Pyrite Remediation Programme

Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Questions (275)

Clare Daly

Question:

275. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government noting that Homebond prior to the establishment of an insurance backed structural guarantee in 2008 collected significant funds, and now has a surplus of €25 million, and in view of the lapse since 2008 of elements having a five year guarantee that there will be no call on that surplus other than possibly isolated structural damage cases, his views on whether the Homebond surplus should be handed over to the Pyrite Resolution Board to fund remedial works on houses damaged by pyrite-induced heave which Homebond had guaranteed against major strucural damage prior to walking away from the so-called guarantee in 2011. [51811/13]

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Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

HomeBond is a private limited company which provided a structural guarantee scheme to purchasers of new homes; since November 2008 the scheme is underwritten by Allianz Insurance. As a private company my Department has no role or function in its operations.

I have made my position very clear on the issue of responsibility for providing a resolution of the pyrite problem for affected homeowners. I believe that the parties identified in the report of the independent Pyrite Panel as having a direct or indirect responsibility for the pyrite problem should contribute to the resolution of the problem. It was against this background that I engaged in protracted discussions with the key stakeholders, including HomeBond, to try and put in place a framework within which those parties could bring about a resolution of the problem; regrettably, this did not prove possible. However, the Pyrite Resolution Board remains in discussions with HomeBond with a view to agreeing an open and transparent process for them to make a positive contribution to the implementation of a pyrite remediation scheme.