Departmental Schemes

I thank the Minister of State for coming in to deal with this issue. He will be aware that his Department put in place a number of years ago an interim remediation scheme for apartment buildings built during a certain period to deal particularly with fire safety issues. This is right and it is important to put it in place. Most importantly it deals with fire issues. There is an urgency that comes with that, which there might not be with poor upkeep or other structural issues. The idea behind the scheme is that residents have some certainty that they can live in a place that is safe, but we know there are several apartment blocks around the country that suffer from problems with the way the fire systems were constructed when they were built and that have to be repaired to ensure the safety of residents. The scheme is good and I welcome it. The issue I specifically want to address with the Minister of State is that of The Crofton apartments in Dún Laoghaire. It was once an office block and was built as office accommodation but the McGrath Group transformed it into apartments a number of years ago. There are 25 apartments there, duplex and single storey. It is a very nice building, the people who live in it are very nice and they bought their apartments in good faith. Most importantly, when they bought their apartments they were treated as new buys. They paid all the tax and VAT associated with new builds and new apartments. They were recorded as new dwellings on the property price register, even though the building was a converted office block. Therefore, assuming they are newbuilds, which is how they have been treated, they should qualify for the interim remediation scheme. So the Minister of State's Department thought as well because in 2024, when the owners applied for funding under the interim scheme to change the situation they had with their fire systems, they were granted access to the scheme, yet within two years the Department had written back changing its mind, saying, "Actually, no, we are cancelling it". It appears the reason for that is that it was not a newly constructed building, even though the Government took its tax take and took its money from the owners but then, on a different day, told them they were not part of the scheme because the building is not a newbuild, or at least so it appears. The reality is that in this case, the Government is trying to have its cake and eat it. On the one hand, it takes the tax from them as newbuilds and describes them as newbuilds; on the other hand, when it comes to actually being part of a scheme the Government has rightly put in place to protect exactly this type of building and exactly this type of resident, it tells them they do not qualify. It has to be one or the other. Either the Government gives back the VAT and the tax that these residents paid when they bought their apartments or it admits them into the scheme. It cannot be both. The reality is that the Minister of State's Department initially said they could be in the scheme. It gave them the succour, the confidence and the reassurance that they would be part of the scheme and could access it but now they find they are being excluded from it. It does not make sense. Either they are a newbuild or they are not. If they are not, the Government should give the owners back their money because they paid an awful lot in VAT and tax when they bought their newbuild apartments a number of years ago. The reality is that there is no clarity in the Minister of State's Department in how it is approaching this particular building, The Crofton apartments, in Dún Laoghaire. It is leaving in the lurch the residents, who through no fault of their own find themselves in a situation where they will have to pay for a remediation that in 2024 was assessed at €1.1 million for 25 apartments. It is a serious amount of money for each apartment holder but it will be more now because over two years since that assessment was made, you can be absolutely sure that the cost of that remediation has gone up. What really puzzles me is that nothing has changed between the time in May 2024 when the Minister of State's Department said they were part of the scheme, they would get the grant and they would get the support of the Department to help them fix the fire regulation and the fire safety systems in their building and March 2026, when suddenly a U-turn was done by the Department of housing through the Housing Agency, which administers the scheme, and they were told sorry but they were out in the cold, the Department was not going to help them and they would have to sort themselves out. Which is it? Can we give these people a little bit of reassurance that they will be looked after by the State when they have paid all their taxes?

