*Veronica Griffin pointing to the cracking along the walls of her family home in Newmarket-on-Fergus. Photograph: Joe Buckley
PYRITE’s presence in Clare has been proven “beyond reasonable doubt”, senior officials in the local authority have stated while confirming they are pushing to have the county included in the revised redress scheme with “immediate effect”.
On Tuesday, Director of Services with Clare County Council, Anne Haugh contacted elected members of the local authority with a report on the Defective Concrete Block Scheme.
Between 620 and 678 properties are potentially affected in Clare, the Council have estimated. The Clare Pyrite Action Group have identified 90 properties built between 1990 and 2010 contaminated with pyrite, 11 stand-alone buildings are affected or potentially affected with three different local authority built estates proven to have pyrite in their blocks.
A submission has been made by the Council to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in response to queries from the Department. A holding response dated December 20th 2021 had been issued by the Council, the reply was not completed until the results of the testing and the complete report from Simon Beale became available. The Mayo engineer was engaged by the Council to collate their technical response.
Following testing of five local authority owned properties, the presence of oxidised pyrite in the samples of the blocks taken was proven. “The Council has, as requested, secured evidence which proves beyond doubt that manifest damage to the homes in Clare is a result of excessive amounts of reactive pyrite in the blockwork,” Ms Haugh stated. This testing is on top of the initial five properties selected in the submission made to the Department last summer.
She added, “The Council is satisfied that the presence of defective concrete blocks in Clare has been proven beyond reasonable doubt and is therefore seeking inclusion of Co Clare in the revised redress scheme with immediate effect”.
