Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to the home owners enduring the nightmare of pyrite affected homes and all the suffering that entails, some of whom have come together as Pyrite Action to campaign for justice for themselves and all others experiencing this problem. The local authorities and successive Governments have been slow to respond and keen to wash their hands of any responsibility for the remediation of those homes affected. Fingal County Council was commended in this House for a report in 2007. However, that council has failed to enforce regulation on builders who constructed local authority pyrite affected housing estates in its area, including Mulhuddart. My colleague, Ruth Coppinger, was criticised by council officials and councillors in 2010 for raising this issue on the basis that it was not helpful and would devalue homes. There has been a washing of hands on this issue and a desire to cover up the situation.

In May 2011, I raised the issue of pyrite with the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions and pressed for a task force to be established as a matter of urgency. Even then, the Government was not prepared to give a clear answer. A pyrite panel was subsequently established but it took a year to report, which is too long in the circumstances. However, I welcome that the issues laid out in that report are before the Dáil for discussion today. The issues involved are not complex. I reject the pyrite panel's conclusion that this situation could not have been avoided and, as stated by the panel in a letter, that pyrite was a perfect storm, as if it were due to mysterious forces coming from some strange outside source that could not be controlled. It is true that the chemical reaction of pyrite and iron sulphate with moisture and oxygen to create the expansion of the affected rock with incredible force, which causes devastating structural damage to homes, could not be controlled. However, what could and should have been controlled was the arrival of that pyrite infill at a building site, let alone into the homes now affected.

It is manifestly not the case that there was no knowledge of pyrite heave prior to 2007, which this report attempts to imply.

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