An Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said he would be “extremely surprised and disappointed” if the new Mica scheme is not up and running by the end of the year.
The end of 2022 suggests a much longer delay than anticipated by homeowners, but Varadkar said that legislation is “a priority” and government intends to get it through the Dáil and the Seanad as soon as possible.
“Families in mica-affected houses have been waiting long enough,” Mr Varadkar told the Dáil.
“It is incumbent on the Government to get the legislation done and on the Oireachtas to have it enacted quickly.”
The comments came after Mayo Sinn Fein Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh told the Tánaiste that homeowners are becoming increasingly alarmed about the delays in the 100% redress scheme.
The government is intending to finalise the legislation to enact the new scheme by late March/early April, after which it must go through the Houses of Oireachtas.
Deputy Conway-Walsh called on the Tánaiste to give a guarantee that this scheme will be fully in place before the end of the year. She asked: “Can the Tánaiste accept that the unnecessary delays and the obstacles being put in the way of homeowners who have paid almost €7,000 to certified engineers who established that the houses are impacted by pyrite and mica are wholly unacceptable. Does the Tánaiste agree that partial fixes, and trapping families in their crumbling homes for a number of years until they display sufficient visible damage before they can access scheme, is not something that the Government will stand over?”
