I wish to raise with the Tánaiste the report of the expert panel on concrete blocks in counties Donegal and Mayo published two weeks ago. The report outlines how up to 4,800 homes in County Donegal and 345 homes in County Mayo are affected by defective blocks.

It identified the issue in County Donegal as being the presence of the mineral muscovite mica in the blocks, while in County Mayo it identified the presence of pyrite as the reason for their being defective. The report also outlined that this happened as a result of a failure to implement appropriate manufacturing standard and of a failure of the building control authorities to properly oversee manufacturing standards.

Anyone who watched "Prime Time" last Thursday and saw Eddie and Maria McDaid from Buncrana, County Donegal, show their home to the cameras, and who saw Mr. McDaid put his foot to the base of the block at the outside of his home and take it apart with his foot, would have been horrified. I commend "Prime Time" on its public service in broadcasting that programme last week and a similar programme a number of months ago. Families such as the McDaids are living a nightmare. They are faced with a situation where their homes, into which they have put their life and soul, are deteriorating and, in cases, crumbling around them. They are facing a situation in which they still have to pay a mortgage on those homes and cannot insure them.

Up until now the Government's response to this issue has been entirely unsatisfactory. It has tried to delay having to deal with it. It delayed initially when agreeing to the expert panel. When it announced the establishment of that panel in November 2015, the terms of reference gave the panel a report date of May 2016, yet the Government did not put the full membership of that committee in place until April 2016. This meant that the report was delayed until October of last year. It was then delayed until December of last year. When the draft report was submitted to the Department in February of this year, the Government still did not get around to publishing it until two weeks ago.

This delaying must stop and these families must be offered hope and a way out of their nightmare. There was a large meeting of affected homeowners in Donegal last night. What we now need, and what those people who are living that nightmare need, is a commitment from the Tánaiste and the Government that a remediation scheme will be put in place, as happened previously with the pyrite cases in the east of the country. Will the Government give a commitment to put a remediation scheme in place? Will it implement the full recommendations of the expert panel report?

I thank the Deputy. The Government and I recognise the seriousness of the issues which he has raised this morning and the impact they have had on individual families. It is very distressing for these families. It involves more than 5,000 houses, including local authority and private housing. The Minister received the report recently and is now examining the recommendations. The Government has not delayed. It takes the issue very seriously and is determined to find solutions to help those families. The expert report has been received very recently. It was the right route to take to have experts examine what precisely the technical solutions should be. We have to examine what they might be and what action can be taken and then put the solutions in place. I am sure the Deputy will agree that the Department and the Minister should, in the first instance, examine the recommendations.

I wish to assure the Deputy, and all of the people who have been affected by this, that the Government is determined to deal with the situation and to take action to help the families which the Deputy has described because it is extraordinarily distressing to either buy a house or be living in one in which such serious problems as this have emerged. The Deputy has talked about a remediation scheme. I want to assure him that the Minister and Ministers of State are determined to deal with this, to put the proper solutions in place, and to help the families who have been impacted by this issue.

My specific question to the Tánaiste was whether the Government will give a commitment to put a remediation scheme in place. So far, neither the Minister of State, Deputy English, nor the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, nor the Taoiseach, when I raised this here with him last week, have given such a commitment. Nothing less than that is required. Perhaps when the Tánaiste replies further she can address that point.

The terms of reference for the expert panel did not include dealing with whether there should be a remediation scheme. That was left for afterwards. It was left for the politicians to deal with. After the delays in the panel reporting which I have previously outlined, this draft report has been with the Government since the beginning of this year. There has been sufficient time already to consider the issue and the recommendations of the panel. We should not be delaying any further. Will the Tánaiste give a commitment here this morning that a remediation scheme will be put in place? Will the panel's full recommendations be implemented in order that controls are put in place to ensure this can never happen again?

I understand there are eight recommendations in the report which has been received by the Minister, two of which are being implemented immediately. As a number of different stakeholders are involved in this issue, there is a need for the expert report to be analysed and to bring the stakeholders together before I can answer the question precisely. The Deputy will appreciate that we need to see precisely what the technical solutions are and to look at who the stakeholders are, where the responsibility lies and so forth. As I have said already, the Minister is determined to deal with the issue. The Government recognises how very difficult this is for the families involved and the need for an urgent solution, which the Deputy has raised. It was the right route to take to get the expert report and to look at the solutions. The Minister and Ministers of State will act on it immediately.