I welcome the pupils and teachers from the CBS in Charleville who made the journey here today, especially Maddie, coming here on her sixth birthday, and my nephew Shane, who attends the CBS.

I want to ask the Taoiseach about the defective blocks. He mentioned €2.2 billion is going to be spent on this. When the 5% tax on concrete products was brought in, it was €100 per sq. ft. It is now €200 per sq. ft. Will the Taoiseach look at the people from CBS in the Visitors Gallery, those who may want to build a house in the future, and tell them about how we now have inflation from €100 to €200 per sq. ft and all the Government is doing is taxing us out of existence so that the same people who want to rebuild or build a house will not be able to afford it? The people who have existing houses now have tiers 1, 2, 3 and 4, which means engineers now want to lift the roof off the house, take down some of the walls and rebuild others. The cost of getting some engineers to do it means it does not make economic sense.

I certainly welcome CBS Charleville to Dáil Éireann. I hope they have a fruitful, enjoyable and enlightening day. I wish Maddie a very happy birthday. I presume it is because of her birthday that everyone is here to enjoy themselves.

In respect of the defective blocks scheme, the State was anxious to recover some revenue, given the extraordinary outlay involved in the defective concrete blocks scheme. The industry bears some responsibility for what transpired - not everyone in the industry but certain players in the industry do. The State felt there was a necessity to get some back. There are issues, however, and we will continue to keep this scheme under review.