I thank Deputy Ward for raising this matter and for speaking to me about this item earlier. I know he has also engaged with the Minister, Deputy Browne, on this matter and the concerns it raises for residents and the owner management company of The Crofton apartments, Dún Laoghaire. As the Deputy will be aware, the Government decision of 18 January 2023 approved the development of supports for the remediation of fire safety, structural safety and water ingress defects in purpose-built apartments, including duplexes, constructed between 1991 and 2013. Drafting of the apartment and duplex defects remediation scheme Bill is well advanced. I expect that the Bill will be published before the end of this year and that the statutory scheme will be in place shortly thereafter. It is envisaged that 100% of eligible remediation costs will be funded. The interim remediation scheme for the funding of emergency fire safety defect works in apartments and duplexes constructed between 1991 and 2013 opened to applications from owners' management companies in December 2023. The scheme is administered by the Housing Agency on a nationwide basis. The scheme provides for the full funding of interim measures in order to provide an acceptable level of fire safety in buildings, pending completion of the full remedial works. Full remedial works, which will include all necessary fire safety measures, as well as those related to water ingress and structural damage, will be funded under the statutory scheme. The Housing Agency has committed its knowledge and resources to helping to design and now operate this scheme. Its experience of dealing with, for example, the pyrite remediation scheme and the enhanced defective concrete blocks scheme has been particularly useful in this regard. The scheme is shaped following a significant period of consultation with homeowner representatives. Their insights have been an essential element that has allowed my Department, the Housing Agency and local authority fire services to put together this scheme. Appropriate pathfinder projects within the scheme were identified in April 2024. These pathfinder projects have allowed the mapping of the application and remediation process into simple steps, to identify pinch points and their solutions and to provide consistency across submissions and related workings. Three of the pathfinder projects are situated in the Dublin area, involving three local authorities, and one in Kildare. These projects vary in size and complexity and provide valuable insights for both this interim and the forthcoming statutory scheme. As of the end of August 2026, 293 applications to the scheme have been validated, having met the required eligibility criteria. These applications represent over 25,000 residential units, with circa 75% in the Dublin region. Of the 293 validated applications, 151 to date have provided documentary evidence confirming the key eligibility requirements. During the validation process, the Housing Agency established that The Crofton building was originally constructed as an office and was subsequently converted to residential use. This raised a question as to whether it falls within the scope of the scheme, which is intended for purpose-built apartment and duplex developments. All applications received by the Housing Agency remain subject to verification and validation and their status can change as ongoing data cleansing and due diligence are completed. While this application initially progressed through the process, that did not represent a final determination of eligibility. Eligibility is determined with reference to the scope of the scheme as approved by the Government. I recognise, however, that developments which were lawfully converted to residential use raise broader policy and equity considerations in the context of apartment defects remediation and the safety and well-being of residents. I have asked my Department officials to examine such developments in the context of their current work in devising this scheme.

I really appreciate what the Minister of State said at the end of the answer. I appreciate his positive engagement on this. As he says, we had a conversation about this earlier today. I appreciate his undertaking to raise this with the officials because there is a gap, in fairness, in this situation. I understand what he has said about the validation process but he has to remember that these people, through their OMC, wrote in, applied for the scheme and were told yes. It took nearly two years before the Housing Agency turned around and said, "Actually, no". There is a terrible unfairness for them there whereby they find themselves initially satisfied that they will be covered and that the State has their back in terms of this remediation and then being told the rug has essentially been pulled from under their feet. Maybe that is a bureaucratic situation that is beyond help but the reality is that the finalisation of this scheme is not beyond help. The legislation has not passed yet. There is an opportunity for the Minister of State and his officials in respect of this type of building, which, as he notes himself in the response, was legitimately, properly and validly transformed from an office block into residential apartments, and with the bona fides of the people who bought those apartments. They paid the full whack of tax as if they were buying a newbuild apartment, and the units are recorded as such on the residential property price register. Whatever you think about the scheme, they must be included in it. If it is the case that the scheme, as currently drafted and operating on an interim basis, does not cover them, let us change it. I would be very grateful if the Minister of State would assure me that this will be considered for change in the scheme. The owners have written to the Minister's office and sent him statements and briefs about what has happened here but they have not heard back from him yet. I would also be grateful if the Minister of State could commit that they will get an answer and get some succour, some reassurance, from his Department and from the Housing Agency that they will not be left in the lurch, that they will not fall between stools and that, as taxpayers who bought apartments in good faith, they will be supported by the State, as any other owner of a newbuild apartment would have been.

As Deputy Ward will appreciate, I cannot give a blanket commitment on the floor of the Dáil this evening, but I can give a commitment to engaging with officials in the broader context of the policy issues that have arisen as a result of the Deputy's raising this item with both the Minister, Deputy Browne, and me and in putting this Topical Issue before the Dáil this evening. I thank him for doing that. It is important to note the significant scale of the remediation scheme, which will be underpinned by legislation, and which is expected to be in the order of between €1.5 billion and €2.5 billion. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, set up the working group to examine this in 2022. When it reported, it estimated that between 50% and 80% of apartments and duplexes that were constructed between 1991 and 2013 may be affected by one or more of the following: fire safety, structural safety and water ingress defects. It is a significant scheme. Those pathfinder projects have been in place. We are trying to shape a scheme that will operate and will be as smooth as possible. However, as the Deputy will appreciate this is a complex area. Not every owner-management company is equal and there are challenges in that space. On foot of the Deputy raising this matter I will speak to the Minister, Deputy Browne, in the context of the broader policy considerations that it raises. Obviously, the intention is for purpose-built apartments and duplex developments. I do not know how many other potential sites could come into the scope that are similar to the Crofton building in Dún Laoghaire, but we will examine that.