Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome to Limerick to see the houses we have issues with. I have a question that might help the Minister going forward. Have the quarries found to have had pyrite in their blocks stopped making blocks? If so, how long ago did they stop? This report was done in 2012 so the quarries knew there was an issue at that time. Have those quarries been making blocks since then? Have they added to the problem, in which case they would be liable?

Going forward, people who have pyrite in their houses cannot be liable for excessive insurance policies on their houses. We must make sure that this does not happen. When the 100% redress comes, building regulations are there for a reason. If a person has an insurance claim on his or her house today, that house must be returned to the regulation of today, not the regulation of 20 or 30 years ago. The building standards state that a house must be returned to the existing regulations which stand now.

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