Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2020
579. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 152 of 13 October 2020, if the schemes that he refers to includes the pyrite remediation scheme; and if not, the reason. [32487/20]
View answerThe response provided under Parliamentary Question No. 152 of 13 October 2020 specifically related to the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme, and did not include the Pyrite Remediation scheme.
The regulations underpinning the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme came in to operation on 31 January 2020. The Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2020 provide for a grant scheme of financial assistance to support affected homeowners in the counties of Donegal and Mayo only, to carry out the necessary remediation works to dwellings that have been damaged due to the use of defective concrete blocks containing either pyrite or mica.
Separately and distinctly, the Pyrite Resolution Act 2013 provided the statutory framework for the establishment of the Pyrite Resolution Board (PRB), and for the making of a Pyrite Remediation Scheme, to be implemented by the PRB with support from the Housing Agency. The provisions of the Act apply only to dwellings affected by significant damage attributable to pyritic heave consequent on the presence of reactive pyrite in the subfloor hardcore material and not to damage arising in any other circumstance, for example, such as pyrite or mica in concrete blocks.
