Defective Building Materials

Thursday, 16 October 2025

Questions (258)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Question:

258. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 283 of 25 September 2025, in which he stated that the Housing Agency has confirmed to his Department that the presence of pyrrhotite is taken into consideration in their analysis, if he will confirm whether transitional applicants, those who applied under the original defective concrete blocks grant scheme S.I. No. 25 of 2020 and who were subsequently transferred to the enhanced grant scheme (details supplied), have had the presence of pyrrhotite in the blocks of their homes properly considered during their assessments. [56483/25]

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Written answers

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) commenced on 22 June 2023 which contains the current grant scheme and the related Regulations were adopted on 29 June 2023.

The 2022 Act sets out the role of the Housing Agency which acts as agent on behalf of the local authorities under the terms of the Scheme.

The Housing Agency has confirmed to my Department that for new applications in which a Building Condition Assessment report was referred by the local authority, the Housing Agency request the laboratories to provide an analysis on all sulphides contained within the selected concrete block samples, including pyrrhotite and pyrite. For transitional arrangements between the previous scheme and current scheme, applications in which an IS 465 engineers report was referred by the local authority, the Housing Agency takes into consideration pyrrhotite and pyrite, where identified, together with all other aspects of IS 465.