I appreciate the time to speak to this Bill, but I have to share the frustration that many others have expressed at how this has been handled and the fact we have only been able to access the Bill in the past number of hours. The Chief Whip addressed the issue on the Order of Business, but it will have a knock-on effect. She said we will have more time to debate the issue next week, but as somebody who attends the Business Committee many weeks, as deputy Whip of my own party, I know there is a queue of things we are all trying to get to talk about on the floor of the Dáil. I want to touch on a few key points about the March 2024 cut-off date, the downgraded homeowners, the remediation decisions based on IS 465 and the human rights impact. I want to give particular thanks to both Ms Marti McElhinney and Dr. Áine Sperrin, who both spoke to my office on the issue today and helped to inform my contribution. The people affected by defective concrete blocks have waited years for help. Today's rushed introduction of documentation is really problematic. In that context, the details of the changes unveiled at the eleventh hour represent the only urgency that is being shown in this process, which is the scrutiny of what is being put forward. It is absolutely vital to the families and communities affected by defective concrete blocks that we do this right and delayed publication, which impacts our ability to scrutinise the Minister's proposal, only undermines trust in a system that has already failed, and continues to fail, these people. This Bill leaves significant gaps for the affected families. The March 2024 cut-off date will continue to leave some homeowners behind. It does not fill me with confidence in a context where we are supposed to be righting a wrong that is arguably at least partially the State's wrong. The cut-off date represents an arbitrary line between those who do qualify and those who do not. This is despite the reassurances given to these very people that they would not face this kind of penalty. I cannot understand why this Department and Minister are insisting on a cut-off date that guarantees that this matter will not be fixed and will not be made right by the State. I also want to touch on the issue I mentioned of downgraded homeowners. Under this Bill, particularly section 15, we are still faced with the issue of homeowners trapped in a flawed process whereby the chartered engineers they must hire to assess their homes conclude that their homes require demolition, only for the Housing Agency to overturn those decisions and decide, without ever seeing a house, that it does not need to be demolished. Appeals that were lodged over the past two years are coming back, one by one, overruling those downgrades. Why are we tinkering around the edges of this issue and forcing these families to wait even longer when we know what needs to be addressed urgently? Many people in the Chamber have spoken about the human rights impact. We are seeing a clear breach of the public sector equality and human rights duty because people in similar situations are being treated differently by public bodies. We are seeing this inequality continue to intensify rather than be addressed. Time and again, the State expects families affected by defective concrete blocks all across the west of Ireland to navigate a complex, piecemeal and, at times, nonsensical system to get some form of redress. They are being treated differently than those in the Leinster schemes. Failing to uphold the human rights of these families costs them not just their dignity but also the rights to a home, to be treated with respect, to privacy and to health. The impact of these wrongs will be felt by this State for years as we bear the cost of fixing not only the original wrongs but the results of a bungled scheme that puts these families through more hardship and harm. I have a lot of connections with Donegal and visit it regularly, which is why I have chosen to speak on the issue for a second time. I speak to people who are affected by this issue and it has affected their lives so deeply. We need to take a minute to ensure we are all listening to the people whose lives are being so affected by this issue. Once again, I commend Deputy Charles Ward on his continuing and persistent work. I have said before that it must feel like he is shouting into a void because of the slow way things are being addressed.

Sentiment score: -0.08