Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-10
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Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF), Donegal

I wish to speak in support of these amendments from Deputy Ward. There is no doubt that we need greater oversight of the entire process. I spoke earlier on this issue, and I want to touch on it again. Sadly, we have an utterly deficient standard, IS 465. Basically, we have been diagnosed with the wrong cancer. Mica was not the main contributory factor to the crumbling of homes in Donegal. What has clearly emerged from international peer-reviewed research science, which it is pretty clear the NSAI now accepts, is that it is pyrrhotite and internal sulphate attack.
I have to fear that the rush to label it as mica may have been influenced by the wish not to knock down all the houses and to save money, to be crude about it. I remember hearing a member of the panel on a radio station. They explained to the layperson that with pyrite, the house has to come down, but with mica, the house can stay up. I remember it so well. I am a layperson. I am certainly no scientific expert or geologist, but I trusted that. I always use the example that when I get on a plane, I trust the pilot can fly the plane and trust that the mechanics have maintained the plane well. I put my life in their hands, as everybody does. We put an awful lot of trust in experts, but the experts got it badly wrong.
That flowed into a tortuous process for homeowners, where their engineers, who had looked at the house extensively, carried out the testing and been on site, said the house had to come down. They were qualified engineers who were on the list. Then there was the situation where the Housing Agency just used a desktop, it seems, looking at IS 465. Its engineers had not even visited the houses. I have already seen some of the decisions of the appeals panel. It is astonishing. Basically, there were engineers who had not gone on site and inspected the house, but had overruled an engineer who had, based on IS 465.
When we raised this with the Minister, initially the Department of housing was standing over the Housing Agency. Then, when the emerging evidence became apparent, it said that, no, it was always supposed to be looking at pyrrhotite too. The Housing Agency was left on its own.
These amendments are very important. We need to make sure there is oversight and accountability. We also need to know what is emerging and what the experience has been, so we can learn from it. I support the amendments.
I want to talk briefly about the appeals, in particular the length of time involved. It is an independent process. Every time we tried to get answers from the Minister, Deputy James Browne, and the previous Minister, it was said to be an independent process. The Housing Agency has an independent process. Donegal County Council has an independent process. People waited for a year. They were already traumatised and then they had this decision. They know it is wrong, but it takes another year. Finally, the appeals panel is starting to deal with this, but it has been so slow. It is agonising.
These are important amendments. They are about accountability and making sure that we can see the situation, but also the big picture. We can analyse the emerging data, see what is happening and try to improve things and make them better. They are good amendments, which I support.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:27+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-10