My question is to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. I am seeking an update from the Minister in regard to the mica redress scheme, which has been long promised for homeowners in Donegal. Some 5,000 people have been waiting for years at this stage for the scheme to be delivered and for houses to be repaired. I ask the Minister to confirm the status of this scheme. I understand from comments made locally by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, that it is with the Attorney General. Does this mean that the Cabinet is agreed in regard to the structure of the scheme and can the Minister give a commitment in regard to when the scheme will be operational and work on house repairs will commence?

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. I am aware of his commitment to this issue in particular and I thank him and his constituents for their patience in terms of having it resolved. We did allocate additional money this year, following on from a previous Government commitment to the scheme. It does not need to go back to Cabinet. I can confirm to the Deputy that the scheme has already been through Cabinet in terms of approval. In terms of what needs to happen now, the regulations need to be finalised between myself and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. We have engaged with officials from Donegal County Council and Mayo County Council in regard to the operation of the scheme. A final piece of work on the regulations needs to be done and I am told this will happen shortly. As I said, the scheme does not need to go back to Cabinet.