I welcome this motion, and particularly the extension of the provisions to two designated areas in County Wexford. I thank the Minister for ensuring this happened and commend the work of the Housing Agency and Wexford County Council that allowed this to happen. The two areas concerned are, as the Minister indicated, in Bunclody and Ballyboy at Ferns. I was in a house in Ballyboy at Ferns. It was a family home of a hardworking and decent family. This is where they wanted to spend their lives. They invested their lives in this home and I could see the cracks in the walls and how the difficulties they faced caused unbelievable anguish to this family. I am conscious this is replicated across the country. These are hardworking, decent people who have contributed to their community, as others have to their communities all over Ireland. They were not at fault. There is still the case of those who sold the defective blocks. In whatever way we can, we need to take action against them, but hardworking and decent families deserve protection and that applies across the country. I welcome the extension. It has been discovered that these houses have been affected, but I hope the Minister will continue to allow a situation where, if problems are found at some stage in the future as a result of defective blocks in other houses in Wexford or other parts of the country, the scheme can be similarly extended. I thank the Minister for bringing forward this motion. I hope that the families who are affected in Bunclody and Ballyboy outside Ferns can now have some level of security as a result of this and that every support will be made available to them by the Department and the relevant agencies.

Sentiment score: 0.08