Ms Martina Hegarty:

The Deputy mentioned there is a homeowner in Mayo to which a retrospective process would apply. That homeowner had no choice, spending approximately €185,000 to get the home replaced. The homeowner was in a life-or-death position and could not live in the home as it was. There are people like that throughout Mayo, potentially in Clare and definitely in Donegal that have been left behind in such a scenario.

Ms Murphy spoke about foundations. With pyrite the position is clear-cut and it is in the blocks everywhere. It does not matter where the walls are in a home and nobody will insure that house unless every item of pyrite has been removed. Mr. Aidan O'Connell was part of the committee that created IS 465 and he mentioned that. There is no option but to totally demolish the home to remove the pyrite.

The damage threshold issue was adequately put by Dr. Cleary. It is the exact same in Mayo. We have questions coming back to homeowners in Mayo about why they are not sending in pictures of internal cracking when there are plasterboards on the wall. A decision will be made on homes based on a desk study and such studies contain photographs that are most likely grainy.

It makes no sense to start a process of trying to decide whether somebody's home can be fixed, based on a photograph or a piece of paper.