On behalf of the Rural Independent Group, I wish Noel Murphy and his family the very best and thank him for his sterling service over four and a half decades.

Tipperary County Council met yesterday in emergency session to discuss the housing situation. Each and every one of us as elected representatives must do our best, alongside many organisations, voluntary and otherwise, to try to solve the housing crisis. However, we have a farcical situation whereby a Fine Gael Senator attacked Tipperary County Council members for calling this meeting. It was a very productive meeting and those in attendance came up with very good ideas which they are sending on to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The council members were duly and democratically elected, and for a Senator to come in to these Houses and criticise them is unacceptable. We know Fianna Fáil was the party that built houses but it does not build anything now. Fine Gael was always the party of the landed gentry and big farmers and did not care about the ordinary people but for a Senator to attack democratically elected councillors for exercising their right to meet, discuss issues, formulate policy and come up with ideas and send them forward to the Minister is outrageous. Someone in government needs to apologise and rein this man in. April Fool's Day is on Saturday. I wonder was he a few days premature.

First, we will, of course, await the proposals from the county council. Every county and city councillor has a role in this. The Government has provided resources, especially in terms of the tenant in situ scheme and we want county and city councils to implement it and follow through on it. We also want them to follow through on affordable and social housing projects, which many are doing, but some less so than others. There is a need for us all to work collectively on this.

In respect of a Senator who voiced criticism, I would suggest that is part of the free flow of public debate in a democracy. People say things in public life. Deputy McGrath himself will have a good go at people every now and again and he is entitled to do so. The Fine Gael Senator is also entitled to have a go. He obviously has no ambition to go back into the Seanad again if he is attacking the entire county council in Tipperary, but that is another matter.

He wants to be in here.

That is the cut and thrust of political life.

On behalf of the Independent Group, I wish Noel Murphy well in his retirement.

The defective block issue in Donegal runs and runs. We have read reports this week in local newspapers of a bizarre situation where a semi-detached house was demolished while the adjoining house was left standing because of the way the scheme has been allowed to operate in the county. Thankfully, we now have a peer-reviewed study by several academics, including Dr. Andreas Leeman, an expert on concrete issues and Professor Paul Dunlop, himself a defective blocks sufferer. The study clearly shows that pyrite, pyrrhotite and other substances are the cause of the defective block issue. The National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, needs to take that on board. Will the Tánaiste contact the NSAI as a matter of urgency to ensure it amends IS 465:2018 to reflect this? This is vital if the defective block householders are to get an adequate response.

My understanding is that the NSAI is reviewing it but I will check that again for the Deputy. We are very anxious to keep moving in respect of the mica scheme. I am informed that around 812 applications have been approved to date. There is a very strong programme in place and we need to make sure we can enable people to access the scheme and get approvals as quickly as we possibly can. My understanding is the NSAI is reviewing that particular regulation but I will get back to the Deputy to provide clarity in that regard.