Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1291. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on the assessment on page 81 of the expert report on concrete bricks (details supplied); and his plans to remove the opt out from the BCAR regulations. [33992/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Expert Panel on concrete blocks was established by my Department in 2016, to investigate problems that have emerged in the concrete blockwork of certain dwellings in Counties Donegal and Mayo.

The panel had 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 within six months.

On 13 June 2017, the report of the Expert Panel on Concrete Blocks was published and included eight recommendations, which my Department is now advancing.  In that context, with regard to Recommendation 3, my Department will undertake a  review of the opt-out provision under the Building Control (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 365 of 2015).