Donegal TDs call for publication of changes to defective concrete regulations 

Donegal Sinn Féin TDs Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Pearse Doherty have written to the chief executive of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) calling for the urgent publication of proposed changes to the regulations for determining whether a building has been damaged by defective concrete blocks.

There have been ongoing calls for changes to be made to IS 465 since research findings showed that the defective block crisis, which affects thiousands of homeowners in Donegal, is caused by pyrrhotite, not mica.

Campaigners have argued that the defective concrete blocks remediation scheme is based on solutions for mica and not pyrrhotite and homeowners, many faced to borrow to cover the full cost of remediation, may not be solving the problem in their homes by following recommendations based on IS465.

NSAI chief executive Geraldine Larkin told the Oireachtas Housing Committee in May that the draft amendment to IS 465 is likely to be published in the third quarter of this year.

Mr MacLochlainn said: “The current standard is widely regarded to be not fit for purpose and there is growing consternation that engineers working on behalf of the Housing Agency are overruling many of the recommendations for remediation from the engineers acting on behalf of homeowners, with reference to IS 465 2018.

“This is deeply unfair to all parties, particularly the affected homeowners and it is a matter of the utmost urgency to get to a place where we have a standard, grounded in the most up to date evidence based science, and that all of us can have confidence in.”

Mr Doherty said: “It is just unacceptable to ask homeowners to remediate their homes based on a standard that no one trusts. They must be assured that they will never have to go through this anguish again. All concrete blocks and foundations in affected homes should be tested and the updated standard should test for a wider set of deleterious minerals than just mica and pyrite.

"We are appealing to the NSAI to urgently publish their amendment and changes to this current standard. The remediation of defective block homes must be based on solutions and science that we can trust.”