703. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage given his responsibility for the defective concrete blocks grant scheme and for the statutory framework governing appeals, the information available to his Department regarding the manner in which appeals are prioritised and processed by the Housing Agency; if appeals are determined in chronological order of receipt; and if not, the criteria used to determine priority. [64911/26]

714. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether any service standards, target timelines or prioritisation criteria have been agreed between his Department and the Housing Agency in respect of appeals under the defective concrete blocks grant scheme; and whether these have been published. [64964/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 703 and 714 together.

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.

An Appeals Panel has been established to assess appeals made under the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the use of Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme. The Panel is independent in its work, with my Department providing limited administrative support during the initial stage of the process, in that appeals submitted by homeowners are forwarded to the Panel.

Under the Act, the Appeals Panel may make rules for the purposes of the efficient conduct of appeals. As such, matters pertaining to the operation of the Panel, including the timelines for the processing of appeals and determinations, would be a matter for the Chair and the Panel.

It is not a matter for the Housing Agency to set any timelines or prioritisation criteria etc with regard to appeals. The Agency is the respondent to an appeal made by an appellant and is governed by the rules set down by the relevant Appeal Panels Board.

It is my understanding that the Appeals Panel is very much aware of the understandable desire of applicants to have their cases dealt with in as expeditious a manner as possible. The time taken to assess appeals has been in many cases longer than originally anticipated. However, I understand that some of the time taken to consider and issue decisions has been taken up by requests for further information either from the appellants themselves or from other stakeholders. The Panel have taken this approach, I am informed, in order to allow appellants to have the full facts of their situation properly evaluated. In some instances, this may have added time onto the overall process but ultimately will ensure that the correct decision on the Appeal can be arrived at.