Last week, we saw a major Government kite-flying exercise involving leaks from within on the issue of mica redress prior to the publication of the working-group report on the grant scheme. I can tell the Minister that they went down like the Titanic with people in Donegal. I am sure it was the same in Mayo, Sligo, Clare, Tipperary and other affected countries. What happened only served to enrage the people in my constituency who have sincerely engaged with the processes put in place by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I agree with the mica group homeowners who have refused to sign off on Friday's report. It is a nothing report. It is a sham and a rehash of previous analysis. As Eileen Doherty, the campaigners' representative, said, "The objective of the working group was to make a number of recommendations to the Minister as to how these issues could be addressed. Nowhere in that document do I see recommendations".

Ms Doherty is right. It appears that this was just another disingenuous can-kicking exercise. It is disrespectful to my constituents in Donegal and others from around the country. Last night, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, wrote to Members of the Opposition seeking our views in order "to help inform a political consensus on the matters involved". Neither he nor the Government have shown the slightest bit of interest in any of our ideas. The Government has treated ideas, proposals and suggestions from the Opposition on all topics with a belligerence and contempt that stems from an unfounded confidence bordering on arrogance. It was disingenuous bullshit to send that letter out to us.

I will cite an example of that to which I refer. During the recent pandemic, the biggest crisis our country has ever faced, the Government, after an initial flurry of cross-party briefings, failed to follow through or keep Opposition representatives properly informed. The approach of the Government was insincere then and this time is no different. It is a sickeningly transparent PR stunt, but no one is falling for it. My deepest regret and disappointment is that the Government would do this on the backs of people who are suffering. I refer to those who have seen their homes demolished and who are watching their life's savings and dreams crumble before their eyes. These people are living in a state of constant anxiety and fear regarding the safety of their children and what the future holds for them in mica-riddled homes, with no hope of a resolution. Does the Government understand the impact that the lack of hope has on people's mental health and well-being? Lives are being destroyed in Donegal. I have a question for the Minister and I ask that he keep his answer concise and to the point. Has the Government made provision for full mica redress in next week's budget?

Before I call the Minister, and notwithstanding the fact that people can be angry and frustrated by events, we should try to adhere to the use of proper parliamentary language. I call the Minister.

I understand the anger and frustration felt by many families in respect of watching their homes literally crumble after having spent their life savings building them. The Government is going to respond to this issue. We do not have a final report from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage yet, but we will have it in the coming weeks. It is a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Government more generally to decide how we plan for that in the context of the budget. I am not going to speak in detail about the budget today because it would not be appropriate to do so.

We have gone through a process here as a Government. Many Ministers have visited Donegal and the other counties impacted by the mica issue. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is taking this matter incredibly seriously. The financial package that will be put together and approved by the Government in time will be one of the largest financial support packages ever announced in respect of anything. We need to get it right and we need to listen to people. We have tried to listen and take on board different views. The letters sent to the Opposition spokespeople asking them for their input represent a genuine effort to try to get all-party consensus in terms of how we can provide a financial support package for the families involved.

The Deputy can dismiss that as a PR exercise if he wants. If you are going bring to Government a package involving the kind of expenditure that I expect we will see in the coming weeks, then you try to build consensus around that, if you can, in order that the issue involved does not become an unnecessary point of political contention. I have heard many Deputies speak about mica - on both sides. There are equally strong feelings on both sides of this House in respect of this matter. Nobody here has a monopoly on wisdom or of compassion for the families that have had their lives turned upside down by the mica crisis they are facing in their homes.

My understanding is that it is unlikely that a package will be brought to Government in respect of this matter before the budget. I understand that it is probably a few weeks away yet. I assure the Deputy that this is something the Government has committed to dealing with head-on, working with the families, communities and the Opposition parties, in order to try to ensure that we will get what will be a hugely expensive but necessary support package for the families and individuals impacted by the mica crisis. I do not have an exact date for the Deputy, but we will approve that package in the next few weeks. However, people will not have to wait too much longer to see the detail of that package.

Perhaps I have a lack of experience, but I thought the budget set out what the Government intends to spend money on in the coming year. Perhaps I am wrong in that regard. As I see it, the budget is the deadline for what is happening with the mica issue. What I can see is that the Government is kicking the can down the road. This email, which I printed off, arrived last night for us. The report of the working group on defective concrete blocks was published last week. It is basically pages and pages of nothing. It does not make any recommendations. It does not do anything. The mica homeowners were right not to sign off on it and not to agree to it because there is nothing in it to agree to.

Homeowners are coming down here again on Friday to have a march and to put their case once again to the Government. The working group has failed. This letter is now asking us to provide costings. The Government has said it cannot provide costings, yet we are expected to provide costings. The Government must put the minds of these families at rest and tell them that the issue will be dealt with. This is being kicked down the road and is dragging on for weeks. The working group was extended from the end of July to the beginning of September and then it was the end of September. Everything has now been put back even further. The Government must end this for the people and let them know that something will be done.

I hear Deputy Pringle on that. At the last meeting of the working group, which was held on 29 September, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, thanked the working group for its engagement and involvement in the process in recent months. In particular, he acknowledged the stress and hardship which affected homeowners and assured them that enhancements would be made to the scheme. The working group submitted the final report to the Minister on 30 September. As the Deputy outlined, building on the motion in the Dáil in June 2021, the Minister has written to Opposition spokespeople to try to ensure that we fully understand their input as well.

The working group has not failed. The working group and the report it put together has informed the Minister and his Department as they finalised a proposal to bring to the Government. That is what is happening now. I can commit, as others from the Government have, to families, that in the next few weeks the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage will bring a comprehensive proposal to the Government for sign off, which will involve an enormous amount of public money to support families that have been impacted in a terrible way by mica. That is something the Government will deliver on. Regarding how that is dealt with in the context of the budget next week, that is a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Finance.