Since becoming a TD, I have raised the defective concrete crisis every single week in this Chamber. I have stood here 23 times outlining the many issues with the Government's scheme, and have highlighted the lived experience of the impacted homeowners. My message has been consistent. The scheme is not working for the families. They are struggling. Every week I am standing here pleading with the Government to listen. Then I go home to Donegal and see first-hand the heartache as new cases come forward, while the defective concrete continues to be used to this day. It is unforgivable for the Government to leave the people in Donegal in such distress. I am once again using this opportunity before the end of term to outline some of the many issues with the scheme. I ask the Taoiseach over the break to reflect on this and come back with a new, fairer scheme that addresses these issues and leaves absolutely no one behind.

The first issue is the technical failures and the lack of scientific rigour. There has been no full technical review or timely IS 465 update. There has been a failure to provide interim guidance once the science was established. Homeowners were give the wrong options under the original scheme and not allowed to seek full demolition under new terms. There is a failure to consider whether ongoing damage, review decisions and the opinions of professional chartered engineers were often dismissed in favour of partial remediations. Homes have been left in limbo for years waiting on decisions. Technical data has often been ignored and disregarded. There is a failure to physically inspect the properties. There is no scheme in place for social housing. The treatment of individual properties like semi-detached houses being split is absolutely crazy.

The second issue is the financial hardship and unfair costs caused by the scheme. Delayed payments are leading to builders actually walking off the sites, which then leaves the people renting houses forced to rent them longer. The people are left in limbo as they are waiting on builders to come back because the payments have not been processed. As well as this, there is inadequate support and very poor administration of the scheme. There are workforce and capacity issues. There are measurement and valuation problems, grievance and transparency failures, human and community impacts and damage to adjacent properties. I do not have time to outline the list but I have a full, very detailed list I am happy to provide to the Taoiseach. I am asking him to listen to the homeowners. Will he iron out these issues with us and commit to creating a new, fairer scheme before the new term?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I know it is very close to his heart and an issue largely upon which he was elected. I appreciate and understand fully where he is coming from. He has raised it on consistent occasions in the House. As he knows, the Minister, Deputy James Browne, met with various stakeholders in Donegal in May of this year, including representatives from the Mica Action Group along with a large number of Donegal county councillors and senior management of Donegal County Council.

Each group raised important issues, including the need to extend the eligibility of the cap and rate increase to a larger group of homeowners. Through these series of meetings, which lasted six to seven hours in total, the Minister saw at first hand the real difficulties defective concrete block homeowners are facing through no fault of their own. The scheme is important in that regard. Government has committed to this. The Minister will continue to engage, following up those meetings with the groups. There are complex issues around this.

We have allocated a significant amount of money. About €2.2 billion is the estimate of what this scheme will cost. Interestingly, 2025 funding has increased by over 50%, from €45 million to €70 million. In other words, there will be €70 million spent this year as opposed to €45 million last year because the scheme is ramping up. Sufficient additional funding is now required to meet the demand for those who are participating in the scheme. We want to meet homeowners' needs in an efficient and effective way. At the moment, there are about 2,600 homeowners at various stages of the scheme.

I will ask the Minister about some of the issues Deputy Ward has raised, for example, delayed payments. That should not be the case. We need a bit more consistent data in terms of the overall scheme. There are a lot of anecdotal stories. I am not saying they are wrong but I am just saying a lot of this is anecdotal at the moment. We need to develop consistent data in respect of this.

The grant rates were set, and increased in 2024 again, based on expert advice at a level to ensure homeowners get the money they need to put their homes right. In order to ensure the grant scheme follows the most up-to-date science, changes were made to the scheme late last year to take account of the most recent research.

There is forthcoming legislation which will make amendments to the grant scheme to allow these changes to be implemented by the administrators of the grant scheme - the local authorities themselves. As the Deputy knows, in March the NSAI commenced the public consultation period of the revised draft of IS465.

I want to mention Elm Park, given the fact that this is a time-sensitive issue. Houses in Elm Park in Buncrana face immediate danger as they have been built on a floodplain and are affected by defective concrete. The only safe option for these residents is relocation. The home of one family home is in such a bad structural state that the family sees no alternative but to move ahead with the defective concrete scheme and start the remediation process of demolishing the house when their planning is granted at the end of July. We have been told by Donegal County Council, however, that if this person does that, this option of relocation for the rest of the residents will be withdrawn. Understanding the very real danger of rebuilding in Elm Park, relocation is a cheaper, safer and more sustainable option than rebuilding on a floodplain. Will the Taoiseach give reassurances that the residents of Elm Park will be relocated?

The Minister, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan and Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran will be meeting with the residents on that issue fairly shortly.

When? Can we get a date?

Shortly. Next week. The issue is acknowledged. That meeting will take place next week.

Thank you, Taoiseach.