A Thaoisigh, glac cúpla nóiméad agus éist leis na focail a labhair Nancy Healy agus Susan Ní Bhriain ar Nuacht TG4 aréir. Bhí cumhacht millteanach leis na focail, úinéirí tithe i dTír Chonaill. Labhair siad ar son mórchuid na ndaoine atá thíos leis agus atá cráite ag an scannal mica inár gcontae agus i Maigh Eo agus contaetha eile.

Tá sé soiléir nach scéim 100% í seo atá fógartha ag an Rialtas agus níl siad sásta. Mar shampla, tá siad ag rá go bhfuil costas €60,000 sa bhreis orthu mar nach bhfuil na costais sin clúdaithe sa scéim. Éist leis an méid a dúirt na daoine seo.

Yesterday, instead of dealing with the woeful deficiencies relating to the mica and pyrite redress scheme that have been highlighted by us in the Opposition and the homeowners, the Taoiseach chose to come here and deflect. While he may not want to listen to me, and that is fine, but why not listen to the words of those affected because they know better than him and me about what this scheme really means for them? They have lived this and waited for yesterday's announcement. They know the numbers better than any of us.

Ms Barbara Clinton of the North Mayo Pyrite Group stated:

The sliding scale has to go. We are coming up to Christmas and we thought today was going to be positive. We thought we would be there but we are not. For an average home there is a shortfall of €45,000. This is a nightmare scenario for families.

Mr. Michael Doherty of the Mica Action Group stated: "For even the smallest of houses, people will have to put their hands in their pockets". Ms Angelene Kelly from Inishowen peninsula said the cheapest quote she could get to rebuild her home is €155 per square foot and estimates she will need to cover a shortfall of almost €64,000 under the Government's proposals announced yesterday. She said:

I am absolutely devastated, disgusted and disappointed. I feel that our Government has just driven a final nail in the coffin for the mica homeowners. Where did this sliding scale come out of?

This is the question I have for the Taoiseach today. Where did the sliding scale come from? Yesterday, he said it was based on the Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland, SCSI, calculator but it does not use a sliding scale. I told the Taoiseach yesterday when we dealt with Leaders' Questions that the SCSI shows through its calculator the real cost for demolishing and rebuilding a house in the north west and it is way above what was announced by the Government yesterday.

Donegal County Council has told the Government that the tender price received from contractors to demolish and rebuild the first 43 houses that have come through the existing scheme is an average of €150 per square foot. That takes in all the house and not just the first 1,000 sq. ft. The Government's proposals go nowhere near that. This is not 100% redress; it is nowhere near it.

The Government must go back to the drawing board. There are measures in yesterday's announcement that I welcome and I have no hesitation in saying that. They have been delivered in respect of rental, storage and testing costs. All those are acceptable but the point is that is no use to families in Buncrana, Inishowen, Milford, Letterkenny, Lifford, County Mayo and other affected counties if they have to come up with €45,000, €55,000 or €65,000 to put towards remediating a house. These families are carrying large mortgages for the houses they built in the first place. This has happened through no fault of their own.

Will the Taoiseach get rid of the sliding scale and allow us to have a scheme that can be built on?

Hear, hear.

I dtús báire, ní aontaím leis an Teachta. Is léir gur pacáiste den scoth atá ann faoi láthair. Is léir gur dhein an tAire, an Teachta Darragh O’Brien, an-chuid oibre chun scéim i bhfad níos fearr agus níos fairsinge a chur i bhfeidhm. I mo thuairim tá dul chun cinn an-mhór le feiscint agus is fiú é sin a admháil. I ndeireadh a ráitis dhein an Teachta iarracht é sin a admháil. Is é go bunúsach atá i gceist ag an Teachta ná go bhfuil fonn air an feachtas a choimeád ar siúl. Is é sin an bun rud i dtaobh a pháirtí.

The Government has made a comprehensive response to the mica issue. The scheme announced yesterday by the Minister is expansive, with an extra €800 million to bring about a €2.2 billion scheme that will deal comprehensively with the issues raised by residents. Our only objective is to ensure residents can get their homes rebuilt. The Deputy keeps saying the Government should return to the table, but his party never turned up to the table and that is the problem. He wants to keep the campaign going and is refusing to say, as we said yesterday, that the square footage rate is based on SCSI methodology.

