Mr. Aidan O'Connell:

I am a chartered engineer with 15 or 16 years' experience dealing with pyrite, concrete blocks and the subfloor material used in Ireland. I have probably overseen and dealt with the repair of approximately 2,500 properties. Like Mr. Forde, I have worked on both the IS 398 and IS 465 committees within the NSAI. I agree with Mr. Forde in respect of the foundations. He has not seen any such issues. In our practice, we have seen three cases resulting from foundation damage, and that was primarily within the IS 398 theatre. The damage was superficial and required only minor repairin situ. There was no replacement or any requirement for structural repairs to the foundations. I do not believe it is likely that we will see significant damage to foundations. I am relatively comfortable with that. The answer to the Chairman's question, which may have been slightly tongue in cheek, as to whether one could replace the foundations if the balance of the property was being held up on acrow props, etc., is "No". If the foundations are significantly damaged as a result of pyrite, pyrrhotite or mica, it is a complete replacement.