Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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57. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to commission a review of the pyrite remediation scheme. [1188/19]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The pyrite remediation scheme is a scheme of “last resort” for affected homeowners who have no other practical option to obtain redress and is limited in its application and scope. The full conditions for eligibility under the scheme are set out on the Pyrite Remediation Board’s website at www.pyriteboard.ie.

The provisions of the Act apply only to dwellings affected by significant damage attributable to pyritic heave consequent on the presence of reactive pyrite in the subfloor hardcore material and not to damage arising in any other circumstance, e.g. such as pyrite in concrete blocks. It is a condition of eligibility under the scheme that an application to the Board must be accompanied by a Building Condition Assessment with a Damage Condition Rating of 2. Dwellings which do not have a Damage Condition Rating of 2 are not eligible to apply under the scheme. This ensures that, having regard to the available resources, the focus of the scheme is on dwellings which are most severely damaged by pyritic heave.

I have no proposals to amend this eligibility criterion or to commence a review of the scheme more generally.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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58. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the action he plans to take to help homeowners in Fingal that require remediation work for their homes due to the contamination of concrete blocks with pyrite and mica; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1217/19]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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85. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to expand the pyrite scheme to support homeowners with evidence of mica contamination in blocks in north Leinster and beyond; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1187/19]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 58 and 85 together.

Neither I, nor my Department, are aware of any existing issue that has emerged in the concrete blockwork of certain dwellings in the Fingal area.

As you are aware, an Expert Panel on Concrete Blocks was established by my Department in 2016, and its terms of reference were limited to the investigation of the problems that have emerged in the concrete blockwork of certain dwellings in Counties Donegal and Mayo.

In 2017, the report of the Expert Panel was published and included eight recommendations, which my Department is actively progressing. Further to recommendation 1 of the report of the Expert Panel, a standardised protocol was published by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) on 13 November 2018 and is available at www.nsai.ie.

This standard can be used by homeowners anywhere in the country, including Fingal, to assess and categorise the damage in properties where the concrete blocks are suspected to contain the minerals mica or pyrite and it will inform the course of action in relation to remedial works for all such affected properties.

Previously, there was no common way for engineers or homeowners to assess the damage caused by defective concrete blocks, in order to decide what, if any, remedial work could be carried out. It is important, however to note, that in general, building defects are matters for resolution between the contracting parties involved: the homeowner, the builder, the developer and/or their respective insurers, structural guarantee or warranty scheme.