Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 23 June 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion

Mr. Paul Forde:

I can answer that. Mr. O'Connell may wish to come in as well. In the context of what we call the pyrite remediation or what Mr. Lynch referred to as the east coast scheme, so christened by Michael Doherty, the remediation is to remove the floor slabs and the contaminated stone. One does not have to demolish the house. It is structurally possible to deal with that structural element in its own right but, in so doing, IS 398 specifies that every piece of stone under the floor slab has to be taken out. That results in exposure of the foundations and, as part of IS 398 part 2, the foundations are inspected for signs of damage. My practice and that of Mr. O'Connell have seen 5,000 foundations between us without having to remediate any of them. I will again fall back on the NSAI report that is upcoming.