332. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware that a number of homeowners whose applications were upgraded to full demolition and rebuild following successful defective concrete block scheme appeals have been advised by the Housing Agency that their grant amounts cannot be recalculated until I.S. 465 becomes legislation, despite other homeowners in the same circumstances having received revised grant approvals prior to 2 June 2025; the reason for this apparent inconsistency in treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48564/26]

The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 as amended by the Act of 2025 underpins the Grant Scheme which provides grant funding to people whose homes have been affected by Defective Concrete Blocks.

A number of amendments contained in the Act of 2025 came into operation on 25 February 2026 and more recently further provisions commenced on 27 May 2026.

The Scheme is implemented under the terms of the DCB Act by the designated local authorities and the Housing Agency. The Deputy will appreciate that I am not therefore in a position to comment on an individual applications under the Scheme.

As Ireland’s official Standards Body, the National Standards Authority Ireland was tasked with the review of I.S. 465: 2018 and have recently (2 June 2026) published a revised standard, I.S. 465: 2026.

As per Section 51 of the 2022 DCB Act, I now intend to launch a review of the operation of the Act as quickly as possible. The 2022 Act mandates that not later than 3 months after completion of this review that I, as Minister, shall make a report to each House of the Oireachtas of my findings and conclusions resulting from that review.

All matters relating to the introduction of I.S. 465:2026 and its interaction with the grant scheme will be considered as part of the review of the 2022 Act.

In the interim it is my understanding that those scheme participants who had received a determination under the former standard (IS 465:2018) can, should they choose to do so, continue on with their works.