Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2021
308. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on whether there is an issue of discrepancies in testing regimes if local authorities have to foot the bill for testing for deleterious materials themselves; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61625/21]
View answerMy Department informed those local authorities requesting an extension to the Defective Concrete Block Scheme, that before any extension 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.
Local authorities are to take a lead role in determining, in accordance with the IS: 465 protocol, that issues arising in homes in their local authority area 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.
My Department, in asking local authorities to take on this lead role, has committed to covering all reasonable costs incurred them by them in this regard. There is therefore no question of local authorities being required to cover the testing costs arising from this work or there being any resulting discrepancy in their approach to testing.
