731. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the administrative and statutory justification for the Housing Agency requiring further core testing on a dwelling entering the technical review of their enhanced defective concrete blocks grant scheme application, in cases where a full suite of independent engineering tests and assessments have already been comprehensively carried out; and the reasons this duplication of structural testing is necessary given the financial and administrative burden it places on the State. [65198/26]

738. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to clarify whether testing undertaken on defective concrete properties under I.S. 465:2018 remains valid for the purposes of assessing eligibility and remediation under the enhanced defective concrete blocks scheme instead of needing a building condition assessment where the testing already exists. [65490/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 731 and 738 together.

The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 as amended by the Act of 2025 sets out the framework under which the Grant Scheme which provides grant funding to people whose homes have been affected by Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB) operates.

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

The Scheme is underpinned by a national testing standard known as IS:465. The National Standards Authority Ireland (NSAI) on 2 June 2026 published a revised version of this standard-I.S. 465:2026. The Scheme now substantially reflects this revised standard which includes the specified approach to testing for DCB which has changed under the revised standard when compared to the one it replaced IS465

Under the terms of the Scheme the Housing Agency act as agents on behalf of the local authorities. Once a home has met the damage threshold for entry to the scheme, the Housing Agency works with Chartered Engineers from an approved framework to help assess applications under the scheme and determines the appropriate remediation option and grant amount.

I understand that where existing test results obtained under the previous version of the standard (I.S. 465: 2018) are sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the current standard (I.S. 465:2026) and enable a determination to be made, it may not be necessary to undertake further testing. However, it is a matter for the Housing Agency ultimately to determine whether further testing may be required to support a determination under the current standard.

Eligible applicants who have requested a technical review may choose to either now proceed under the revised standard (excluding certain aspects that fall under the Review of the Act) or, alternatively, await the outcome of the review of the Scheme and the Act before proceeding.