Costings for the Defective Block Scheme two years out of date - Mac Lochlainn

Donegal Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has slammed the ongoing refusal of the Government to update the costings that underpin the Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme despite rapidly rising construction costs.
The most recent Report on Construction Costs for the scheme, published by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), dates back to March 2024. Since then, building cost inflation in Donegal has increased significantly.
As a result, homeowners on the scheme in 2026 are being charged current market rates for remediation works, while the grants available to them are still calculated using construction cost data from 2023 or 2024.
“I have asked the Minister for Housing, James Browne, when he will request that the SCSI publish an updated report, and he has repeatedly refused to do so,” Deputy Mac Lochlainn said. “The government insists that the Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme is 100% based on the SCSI costings - but how can that be when the last report was almost two years ago, based on data that is well over two years old?
“Building costs have continued to skyrocket in Donegal since then and the gap between what the government is providing to homeowners with defective block homes and what they will have to pay builders to rebuild or remediate their homes grows wider all the time.
“This is a wilful refusal by the Minister, and it is only worsened by the commentary from some of the Government representatives in Donegal who insist that the affected homeowners have a 'good scheme' that it is 100% redress.
“This is patent nonsense. The gap is widening, and most families will struggle to avail of the scheme.
“Sinn Féin have called for a genuine 100% redress scheme based on the Pyrite Remediation Scheme that almost 3,000 families in Dublin and north Leinster have availed of. And a scheme that is delivered directly by the State from start to finish.
“Why are our families in Donegal and the west of Ireland second class citizens in the eyes of this government?”

Read more: MABS warns of mortgage arrears crisis for mica-affected homeowners

In response to a parliamentary question tabled by Deputy Mac Lochlainn, Minister for Housing James Browne said a date for the commencement of new regulations contained within the amended legislation that was enacted just before Christmas will be “set as soon as possible”.
However, those regulations cover 2024 building costs only, and not the rates that homeowners on the scheme encountered in 2025 or into 2026.
The minister said: “Costs relating to the scheme are closely monitored and any future changes required to the scheme cap and rates will be dealt with accordingly.”