John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy will be aware that certain matters relating to the problems which have arisen in relation to the use of pyrite as infill are currently the subject of proceedings before the Commercial Court.

The Planning and Development Act 2000 provides that the Government may, by order, when so proposed by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, designate one or more sites for the establishment of a strategic development zone to facilitate development deemed to be of economic or social importance to the State.

The benefit of SDZ designation is the co-ordinated planning and development of undeveloped sites, with a good degree of certainty on the exact type and nature of development, following the determination by An Bord Pleanála of a planning scheme, which is prepared by the nominated development agency. However, the Minister does not believe a strategic development zone would be the appropriate vehicle to deliver on existing development, such as that at the Dublin north fringe, because there is already an existing and formally adopted framework plan applying to that area. This plan has guided considerable development in recent years and continues to be the basis against which planning permissions and all ancillary developments are considered. Moreover, the Deputy will be aware that a broad-based north fringe cross-authority-agency forum is also in place to monitor progress in this area.

The Minister has already had occasion to outline to the House initiatives which have been taken by Fingal County Council, by his Department and by the National Standards Authority of Ireland following from the problems which have occurred regarding pyrite in certain developments. When the issue of pyrite arose and following an intervention from the Department, the NSAI proceeded to publish a new amended standard recommendation on the use of aggregates as infill for civil engineering and road construction work. The new standard recommendation is intended to address the quality standards of new homes and buildings in so far as problems relating to pyrite are concerned. The Department has now incorporated this NSAI standard recommendation into the relevant technical guidance document associated with Part C of the building regulations dealing with site preparation and resistance to moisture. The Department has also notified all key stakeholders of the provisions of the amended TGD-C. In addition, the Minister is aware that HomeBond has included the amended NSAI standard recommendation in their published sixth edition of the House Building Manual.

The Minister, Deputy Gormley is satisfied that these measures represent an appropriate response and there are no proposals to establish a task force or to order a traceability audit of materials in relation to this matter.

The fact remains that problems arising between homeowners and their builders are matters for resolution between the parties concerned — the building owner, the relevant developer and the builder's insurer. Where the construction of a building is the subject of a contract between the client and the builder, enforcement is a civil matter.

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