Defective Building Materials

Tuesday, 28 July 2026

Questions (1600)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

1600. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if, as part of the current review of the defective concrete blocks grant scheme following the publication of I.S. 465:2026, he will amend the scheme to ensure that homeowners who were downgraded from option 1 to option 2 by the Housing Agency, but who proceeded with option 1 works at their own expense before the publication of the revised standard, are entitled to receive the difference between the option 2 and option 1 grant amounts, where the revised standard confirms that demolition and rebuild was the appropriate remediation option; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54943/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 as amended by the Act of 2025 underpins the Grant Scheme which provides grant funding to people whose homes have been affected by Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB).

A number of amendments contained in the 2025 Act came into operation on 25 February 2026 and more recently further provisions commenced on 27 May 2026.

The National Standards Authority Ireland (NSAI) on 2 June 2026 published a revised standard, I.S. 465:2026.

As per section 51 of the 2022 DCB Act, I now intend to launch a review of the operation of the Act as quickly as possible. The 2022 Act mandates that not later than 3 months after completion of this review that I, as Minister, shall make a report to each House of the Oireachtas of my findings and conclusions resulting from that review. The Review will commence shortly and measures are being put in place to ensure this happens in line with the terms of the 2022 Act as set down.