Defective Concrete Blocks Circular 22 of 2026 to designated local authorities

To: Chief Executive/Director of Housing, Donegal County Council
Chief Executive/Director of Housing, Mayo County Council
Chief Executive/Director of Housing, Limerick City and County Council
Chief Executive/Director of Housing, Clare County Council
Chief Executive/Director of Housing, Sligo County Council
Chief Executive/Director of Housing, Wexford County Council
Chief Executive/Director of Housing, Fingal County Council

Re: Commencement of Further Sections of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Act 2025 (S.I. No. 20 of 2025) and the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. No. 225 of 2026)

Dear Chief Executive,

I am directed by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Mr. James Browne, TD, to advise you that, the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Act 2025 (Commencement) (No. 2) Order 2026 (S.I. 221 of 2026), (as set out in Appendix 1) along with the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 225 of 2026) (as set out in Appendix 2) have been signed into law.

The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (“The Act”) commenced on 22 June 2023 and Regulations (S.I 347 of 2023) were adopted on 29 June 2023.

The Act, which underpins the current grant scheme, has designated counties Clare, Donegal, Limerick, Mayo, Sligo, and parts of the administrative areas of Wexford and Fingal as being within the current scheme.

The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Act 2025 was initiated in the Dáil on 2 December 2025 (as a Bill), passed both Houses of the Oireachtas and was subsequently signed into law by the President, thereby becoming an Act, on 23 December 2025 – Act No. 20 of 2025. A copy of the 2025 Act (as set out in Appendix 3).

The sections that already commenced relating to the Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB) grant scheme relate to the amendments that allow for a DCB grant scheme applicant to apply and seek payment of an increased remediation option grant and doubles the time allowed under the grant scheme for homeowners to complete works from 65 to 130 weeks and reduces the time that an applicant is obliged to apply for an extension from 12 to 2 weeks.

These changes came into operation on 25 February 2026 through Regulations (S.I. 58 of 2026) and Commencement Order (S.I. 57 of 2026).

This second Commencement Order commences all but three of the remaining sections in the 2025 Act that relate to Defective Concrete Blocks. Section 17, Section 29 and Section 31 of the 2025 Act relating to the Technical Review will not commence until the Department has considered the implications for the grant scheme of the recently published (by the National Standards Authority Ireland (NSAI)) revised IS465 national standard.

Commencing:

Section 5(a): amends Section 10 of the Principal Act, which provides for relevant owners to make an application to the Designated Local Authority (DLA) for ancillary grants allowed for under the Principal Act. Previously relevant owners who had received the maximum remediation grant amount under the scheme were excluded from applying for ancillary grants under Section 22 of the Principal Act. This exclusion has now been removed.

Section 7: provides that where a relevant dwelling that has not met the damage threshold for entry into the Scheme, and is attached to another relevant dwelling that has received a grant determination under the Principal Act, the relevant owner of the dwelling that has not met the damage threshold can notify their DLA that they are seeking a determination that their dwelling is deemed to meet the damage threshold.

Sections 14(a) to (c): provides for an amendment to Section 22 of the Principal Act, to remove the prohibition on a relevant owner who had received the maximum grant amount available under the scheme from applying for an ancillary grant.

Sections 15: Where the approved remediation option is the demolition of the relevant dwelling and the reconstruction of the dwelling, a relevant owner may apply to the DLAs for approval to construct a new dwelling in the curtilage of the relevant dwelling to replace the approved remediation option. This is referred to as an adjacent remediation option (often referred to as side by side remediation option) and is subject to certain conditions.

Section 18: amends Section 24 of the Principal Act and allows a person in certain specified circumstances to be regarded as a relevant owner under the Scheme. These circumstances include where the person is, or was, married, in a civil partnership or co-habiting with a relevant owner.

Section 21: amends Section 28 of the Principal Act which relates to exempted development where exempted development does not apply where an adjacent remediation option has been approved.

Section 30: amends Section 47 of the Principal Act, which provides for the SEAI to be allowed to share information with a designated local authority, where necessary, to avoid the potential of double funding of payments being made to relevant owners in the Grant Scheme, under their energy retrofit scheme.

The Regulations provide details for the scheme not included in the 2025 Act such as application forms and templates.

The Regulations supplement the Act. The Act and Regulations work together and should be read as one document, with the Act being the primary source of the Scheme.

Section 5 of the 2022 Act contains details on the process for the inclusion of additional local authority areas into the Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB) grant scheme. Parts of the administrative area of Fingal County Council and Wexford County Council have recently been designated under the scheme (S.I. No. 217 of 2026) and the rates for the two newly designated local authorities are also provided for in the Regulations.

A Ministerial Guidance Note to facilitate, promote and support a consistent approach to the operation and administration of the DCB Grant scheme by DLAs (as set out in Appendix 4).

An updated “Your Questions Answered” document to address queries stakeholders may have in respect of the new scheme changes underpinned by the 2025 (Amendment) Act (as set out in Appendix 5).

These documents relate solely to the sections relating to the DCB provisions now being commenced. Your co-operation in the roll out of scheme changes is now requested. The team here in the Department are available to assist in any way possible so please do not hesitate to get in touch.

I would like to acknowledge the ongoing contribution of staff from all the designated local authorities in the implementation of the scheme. Any queries which arise should be directed in the first instance to defectiveconcreteblocks@housing.gov.ie.

The Department contact points for this scheme are as follows:

Neill Dalton, Assistant Principal
Barry Deering, Assistant Principal
Kate Carmody, Higher Executive Officer,
Martin McMahon, Higher Executive Officer,

Yours sincerely,
Derek Rafferty
Principal Officer
Housing Remediation Unit

• Defective Concrete Blocks Circular 22 of 2026 to designated local authorities
• Appendix 1: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Act 2025 (Commencement) (No. 2) Order 2026 (S.I. 221 of 2026).
• Appendix 2: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 225 of 2026).
• Appendix 3: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Act 2025.
• Appendix 4: Ministerial Guidance Note of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Act 2025.
• Appendix 5: Your Questions Answered ‘YQA’ document.