Thomas Pringle TD
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Pringle says defective blocks scheme revisions must include everyone

Pringle says defective blocks scheme revisions must include everyone

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said revisions to the defective blocks scheme cap and rates must be implemented retrospectively to people who have availed of the scheme to date.

The deputy said: “This was agreed by the Government in the past, and was the core reason that people accepted the revised scheme.”

The deputy wrote to Minister Darragh O’Brien on Tuesday to call for the retrospective implementation of the cap and rates.

Deputy Pringle said: “Campaigners have rightly pointed out that it’s critical that people who had already moved on the scheme are not penalised financially.

“The cap was set at €420k three years ago in 2021, however the revised scheme did not begin until July 2023. According to the SCSI assessment of costs relative to the DCB scheme, in the last two years alone there has been over 20% inflation. Effectively the cap was out of date even before the revised scheme was implemented.

“This meant that early movers were financially penalised, having to pay ever increasing construction costs without any reflection of that inflation in the revision of the cap. The forthcoming revision of the cap is based on historic information, the costs that early movers have already paid or are paying.

“Government must not take a U-turn on their early mover policy, applying scheme enhancements retrospectively. This was designed to ensure that desperate homeowners didn’t hold off on works in the hope of future increases to rates and caps to help lessen the financial shortfall, which can run to tens of thousands of euros.

“Families and homeowners affected by defective blocks have again been let down by this Government.

“Government must make sure that no one is left out of the revisions to the cap and rates in the scheme,” he said.