Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government would like to thank Deputies McEntee and Terence Flanagan for raising this important matter regarding the standard to which new homes are built.

The issue of pyrite was brought to the attention of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in mid-2007. Having consulted the statutory Building Regulations Advisory Body, the Department issued a circular letter to each county manager and local building control authority in August 2007 to bring this matter of pyrite to their notice and request co-operation in the enforcement of relevant requirements set out in the circular.

Following an intervention from the Department, the National Standards Authority of Ireland published a new amended standard recommendation on the use of aggregates as infill for civil engineering and road construction work. The new standard recommendation came into effect on 7 December 2007 and it is intended to address the quality standards of new homes and buildings in so far as problems relating to pyrite are concerned.

Deputies will be aware that the national building regulations, responsibility for which rests with the Minister, Deputy Gormley, set out the legal requirements for the construction of new buildings, including houses. The related technical guidance documents provide guidance on how to comply with those regulations. The Department incorporated the NSAI standard recommendation into the relevant technical guidance document, TGD-C, of the building regulations. A copy of the relevant amendment to TGD-C, which deals with site preparation and resistance to moisture, is available on the Department's website. Local authorities, the Construction Industry Federation, the Irish Home Builders' Association and other key stakeholders have also been notified of the provisions of the amended TGD-C. In addition, the Minister is aware that HomeBond, a private company which provides a ten-year structural guarantee for new houses, has included the amended NSAI standard recommendation in its published sixth edition of the house building manual.

Responsibility for compliance with the building regulations is a matter for the owner or builder of a building. Thereafter, enforcement of the building regulations is the responsibility of individual building control authorities.

The Minister is satisfied that the measures outlined represent an appropriate response by his Department and he has no proposals to establish a task force on the matter. He acknowledges fully the real difficulties experienced by homeowners whose homes have been affected by the use of pyrite in certain developments in and around Dublin. The purchase of a home is a major investment, both financially and emotionally, and he is keenly aware of the hopes and expectations which accompany that transaction. Nonetheless, he remains of the view that the resolution of problems arising between building owners and builders is a matter for the parties concerned, namely, the building owner, the relevant developer, and the builder's insurers. Where the construction of a building is the subject of a contract between the client - the housing authority in the case of publicly funded housing -and the builder, enforcement is a civil matter.

See this speech in context