The mica action committee held a protest in Lifford yesterday regarding the inaction of Donegal County Council in rolling out a scheme that many homeowners could buy into. It seems that the council is simply waiting for the Department to make a decision in terms of putting the scheme together. Something needs to happen very quickly to provide accommodation for families who have had to leave their homes because they are being destroyed by mica. They cannot wait for a remediation scheme. The council should be putting together sites and preparing temporary accommodation for those families who urgently need it. They cannot wait for a scheme to be addressed.

I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this issue. Deputy Mac Lochlainn raised it previously and, obviously, so did my Government colleagues. I met with the chief executive and two directors of services from Donegal County Council very recently. We went through the specific issue regarding those homes that are deemed to be uninhabitable right now and discussed how we can advance the arrangements with regard to expenses and other accommodation. Those are the same enhanced measures we brought forward in the new defective concrete blocks scheme that is underpinned by the legislation we passed. I am waiting for the local authority to revert to me on some items, particularly around the scale of that particular cohort of homeowners we want to help, and we will help. We are working through that right now. I will keep Deputies from the region fully informed of progress on that. I am acutely aware of how urgent it is, however. The basis we are doing this is under the new enhanced scheme.

We have gone over time.

It is important that that is in place. However, I know homeowners are waiting for word on that.

I thank the Minister; we are over time

We are trying to move through the applications as quickly as we can now.