Mr. Martin Lynch:

I am the general manager for the pyrite remediation scheme. I have been actively involved in remediation schemes since 2014 at various levels and have been involved in the successful completion of about 2,500 pyrite remediation houses since then. As Mr. Forde stated, one of the group's key tasks was to assess the entry level of a damage threshold to be considered. The scheme I manage at the moment is the pyrite remediation scheme, which is often referred to as the east coast scheme. IS 398 sets out the thresholds and damage levels to be met for entry to the pyrite remediation scheme. IS 398 has categorisation of zero damage up to a damage condition rating of 2, or DCR 2. Scheme participants who are currently accepted into the scheme must have achieved at least a DCR 2. They would have significant damage as defined in the Pyrite Resolution Act and they would also have test results, sub-floor, correlating with pyrite reactive, from a low to a significant level.

The task of the group was to review how we could manage the inflow of applications into the defective concrete blocks scheme and look at what level of damage could be perceived to create an entry point. The key objective was to be homeowner-focused, dealing initially with the worst cases of damage, bringing them to the front and dealing with them as early and as soon as possible and assisting homeowners in getting through that process. In the first three or four years of the scheme we managed in IS 398, the majority of the worst-case damaged homes were entered in and successfully remediated with all homeowners back in their homes.

We reviewed the IS 398 standard. We also looked at industry standards with regard to damage to properties. The collective agreement among the working members of the group, representatives of which are here, was that the IS 465 needed to have a qualification on a threshold, so that an entry point for the worst affected homes could be considered. The consensus was, as in the expert report, that a minimum damage of 1.5 mm of cracking to the external leaf would be set as the entry level for damage. The collective group also recommended that this be reviewed, perhaps annually, and updated to reflect the flow of applications and the level of damage that was being met with analysis of information, be it in testing results or in the information being received in the damage condition rating reports that were coming in. Those are the considerations of the working group on the damage condition threshold and how we got to the collective recommendation of 1.5 mm.