A Clare TD has said action was not taken by Clare County Council when they were first made aware that homes in the county were infected with pyrite.
The Clare Echo has learned that Joe Carey TD (FG) first raised the matter with Clare County Council Chief Executive, Pat Dowling in April 2018 having submitted a parliamentary question before Dáil Éireann in February of that year.
Efforts in Limerick to be included in a pyrite remediation scheme were brought to the attention of Clare County Council as they were encouraged to put together a similar application.
No response was issued to the Clarecastle TD by May 2018 when subsequent correspondence was issued to Mr Dowling.
An application was submitted to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage by Clare County Council on 29th July 2021, three years later.
Senior officials within the Council such as Director of Service, Anne Haugh who has been praised as one of the key figures in the application submitted last month was unaware of Deputy Carey’s initial correspondence, The Clare Echo understands.
Deputy Carey told The Clare Echo he was advised by Ministers to contact Clare County Council when he first became aware of pyrite in Clare over three years ago. “Unfortunately Clare County Council didn’t act on that representation which I made repeatedly back then,” he said.
“It is a pity that the Council didn’t act at that time, it would have saved time, a number of residents are in their latter years, time is of the essence, it is a pity that they didn’t act at that particular time but they are on board now and are intensively working on this issue for the past year,” Carey added.
A 100 percent redress scheme was endorsed by Deputy Carey. “We want to get the best possible result for the people of Clare suffering from pyrite issues and have done so for years, it is time we have got into that scheme and put a process in place to do that, hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will be included”.
He continued, “I don’t think it is right that homeowners through no fault of their own should have to bear the cost associated with pyrite and the fallout from it, I’ve made that case in writing and have spoken verbally to Minister O’Brien and continue to do so”.
In a statement to The Clare Echo, Clare County Council confirmed the issue was raised with them in April 2018. “The Building Control Section had not been made aware of any issues pertaining to pyrite in County Clare at that time. Contact was made with the Building Standards Section of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government with regard to the issue and the Department advised that it was a matter for the Pyrite Resolution Board to determine if the State Pyrite Remediation Scheme is to be extended to County Clare”.
