Minister Browne secures agreement to allow for retrospective payments under the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme
- Published on: 4 June 2025
- Last updated on: 4 June 2025
Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government, James Browne has secured government agreement to allow for retrospective payments under the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme.
Legislation will now be prioritised to ensure homeowners that have incurred eligible scheme costs since 29 March 2024 can benefit from the increased grant amounts announced late last year.
Last October, the government increased the amount a homeowner can receive under the scheme by 10% from €420,000 to €462,000. Similarly, the per square metre rates that are used in the scheme to calculate the grant amount were also increased in November 2024 by between 7.4% and 8.7%.
However, currently these increases only apply to eligible homeowners yet to receive a determination in respect of remediation option and grant amount. In other words, some homeowners who have been impacted by higher construction costs cannot receive this increase. Under the changes, proposed by the Minister, eligible homeowners will now be entitled to apply for the higher amounts.
Minister Browne said:
“I made it a priority to visit the north west and met with some of the homeowners impacted by the use of defective concrete blocks in the construction of their homes, as well as advocacy groups and local representatives.
“I witnessed at first-hand the difficulties faced by these affected households in financial and personal terms in recent years. The improvements I am introducing today will secure fairness, ensuring every eligible homeowner can now access the improved financial support from the government, irrespective of their original remediation and grant determination date. It had to be sorted.”
Along with details around retrospective payments, the Bill will include several amendments to assist in the improved running of the scheme including:
Side-by-side construction: The proposed changes will provide for the scheme to fund the construction of a new dwelling adjacent to the original defective home in very limited circumstances for specific homeowner families.
Period to complete works is extended: The changes will increase the time allowed to complete remediation works from 65 weeks to 130 weeks and the advance notice period for the extension to this period goes from 12 weeks to 2 weeks.
Minister Browne added:
“I have listened to homeowners in the region and heard the particular challenges they have faced with certain elements of the scheme. I believe the package of measures we intend to bring forward through legislation will address some of the concerns raised so that homeowners will continue to have confidence in the scheme and know that they are being supported by the government.”
The Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme is a grant scheme to support affected homeowners to remediate their dwellings, where their dwelling has been damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks in its construction in the following counties: Clare, Donegal, Limerick, Mayo and Sligo.
So far, there have been over 2,500 applications to the scheme.