Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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90. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the total number of properties included in the pyrite remediation scheme; the total number of estates in which these properties are located; the total number of houses in these housing estates; and if he will run a pilot project to test properties in these estates that currently do not have physical damage to determine the level of pyrite that affect such properties in the future. [35432/16]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The latest figures available from the Pyrite Resolution Board indicate that 1,409 applications have been received under the , of which 1,064 have been approved for inclusion in the scheme as follows:

271 are at remedial works planning stage,

41 are at tender/tender analysis,

35 are at tender decision,

241 are under remediation, and

476 are complete.

The Pyrite Resolution Board have indicated that applications have been received from 45 developments containing multiple applications, 27 developments with only one application, and 36 single site applications.

The (June 2012) recommended a categorisation system as a means of prioritising pyrite remediation works in recognition of the expensive and intrusive nature of pyrite remediation and the unpredictability of pyritic heave. The independent Pyrite Panel was clear in its view that only dwellings with significant damage due to pyritic heave should be remediated and that it would be unreasonable to expect dwellings not exhibiting such damage to be remediated. Dwellings which have no significant damage but have reactive pyrite in the hardcore should be monitored and only remediated if they display significant damage due to pyritic heave.

The relevant provisions of and the eligibility criteria of the pyrite remediation scheme are reflective of the conclusions and recommendations of Panel’s report. In this regard, there is no sunset provision in the Act. Where a dwelling, which has a Damage Condition Rating of 1 and is currently not eligible under the scheme, progresses to a Damage Condition Rating of 2, an application can be made at that point in time for inclusion in the pyrite remediation scheme.

As matters currently stand, there is no requirement on any homeowner to carry out testing on their property in order to confirm the presence or otherwise of reactive pyrite in the subfloor hardcore and I have no proposals to run a pilot programme in this regard. However, I.S. 398-1:2013 - Reactive pyrite in sub-floor hardcore material – Part 1: Testing and categorisation protocol does provide an objective, reliable and robust means by which dwellings can be tested and categorised and it is open to any homeowner to test the hardcore material in their home in order to establish whether it is susceptible to expansion due to reactive pyrite.