Correspondence between Government Departments has revealed that senior civil servants expect politicians will push for a Mica redress scheme that goes beyond what officials will advise.
The concerns were raised in an email exchange between senior civil servants in the Department of Housing and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which was released to RTÉ News under freedom of information.
A senior civil servant in the Department of Housing explained that the expectations of homeowners, in terms of redress, would likely be "miles apart" from what the Department could recommend.
However, the civil servant goes on to say that whatever officials advise, it's expected that the political system will seek to "go further".
"How close the political system is to our position as an executive or the homeowners' position I don't know for sure but expect the political system would be prepared to go further than we will advise", the civil servant said.
A similar point of view was raised by their colleague in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
The same official in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform also said that Governance arrangements for a new scheme would be critical from their point of view.
"I think the critical piece from our point of view, apart from the Exchequer contribution, will be the governance arrangements and the need to have them in place prior to any new scheme going live", they wrote.
The emails were sent in September, a few days prior to the release of a draft report by a Mica working group which estimated that redress costs could reach €3.2 billion.
Government has yet to make a decision on the matter, however, it's expected that proposals will go to Cabinet next month.
Separately in July, the same civil servant in the Department of Housing told their colleague in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that advice from the Attorney General, regarding homeowner submissions to the Mica Working Group, was helpful in terms of "limiting how far the State should go with any grant scheme".
