Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 October 2014
318. Deputy Olivia Mitchell asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the procedure for amending the scheme under the Pyrite Resolution Act to include home owners living in the council area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, which is not included in the eligibility criteria but where category 2 damage consistent with pyrite heave has been identified; and if he will advise on the way concerned homeowners should proceed. [39103/14]
View answerNeither the Pyrite Resolution Board nor my Department have been made aware of any dwellings affected by significant damage caused by pyritic heave in the functional area of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Building defects are, in general, matters for resolution between the contracting parties and/or their insurers and the builder/developer of an estate is responsible for remediating any defects that may exist in dwellings in their estates. Accordingly the residents should approach the developer of the estate or their agent in this regard in the first instance.
While section 13(5) of the Pyrite Resolution Act 2013 does provide that the pyrite remediation scheme may, subject to my approval, be amended, replaced or revoked by the Pyrite Resolution Board, the position as matters currently stand is that the scheme is based on the information available to the Board at the time of its adoption in February of this year and having regard to the detail set out in the Report of the Pyrite Panel (July 2012).
Any proposal to amend the scheme is, in the first instance, a matter for the Pyrite Resolution Board and any such proposal would require detailed consideration of the evidence deemed necessary to support the case for an amendment to the scheme. The recommendations of the Pyrite Panel to establish a pyrite remediation scheme to include dwellings in the functional areas of Dublin city, Fingal, Kildare, Meath and Offaly was premised on a number of pertinent factors and I would support the view that similar factors would need to be examined in advance of extending the scheme to other areas given the scheme is ultimately one of last resort.
As a minimum, in order to consider the appropriateness or otherwise of amending the scheme, I understand that the Board would require a report providing the following information:-
the extent and severity of damage to dwellings in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown area caused by pyritic heave in the subfloor hardcore;
verification, if available, that the damage has been caused by pyrite;
the background to the occurrence of the damage;
details of any structural warranty policies for the dwellings;
the history of the estate’s construction, numbers, type of dwellings etc.;
the source of the hardcore supplied to dwellings in the estate; and
- any supporting geological assessments.
In addition to the above, the Board may also make such further enquiries as it considers necessary to assist it in considering the matter.
