1747. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are plans to have Tipperary homeowners with pyrite damage to be included in the pyrite remediation scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25711/26]

1754. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason homeowners in County Tipperary remain excluded from the pyrite remediation scheme, while homeowners in other counties including Dublin and Wexford have access to State-funded remediation supports (details supplied); if he has received representations regarding the exclusion of Tipperary homeowners from the scheme; if his Department has undertaken any assessment of the extent of pyrite-related damage in County Tipperary; the legal or policy basis for restricting the scheme geographically given the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law under Article 40; and if he will consider extending the scheme to include affected homeowners in County Tipperary. [25755/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1747 and 1754 together.

The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 which underpins the enhanced Defective Concrete Block Scheme was commenced in June 2023.

The Scheme is currently open to applications in five counties, namely Clare, Donegal, Limerick, Mayo and Sligo. Parts of the administrative areas of Fingal, Wexford and Meath, along with the whole of administrative area of Carlow, local authorities are currently in the process of joining the Scheme subject to Government approval.

When a local authority that is not currently designated under the Scheme determines that homes within their area may have been damaged by defective concrete blocks, they can seek to have the Scheme extended to include any such county or part of that county.

Section 5 of the Act contains details on this process. The statutory designation process can commence upon a request by a local authority or by myself, as Minister, to the Housing Agency. The Agency thereafter carries out technical testing of dwellings.

After the completion of any testing, the Housing Agency makes a recommendation to the Minister as to whether an order to designate the whole or part of a local authority's area should or should not be made by the Government.

I understand that Tipperary County Council, in accordance with Section 5(7) of the Act, submitted a request to the Housing Agency on 28 April 2025 for inclusion in the scheme. The Housing Agency appointed a Chartered Engineer from their existing framework panel to assist in their investigations and consultations. The investigations (including concrete block sampling and testing) and consultations, required under the Act, commenced in August 2025.

The assessment of damage and sampling of concrete blocks at a number of dwellings has now been completed by the Housing Agency and final test results are due by the end of July 2026.

As soon as practicable after the completion of these investigations, the Housing Agency will make its report, including a recommendation to myself, as Minister, on this matter.