I thank Deputy Charles Ward and his group for putting forward this motion. Would anyone in the Dáil like to be one of the people living in the affected homes? That is the reality we are asking families to accept. We all know that buying a home is the biggest purchase most people will ever make. It is the biggest expense they will carry in a lifetime. More than that, a home is supposed to be a place of comfort, a place where, after a long day’s work, one can walk in the door and feel safe, secure and at peace. For many of the homeowners, that is not the case. Instead, they are going home to houses that are literally falling apart around them, with cracks in the walls and floors and shifting foundations. These are homes that no longer feel safe. While the physical damage to these homes is bad enough, we can only imagine the toll this is taking on people’s mental health, the stress, anxiety, sleepless nights and constant fear of what lies ahead. On top of all that, we are asking the families to make a permanent decision based on standards where even the science is still evolving. That is not fair and it is not right. Families did not build these homes incorrectly. They did not create the defective materials and they certainly did not write IS 465. The State chooses the standard. The State is asking people to rely on it and, if it is asking them to do that, it must stand over the standard completely. That means that where there is doubt, the benefit must go to the homeowner. It means that if there is any risk in retaining foundations, that risk cannot and must not rest on the shoulders of ordinary, hard-working families.

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