No, it is not.

Hear me out. I did not interrupt. It is indicative and we said it would be updated. The Minister said that yesterday and Deputy Doherty ignored that today.

There is no relationship-----

Deputy, please.

The SCSI calculator will be updated only next April and annually thereafter. We have said that consistently. Additionally, we have got rid of the upfront cost; the 10% contribution is gone and there is certification for remedial work. If that does not work, the Government will give the people the option of a second response. There have been huge advances and Deputy Doherty should acknowledge them, and not in the very begrudging way he did towards the end of his contribution. He invented figures for the average cost per square foot. There is no Central Statistics Office or local property tax data to back up his claim about the average home affected by mica and so forth.

Donegal County Council has it.

The data does not exist.

It does exist.

Deputy, please.

We are not asking families to come with €45,000 or €60,000. We have an upfront grant of €20,000 to cover rent and storage. We have got rid of upfront costs and the 10% contribution. We are bringing in the Housing Agency to play a central role in all of this. Our fundamental objective is to facilitate families to get their homes rebuilt. We will do that and spare them the cost of having to do it. The Minister will work with SCSI on indicative costs and we have built that into the overall cost of the scheme with regard to inflation and so forth. It will take a number of years to get houses remediated and rebuilt. I think we all agree on that.

Jesus Christ-----

Please.

----does the Taoiseach not understand this? Is every single homeowner who has rejected the scheme wrong? They know their own lived experience because they need the house that is crumbling around them fixed. They are facing another Christmas where they do not know where they will be next Christmas. These houses are in a terrible state and they need a proper scheme.

We came in here on the basis of what was said to campaigners yesterday morning to welcome this scheme in the main. That was what was going to happen. However, the Cabinet got hold of this and butchered it. The reality is the SCSI indicates the cost of rebuilding a house in the north west is way higher that what is indicated under this scheme. The Government has taken the SCSI figure and butchered it with "economies of scale" that will remain in future. It is there on page seven in the questions and answers section.

The Taoiseach stated I have made up figures. He might listen to what Donegal County Council has done in processing the existing scheme. The average house size that has gone through that give the figures I put on record yesterday. More important, 43 tenders have come in with the cost to demolish those houses and rebuild them. The homeowners do not want to make a penny out of this; they just want their homes built. Donegal County Council has told the Government, including the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and the Taoiseach that it is a cost of €150 per square foot. If the Taoiseach really wants to do what he just said, get rid of the sliding scale. Engineers and surveyors have said they do not know where it comes from. The SCSI does not have it in its calculator. Get rid of it and we can work on this scheme.

The time is up. Could we stick with parliamentary language, please?

It is feigned outrage from the Deputy, all designed around the campaign. That is what he is at. I can see through him.

Stop. Try living in Donegal.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn, you are not the leader of Sinn Féin.

I have this to say to the residents and homeowners.

We are working on this. We have worked on it for the past year, as has the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien.

You still got it wrong.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn is shouting and roaring at me now. He endorsed the last scheme and said it was fine. We will ensure-----

Not at all. The people of Donegal gave it a chance and we will not be fooled twice.

-----that we get houses started now. I want no more delays. I want no more endless campaigning for the sake of the campaigning and exploiting it for political or electoral interests.

Stop and do the right thing.

My only interest now is the homeowners. In February, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland will update its costs of square footage and so on.

Do it now.

The Minister has said that the square footage rate is indicative. Equally, deep down Deputy Mac Lochlainn knows that the larger the house, the bigger the economies of scale. This is factored in. We do not want a scheme that will disadvantage smaller houses. If the Deputy looks at the local property tax and Central Statistics Office data, he will find houses in and around the €200,000-€250,000 range. We will not have homeowners forking out €40,000. We have no interest in having a situation like that for the average homeowner. It is wrong to create the fear and feigned anger and so on that I witnessed this morning.

It is not fear. Has the Taoiseach listened to the families over the past 24 hours?

There have been some very good efforts made here.