Housing Minister James Browne will bring a memo to Cabinet today seeking priority redrafting of legislation governing remediation for homes affected by defective building blocks, with proposed amendments designed to improve efficiency and fairness for thousands of affected families.
The amendments follow extensive consultation with affected homeowners and advocacy groups in Donegal, where the crisis has been most severe, though thousands of homes across counties Mayo, Clare, Limerick, and Sligo have also been impacted by the defective concrete blocks scandal.
The original remediation Bill was enacted in 2022, but Minister Browne’s proposed changes aim to address ongoing concerns about the scheme’s implementation and accessibility for affected families.
Following recent meetings with families and advocacy groups in Letterkenny, where Browne also visited impacted properties, the minister said he “wanted to act rapidly as a result of the meetings with families and advocacy groups.”
The government increased the maximum grant available to affected homeowners from €420,000 to €460,000 near the end of last year, while also raising the per square metre rates used to calculate eligible grants. However, many homeowners who had already begun remediation work before these increases were implemented found themselves disadvantaged by the timing.
Browne’s proposed amendments would address this inequity by allowing homeowners who faced higher construction costs before the grant amount was increased to benefit from the higher €460,000 cap. Similarly, the increased per square metre rates would apply retrospectively to homeowners who incurred higher construction costs.
Under the proposals, the increased scheme cap and rates would apply to all applicants who have incurred eligible costs since March 29, 2024, ensuring that families are not penalized for beginning necessary remediation work before the improvements were announced.
The amendments would also introduce greater flexibility for vulnerable families in exceptional circumstances. The legislation would allow for side-by-side construction of a new property while retaining the affected property in “very limited circumstances for specific vulnerable homeowner families,” bypassing existing strict legislative constraints.
Recognizing the complexity and scale of remediation work required, the proposed changes would extend the period to complete works from 65 weeks to 130 weeks, effectively doubling the time allowance and providing families with more realistic timelines for major construction projects.
The defective building blocks crisis has devastated communities across the northwest and west of Ireland, with many families forced to live in homes with structural integrity issues or face massive financial burdens to repair or rebuild their properties. The defective blocks, which contain excessive levels of muscovite mica, can cause walls to crack and crumble over time.
The crisis has particularly impacted Donegal, where thousands of homes built between the 1990s and 2010s used blocks from local quarries that failed to meet building standards. Many affected families have described the emotional and financial toll of discovering their homes are structurally unsafe.
Today’s Cabinet memo represents the latest effort by government to address ongoing criticisms of the remediation scheme’s implementation and ensure that all affected families receive fair treatment regardless of when they began their remediation journey.
The proposed amendments demonstrate the government’s recognition that the original scheme, while well-intentioned, required significant improvements to deliver genuine relief to families caught in this housing crisis through no fault of their own.