O’Brien faces difficult decision as pressure from mica group mounts

Good morning,

There may be trouble ahead, but then again, isn’t there always?

It’s big week for campaigners and homeowners affected by defective mica blocks as they may finally learn what the Government are planning in terms of redress and compensation.

If you cast your mind back to those harried days just before the summer recess, hundreds of protestors gathered in Dublin and marched to Leinster House. Politicians, especially those in the worst affected counties, began to really feel the heat. In light of that acute pressure it was announced that a working group would be set up to identify and address all of the outstanding issues with the scheme, which currently offers up to 90 per cent of the rebuilding or remediation costs.

Mica group members warn they may not sign off on final report

---

Donaldson sells fear as the DUP vote threatens to fragment

---

Budget 2022: Minimal changes to income tax, price of alcohol unlikely to rise

---

Will Freedom of Information review favour transparency?

---

Politicians were keen to point out that this wouldn’t be just any old working group: it would also comprise representatives of affected homeowners. Not only did the proposal buy the Government some much needed time it also allowed them to boast that they were bringing the campaigners in to the process.

Now that the time has come for the group to report to the Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien, all is not looking as rosy as some politicians had expected.

They have complained that they have been treated dismissively over the last number of weeks and that they have not been given a draft copy of the final report due to go to the Minister on Thursday.

It would appear the department may be planning to have two sections, one outlining the representatives’ views and the other outlining the views of the civil servants. Sources have said that an Excel spreadsheet was sent to the campaigners detailing a summary of their views but they will argue that they are very aware of their own position. It is the position of the department that they are most anxious about.

This is because it is clear that officials do not favour a scheme that has no cap and that allows for complete and unbridled redress. The crux of the problem seems to be that some houses in areas like Donegal could be considered to be very large and the question is whether the taxpayer should be left with individual bills upwards of €500,000.

The representative groups have argued that homes above 4,000sq ft (370 sq m) make up only about 5 per cent of the relevant homes.

Either way, Mr O'Brien is going to be faced with a difficult political decision: override his own officials and give the campaigners what they are demanding at a huge cost, or face massive political backlash from not only his own party but also Fine Gael TDs and of course, the opposition.

Oftentimes the answer lies in the art of the fudge. Yet it remains to be seen whether the representative members of the group will even put their names to the final report. A meeting is due to take place between the Minister and campaigners at about 5.30 this evening. Follow all the latest updates at www.irishtimes.com.

In the meantime here is the latest update on the situation.

Budget bilateral bonanza

The budget bilateral meetings have kicked off in earnest and will continue all the way until late next week. It would appear the "problem children" will be dealt with at the tail-end of the process, and by "problem children" we naturally mean the Departments of Health and Social Protection.

Ministers are meeting with the two budget maestros Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath, earnestly clutching their wish-lists. "Dream on" appears to be the message as the budget demands pile up and the money remains tight. The room for manoeuvre is small – there is only about €1bn for new spending measures and €500m for taxation measures. As Cormac McQuinn reports from Washington DC, the pressures are mounting too in relation to the mooted Covid-19 bonus for frontline workers.

Sometimes just before the budget or during the event itself money is metaphorically found down the back of the couch, or revenue-raising measures are introduced. Yet there seems to be a growing feeling in Government that anything beyond the planned increase in carbon tax may represent a political difficulty.

Here is a piece detailing the latest Budget 2022 plans.

Best Reads

Miriam Lord's sketch is here, in which the Taoiseach is ever so slightly tempted to tell Leo Varadkar he wants to hang on to the top job next year

In unexpected news, the Department of Health will not need a bailout this year for the first time in many years, as this piece from Pat Leahy outlines.

The teachers want in on the Covid-19 bonus too, reports Carl O'Brien.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney will set up an independent external review after allegations of sexual harassment, attempted sexual assault and bullying were raised by women in the Defence Forces. Here is an article from Sarah Burns detailing the plans.

The State faces keeping coal- and oil-burning electricity plants operating beyond their scheduled closing dates to avoid power cuts, writes Barry O'Halloran.

Playbook

Dáil
Expect Topical Issues at the exact time of 9.12am. Private Members' Business will be taken at 10am courtesy of the Social Democrats who bring a motion on data centre moratoriums.

Leaders’ Questions are up at noon, followed by questions on promised legislation and then Taoiseach’s questions just after lunch.

There is a timely debate on the Government's Housing for All plan in the afternoon and then at 5.14pm there will be statements on the on the situation in Afghanistan. The Dáil will adjourn at 9.30pm.

Read a more detailed schedule here.

Seanad
Commencement Matters will kick off proceedings at 10.30 followed by the Order of Business an hour later.

At 1pm, the Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021 is up. This Bill implements three international legal instruments in the area of people smuggling.

At 3pm, there will be statements on the Housing for All plan.

Private Members Business is up at 5.15pm with the National Lottery (Amendment) Bill 2021 which seeks to ban the use of the National Lottery or its products in betting offers by entities other than the National Lottery.

You can read the full schedule here.

Committees
There are a number of both public and private meetings of the committees today but the one most likely to capture the imagination takes place at 5.30pm.

The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence will hear from the secretary general of the Government Martin Fraser about the now-scrapped appointment of Katherine Zappone as special envoy for freedom of expression.

Elsewhere the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan appears before the Select Committee on Transport and Communications at 2pm to discuss spending in his department. Expect to hear of some interesting underspends, a boom in electric vehicle registrations as well as new and lower targets on the national broadband plan.

To see what the other committees are up to, have a look here.