Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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672. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 342 of 11 March 2014, in relation to the quarries which where identified as possible sources of hardcore, if he will make this information available to the public in view of the fact that a new housing estate has been identified in South Dublin County Council, an area excluded from protection by the Pyrite Resolution Board. [13278/14]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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673. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will amend the pyrite resolution scheme and legislation regarding mediation scheme and legislation in view of the fact that evidence has emerged of pyritic heave being present in an estate in South Dublin, an area which is presently outside the protection of the scheme. [13279/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 672 and 673 together.

As stated in my reply to Question No . 342 of 11 March 2014, it would not be appropriate to publicly name quarries alleged to be suppliers of hardcore material used in dwellings which may display signs of pyritic damage in the absence of evidence establishing traceability of the hardcore material .

While the Pyrite Resolution Act 2013 does not specify the geographical areas to which the pyrite remediation scheme applies , it does allow for the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the scheme to s tipulate spec ific geographical areas. The scheme as currently devised was made on the basis of the information available to the Board at that time. The Act provides that the scheme may be amended, replaced or revoked as may be required .

Any proposal to amend the scheme is ultimately a matter for the Pyrite Resolution Board; however, any such proposal would require detailed consideration of the evidence to support a case for an amendment to the scheme and would have to take cognisance of a number of pertinent fact ors including the fact that the s cheme is one of last resort .

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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674. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the mechanisms that are in place to ensure that the properties which have the most severe damage as a result of pyritic heave are remediated first, even though some of those properties may be single dwellings and the pyrite resolution board has stated a preference for remediating groups of houses together. [13280/14]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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676. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applications received by the Pyrite Resolution Board; and when residents may expect to receive feedback on whether their application is being processed to the next stage. [13311/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 674 and 676 together.

The Pyrite Resolution Act 2013 provides that the Pyrite Resolution Board may group dwellings tog ether for remediation works having regard to the need to secure the most beneficial, effective and efficient use of available resources and it is the Board’s stated intention to do this where feasible and practical. However, in setting priorities for remediation works they will also have regard to severity of damage in individual cases.

I understand that the Board has received approximately 35 0 completed applications at this stage and these are currently being processed. While t he Board is keen to ensure that there will be no undue delay in the validation, assessment and verification process es , it is inevitable it will take some time to undertake the p rocessing of the 35 0 applications currently on hand and the others that will be submitted over the next while . The Board will endeavour to keep scheme participants informed of progress on their applications. An acknowledgment with a unique reference number will issue when an application is lodged and on being validated by the Board a scheme participant will be able to track the progress of an application online.