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. Aidan O'Connell:

I will take this question. I went on record not long ago in newspaper and radio interviews that we have experience of 12 counties where we have seen damage. As of last week, we are now on county 13. That was a substantial amount of properties to be inspecting, reviewing and so forth. One of the difficulties we are having, and I understand this is a public forum, is that the quarry owners recognise they have a problem and are suppressing some of the information and some of the damage and doing side deals with homeowners to try to suppress it within the counties. Ultimately, I believe where all these locations are will come out. I encourage people and Deputies who have knowledge of affected quarries, because I am aware of some areas in the southern part of Ireland and on the south-east coast where there are affected properties and they probably are well aware of where that material has come from, to come forward and give that information to NSAI or Engineers Ireland.