Debbie Horan has lived in her apartment in the Linden complex in Blackrock in Dublin for more than 20 years.
She describes it as a "lovely, lovely complex" and a "beautiful place to live".
However, after a fire in another apartment building in the complex in 2017, all residents were informed that remedial works were needed to address fire safety issues that had been identified.
"Obviously people were very shocked at the time and realised it was going to be a very severe financial burden for a lot of people, but we realised that we didn't have an option," Ms Horan told RTÉ News.
The bill for each resident came to €18,000 and following delays during the Covid-19 pandemic, the works were completed last year.
"Some people signed up to pay it over a certain length of time, some people paid it upfront, some people borrowed money to pay it," Ms Horan said.
As the Linden apartment complex was built in 1999, it falls within the 1991 to 2013 timeframe set for the Government's newly announced scheme to pay for remediation work to building defects in apartments or duplexes.
Ms Horan was initially concerned that she and others who had already paid for repairs, might be excluded from the scheme.
However, Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien has said that remediation work already completed, or currently under way will be covered.
"I'm just hoping that the Government stick to their word and that we will all get compensated," Ms Horan said.
Pat Montague, from the Construction Defects Alliance, which represents homeowners like Debbie Horan effected by such defects, welcomed news of the scheme.
"It's a welcome and significant step forward but there is a huge amount of detail to be worked out yet," Mr Montague told RTÉ News.
He was speaking in Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford in Dublin, another development that saw residents pay thousands of euro each to address fire safety defects.
"We're looking for an implementation group that includes homeowners' representatives, representatives of housing associations, fire safety experts and also the property managers who are running these places on a day-by-day basis and know the sort of issues that are here," Mr Montague said.
"We've got to make sure that whatever scheme is put in place is fit for purpose, in other words, that it will work in practice," Mr Montague said.
"We are conscious of what has happened in Donegal (with the Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme). While there's a scheme there, very little money has been drawn down because there are still major problems with it, so we want to make sure that we can get past some of those issues here by putting an implementation group in place and so that we are involved in the drawing of the detail of this scheme," Mr Montague said.
The legislation to establish the scheme is expected to take a number of months to pass through the Oireachtas.
The Working Group to Examine Defects in Housing has said that between 62,500 and 100,000 apartments or duplexes are likely affected, with the average remediation cost of approximately €25,000 per unit.
"It could be 2024 before any of us start to get our money back," Ms Horan acknowledged, however she said that she was "much more hopeful now" following today's announcement.
"I do feel in time we will get our money back," Ms Horan said.
