Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin TD, has condemned the government's plan to remedy Celtic Tiger-era building defects as "designed to fail".

Speaking at a briefing for journalists in the party's rooms, the Dublin Mid-West TD said the proposals would not deliver for affected home owners.

Teachta Ó Broin said: "The Oireachtas Housing Committee is currently undertaking pre legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Apartment and Duplex Defects Remediation Scheme. The scheme, as it is set out in the general scheme is clearly designed to fail. Without substantial amendment it will not provide the long-awaited redress for tens of thousands of Celtic Tiger era home owners living with fire safety and structural defects caused by shoddy building and light touch regulation.

"The bill is modelled on the failing defective concrete block grant scheme currently operating in Donegal, Mayo, Clare Limerick and Sligo. The scheme will place all the responsibility on Owners’ Management Companies to oversee and manage all aspects of the scheme. These are voluntary bodies, many with capacity and governance challenges. These are completely unregulated bodies. Yet government is proposing to allow them to set up and run multimillion euro remediation schemes.

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"This scheme has been a long time coming. In fact, based on the information provided by the Department of Housing it could be 2027, ten years after the landmark Oireachtas Housing Committee Safe As Houses report, before the scheme is even up and running.

"I have provided a detailed briefing to the media on the proposed legislation and the background to the scheme. I also set out the changes that would need to be made to the scheme for it to be effective. The Pyrite Resolution Board has been efficiently and effectively dealing with the Leinster pyrite defects issue for a decade. It is nearing the end of its work. It’s remit should be expanded to deal with all Celtic Tiger era defects and it should run and fund an end-to-end for the multi unity development defect remediation. This is the only way to endure that people who have done nothing wrong have their homes made safe while ensuring proper oversight and management of the scheme and the billions of euros of taxpayer's money that will fund it."

He argued that, without major changes and stronger oversight, the current approach mirrors other flawed schemes and risks leaving home owners without timely redress.