Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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571. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the status of homes and buildings in County Mayo which are subjected to pyrite issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43767/15]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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In March of last year, my Department met with a number of private homeowners from County Mayo whose homes are affected by structural problems. The problems appear to concern approximately 15 private houses and the period of construction for the houses involved was 1997 to 2002. My Department was also made aware of problems associated with the cracking of concrete blocks in approximately three local authority estates in County Mayo involving some 17 dwellings. Additional information has been sought from the Council by my Department with regard to these estates.

While building defects are, in the first instance, matters for resolution between the relevant contracting parties, i.e. the homeowner, the builder, the supplier and/or their respective insurers, I recently announced my intention to set up a small expert group, with a strong technical background, to establish, in so far as it is possible, the number of affected dwellings in Mayo and Donegal, the root cause of the problems and the technical solutions for remediation.

In this regard, the expert group will have the following terms of reference:

(i) To identify, insofar as it is possible, the numbers of private dwellings which appear to be affected by defects in the blockwork in the Counties of Donegal and Mayo;

(ii) To carry out a desktop study, which would include a consultation process with affected homeowners, public representatives, local authorities, product manufacturers, building professionals, testing laboratories, industry stakeholders and other relevant parties, to establish the nature of the problem in the affected dwellings;

(iii) To outline a range of technical options for remediation and the means by which those technical options could be applied; and

(iv) To submit a report by 31 May 2016.

Arrangements are now underway within my Department to identify a suitable chair for the expert group and I will be seeking nominations shortly from a number of professional bodies for suitable persons to participate on the group.