‘Please help us’ - Westport homeowners plead for adequate help to rebuild pyrite-destroyed homes

HOMEOWNERS affected by pyrite in Westport’s Páirc na Coille have issued an impassioned plea for help with the cost of rebuilding their houses.

Local elected representatives and five Mayo general election candidates attended a public meeting last Friday outside the home of Linda Claxton, the first house in the estate to be demolished and rebuilt.

At least 32 houses in the estate have been confirmed to be infected with pyrite. However, the entire 53-house estate is suspected to be riddled with the mineral, which causes defects in building blocks and results in serious structural problems. This means they will likely require total demolition.

Seven houses in the estate have been demolished so far. Eligible homeowners have received compensation for rebuilding their houses under the Defective Concrete Block Redress scheme. However, many have been left with a shortfall of tens of thousands of euros, as the rebuild costs exceed the amount of compensation awarded.

This includes Ms Claxton, who has been left with a shortfall of over €90,000 since rebuilding her house – which has no landscaping or driveway.

The houses in Páirc na Coille were built by Mayo County Council in partnership with an approved housing body as part of an affordable purchase scheme in the early 2000s.

Several homeowners in the estate whose homes have been condemned still have outstanding mortgages to Mayo County Council.

“There is nothing affordable about this. We the residents are calling on you to please help us. It’s not fair what’s being done to us, through no fault of our own,” Ms Claxton said.

‘Disastrous’

In the past year, the Páirc na Coille Homeowners Association was formed to campaign for affected homeowners. Attempts are also being made to set up a ‘MyMind’ group to help homeowners struggling with their mental health.

A number of residents who spoke Friday’s meeting outlined a variety of concerns with the redress scheme.

Cllr Brendan Mulroy (Fianna Fáil) noted the toll that pyrite had taken on residents’ mental health, saying: “How we are not, in this estate, at a funeral is beyond me.”

Mayo Sinn Féin TD, Rose Conway Walsh, described it as ‘a particularly disastrous situation’ and echoed her party’s calls for 100 percent redress for affected homeowners and a full public inquiry into the mica and pyrite scandal.

At present, eligible homeowners can avail of up to €420,000 under the pyrite redress scheme. The level of compensation is calculated based on the square footage of liveable space in the house, rather than the total rebuild cost.

“My house was demolished on the 3rd of November last year,” Ms Claxton explained. “My foundations are 2.2 metres from the ground. I had to build my house up 2.2 metres before I could start. That is not 100 percent. That has cost me €22,500. That is not included in any grant. It’s going to be the same for all of the houses up there.”

Independent councillor John O’Malley echoed Deputy Conway-Walsh’s criticisms of the Government’s handling of the pyrite and mica scandal, which has afflicted thousands of homes, mainly in Mayo and Donegal.

“The house should be built and the ground put back, the landscaping and everything put back the way it was before anything happened,” said Cllr O’Malley. “Anything less is not doing anything for the people. So actually the Government, and the County Council, are a disgrace, they have done nothing for ye at all.”

Proposed changes

Proposed changes to the scheme – which require new legislation to be enacted – will see the maximum grant raised to €462,000 and increases to the rates payable per square foot.

The Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has also proposed a retrospective one-off payment for those left with a shortfall after accessing the old redress scheme.

“I think that’s positive and progressive in terms of people ensuring that the costs of constructive are reflective of what’s currently in the scheme and that it’s fit for purpose,” Minister of State for Housing, Alan Dillon TD, told the meeting.

Minister Dillon acknowledged that Páirc na Coille ‘has presented many anomalies that are currently not within the terms of the scheme’.

“I understand the householders here and the fear and the cost of not being able to fit the cost of the building, I absolutely understand that. That’s why I’m here today. It’s not just an issue in Westport. It’s an issue in Castlebar and north Mayo,” he said.

“I’m working with my Oireachtas colleagues and those who are fortunate to be in government next time. That will bring constructive solutions to the problem,” he continued.

“It’s easy to shout from the hilltop and say that there’s a problem and that the Government aren’t doing anything about it. This scheme, while it’s not perfect, it is a grant of last resort for every single one of you. Our heart goes out to each and every one of you that is actually impacted on it.”

‘A circus’

Minister Dillon also refuted a claim that the pyrite and mica scandal occurred because of ‘corruption’ between the Government and the construction industry.

Séamus Maye, who worked in the concrete and cement industry for many years, called the Dáil ‘a circus’ and accused the Government of ‘making eejits and idiots out of the whole lot of us’.

The cost of the Defective Concrete Block Scheme has been estimated at over €2 billion. Part of this is being funded through a controversial 5 percent levy on new concrete blocks, which has been blamed for increasing the cost of construction generally.

“All the taxpayers in the country are being handed a bill that’s not theirs,” said Mr Maye. “The bill belongs to the people that supply the concrete blocks. And Alan Dillon you have nothing to say?”

Addressing Mr Maye’s remarks, Minister Dillon said: “We’ve heard the story in relation to poor regulation, and we get that, but I absolutely refute [that there was] any type of corruption with any political party. And I would say to you, if you want to implement change, and you think Dáil Éireann is a circus, put your name on a ballot paper and put yourself up for election.”

The meeting was also addressed by general election candidates Stephen Kerr (Independent), Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fáil) and Keira Keogh (Fine Gael), who pledged to support the homeowners in Páirc na Coille.

Ciaran Mullooly, Independent Ireland MEP, pledged that he would lobby the new EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law, Michael McGrath, on the matter.

Earlier this year, the European Parliament released a report criticising Ireland’s defective concrete block redress scheme and recommended that full 100 percent redress be awarded to affected homeowners.

Mr McGrath, who stepped down as Finance Minister in June, was recently confirmed as the EU Commissioner for Justice following a three-hour-long hearing during which he was questioned on the pyrite and mica scandal.

“[Mr McGrath] was asked ‘What about the product? When is Europe and the Irish government going to go after the people who are responsible for the faulty product in the first place?’,” MEP Mullooly said.

“He said if it was referred to him in Europe he will go after the product. It is our jobs as MEPs to follow him up on that. That’s where the European Parliament comes into it. If there was a faulty product, [we have to ask] why was it allowed to be used, but also has there been a punishment or a fine or a redress against the companies involved in that?”

Páirc na Coille was featured in a recently-aired episode of TG4’s ‘Iniúchadh’.