Results 1,221-1,240 of 2,274 for speaker:Richard O'Donoghue

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: I am sorry to cut across Ms Murphy. There are a lot of houses in Limerick on which people have done remedial work because they had cracking. They have removed the plasterwork, put mesh onto those areas and got products that soak in to make the blocks harder. The problem now, however, is that when the winter comes again, the moisture will build up inside that and the whole lot will come off...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: Yes. My first question is for Mr. Houton on costings. Are all of the costings that Mr. Houton gave plus VAT?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: When dealing with quantity surveyors it is all plus VAT. In a 2,000 sq. ft house-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: I am basing the costs in our area at roughly around €180 per sq. ft. That is the cost, roughly, to build a house. So, a 2,000 sq. ft house would cost some €360,000 plus VAT. The VAT on that house would be €48,600. That VAT is the first thing the Government could waive, which might bring us back into a slight part of redress. The percentage rate that we are missing is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: Has any of the witnesses put this into any of their submissions to the Government? Have the groups asked the Government to remove the 13.5% VAT for rebuilding costs on the houses with pyrite in order to bring them closer to getting the 100% redress they 100% need?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: Mr. Doherty is 100% right. That has been taken off the table but it now needs to be looked at by the Government to say that it must come back in. That is a sizeable amount of money that would go a long way to helping with redress.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: That to me is absolutely disgraceful. It is one thing they could actually go along with. It is also very easy to police because an invoice could still be issued including the VAT and then it would go back to Revenue with a zero VAT rating on it for people who have pyrite or mica in their houses. It could very easily be looked at and very easily managed. It would be transparent across the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: Based upon the problem which we seem to have in areas of this country at the moment with pyrite and mica, would it not be the right thing to core test every house that will be retrofitted in this country before one retrofits it? The information coming back is showing that houses in certain areas would have a minimum amount of insulation in their cavities and when their cavities are pumped...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: I am asking our witnesses for their opinion on this matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: Well, it is-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: We will move then to the engineers, who may want to answer this question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: Perhaps Mr. Forde has experience of this matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: With Mr. Forde's vast amount of experience would he not agree that prevention would be better than cure and that a core test is done to ensure we are not accelerating the issue of pyrite in houses?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: I will move on from that. On 8 February a retrofit grant system was launched for this country and the SCSI was present at the launch. The figures given on the day were from October. I deal with quantity surveyors on a daily and weekly basis. I understand that regions can vary and that the price per square foot can change but quantity surveyors are usually given between two and three weeks...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: I have a quick question before we run out of time. If your house burns down tomorrow morning you have to bring it back to today's regulatory standards. You do not have to go back in time to the regulations from 20 years ago or from ten years ago. You bring it up to today's standards so that is the square foot price that you would be quoted for today.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: I thank the witnesses for coming in. Mr. Benson said the engineer is not responsible for the foundations he does not put in. He is wrong. The engineer is responsible for the foundations on top of which he puts a structure. He is completely wrong in the information he just gave. Any engineer who has put a structure on top of an existing foundation is required to do all the tests to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: Does Mr. Benson know the cost for a person building a house on top of an existing foundation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: Is that based on a house of 2,000 sq. ft.?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: In today's rates, it would be 1,944 sq. ft.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022: Discussion (23 Jun 2022)

Richard O'Donoghue: I will clarify the figures I gave. They did not include demolition of the property. The figure does not add up to 1,900-odd square feet. Demolition costs bring us back to approximately 1,730 sq. ft. There is also the builder's finish, which does not include all of the furnishings the homeowner takes out of the house and has to put back in. In an average house, that cost is €10,000...