to build houses and replace blockwork, with a higher density block than we were using, on top of an existing foundation. Engineers will not sign off on it. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, spoke about accountability. I have just read from a letter I received from a company that was part, if not all, of the pyrite problem in this country. It has increased the price of materials for me over the last five years. It has gone up by 40%. The Minister talks about accountability. I told the Minister I would give him any help I could. I thank Deputies Ward and Mac Lochlainn for the work they have done. They have been at this from the very start, including the time I have spent on the housing committee with them. The Government has not listened to one word we have said. It does not take the experience from those who have it. During a debate on a Private Members' motion last week, we asked for people in the Civil Service who are working outside their own remit and doing wrong to be held accountable. I have a message for people who are doing wrong outside their own remit. The voting is narrowing every time there is an election. The day will come when the other side of the House will feel accountability for not acting on behalf of the people of this country. They are vulnerable. There are people it could help now if it showed some common sense. The Government came out with a scheme for engineers. You had to be under an engineering crowd. When we had HomeBond, did it do us any good? For six years, instead of looking after properties, we had to pay extra for them. Where are they? I think they are at home bonding, but they are not helping the people of Ireland. The Government is putting in place various agencies, including the engineering crowd I have just mentioned. I have structural engineers who would design infrastructure for you, but they are not qualified now to look at a pyrite house. These are structural engineers but they are not under the new system of the ones who are to sign off. The ones who are there to sign off for people to get a grant are not the same ones who will sign off to say someone's house is structurally sound. Where are we going? We are going around in circles. Let us circle the wagons again. Let us put another layer of bureaucratic bull where accountability should come into it. For God's sake, this thing has been rushed through. There has been no scrutiny of it and the Government has not listened to one word that we have said on it - not one word. The Government is going to let the same vulnerable people suffer over it. We hear 8% this week. Next month, it will be another 5% and the month after another 5%. Then the Government puts a 5% levy on top of that. If there is to be any accountability in this House, it will be on the day those on the opposite side of the House get out and allow people in here who know what accountability is, who will stand up for the people who are suffering, who will try to put regulations in place and deal with those who did wrong, including the concrete companies. The Government is still helping them every single day.

Sentiment score: 0.02