With the budget only days away, tens of thousands of homeowners and tenants living in defective buildings are nervously waiting to hear what the Government's plan is. Families living with defective blocks in the county in which I live, Donegal, and in Mayo, Clare and other counties, want to know whether the new scheme will be open in January and will have sufficient funding to provide real redress to the thousands of affected homeowners. Families are living in apartments, duplexes and houses with fire safety issues and other structural defects. They are waiting to hear the Government's response to a report of the working group on defective buildings. Will there be a redress scheme for them come January? Will it be sufficient? Will it provide 100% redress? Will it be retrospective in order to cover costs already incurred? Can the Tánaiste tell the families anything about what the Government intends to do for these categories of homeowners?

I am afraid I cannot give the Deputy a definitive response. I certainly hope and expect that the mica scheme will be up and running in the new year. I will be very disappointed if is not. There will need to be a scheme to help people who live in apartments that have defects. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is working up the proposals around that now, which will be considered by the Government.