Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 October 2021
110. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the details of his Department’s queries with regard to the concrete block redress scheme applied for by Clare County Council. [50268/21]
View answerMy Department received correspondence from Clare County Council in October 2020, requesting the extension of the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme to County Clare. A comprehensive reply was subsequently issued to the Council in November 2020.
My Department informed the Council that before any extension of the scheme can be considered, the same rigorous analysis as that put in place prior to the rollout of the scheme to the counties of Donegal and Mayo would have to be undertaken. Following further discussions between my Department and Clare County Council it was agreed that the local authority would take a lead role in determining, in accordance with the IS: 465 protocol, that issues arising in homes in County Clare are in fact due to the presence of excessive amounts of deleterious materials (mica or pyrite) in the aggregate used to manufacture the concrete blocks and secondly quantify the likely extent of the problem in the county.
Subsequently a report was finalised and submitted by Clare Co Co at the end of July. A formal response to the submission from Clare County County will issue shortly from my Department. My officials have recently updated Clare County Council in that regard.
Any extension of the Scheme will have to be part of wider discussions with Government colleagues, in particular the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Office of the Attorney General. In that context and following on from my receipt of the Report of the Working Group on Defective Concrete Blocks I will shortly be bringing proposals to Government.
