Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2014
483. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when residents may expect to be reimbursed by the Pyrite Resolution Board for the moneys paid for a building condition assessment, as the up-front payment caused many problems for many residents whose application has been assessed and an audit carried out and have still not received a refund. [19250/14]
View answerThe Pyrite Resolution Board commenced accepting applications from eligible homeowners for inclusion in the pyrite remediation scheme on 26 February 2014. As matters stand, the Board has received in the order of 418 completed applications and these are currently being processed. Each application must first be validated by the Board which involves an assessment of the application against relevant eligibility criteria and may include an audit of the Building Condition Assessment. A total of 84 applications have recently been validated and forwarded to the Housing Agency for the next stage in the process.
The assessment and verification stage is carried out by the Housing Agency and involves confirmation that the damage recorded in the Building Condition Assessment in respect of a dwelling is attributable to pyritic heave. The verification stage may involve physical inspection of the dwelling and the testing of the hardcore material.
Once a dwelling has been approved by the Board for inclusion in the pyrite remediation scheme, following completion of the assessment and verification process, the scheme participant may recoup the vouched cost of the Building Condition Assessment, subject to a maximum limit of €500 (including VAT) from the Housing Agency.
While the validation, assessment and verification processes, of their nature take some time to undertake, the Board is keen to ensure that there will be no undue delay in the processing of the applications currently on hand and those that will be submitted over the period ahead.
