Pyrite-stricken Westport community forms residents’ association

A residents’ association has been formed to advocate for residents of a pyrite-stricken housing estate in Westport.

Pádraic Marrey, chairperson of the newly formed Páirc na Coille Residents’ Association, has called on Mayo County Council to take responsibility for the rebuilding of more than 30 houses in the estate and the rehousing of affected homeowners.

At least 32 of 54 houses in the estate have been confirmed to contain pyrite, a contaminant that causes many buildings to weaken and ultimately collapse.

The entire estate was built as an affordable housing scheme through a partnership between Mayo County Council and Respond.

The local authority has denied accusations that it approved the sale of four houses in the estate between 2018 and 2021 while suspecting there was pyrite in the estate’s homes.

The Páirc na Coille Residents’ Association committee is currently taking legal advice regarding Mayo County Council’s stake in the estate.

At least one homeowner contacted Mayo County Council in 2017 regarding the possible presence of pyrite in their home.

Repair works costing €93,000 were also carried out on the nearby Sharkey Community Centre in the same year. The building subsequently tested positive for pyrite.

“Our role is to get that across, that there are anomalies, with the whole estate and with the council not taking ownership of the estate. There’s a lot of different issues,” Mr Marrey told The Mayo News.

“Really it’s the council that should be coming in here, closing down the whole estate, rehousing everybody, rebuild the whole estate and we all go back to living our lives, because no one bought into this when they were taking out the mortgages,” said Mr Marrey, whose house will require total demolition.

Challenges to rebuilding

In addition to an ongoing dispute over the ownership of the estate, Mr Marrey said homeowners in Páirc na Coille are dealing with various issues regarding the rebuilding of their homes.

He explained that the hillside topography of the estate, coupled with many of the affected houses being semi-detached, means that their reconstruction is not ‘quite as straightforward’ as rebuilding a detached house.

“That’s a non-goer for any builder to come in to even price it, look at it, do anything with it. The foundations are connected, the roofs are connected, the site is on an unlevel playing field as if it's on the side of a hill. So it’s not going to be an easy solution for anybody.”

Páirc na Coille residents who have not converted their attic into additional floorspace are also facing considerable shortfalls in the pyrite redress scheme.

Under the Defective Concrete Block Scheme, homeowners with pyrite are entitled to up to €420,000 in compensation to rebuild their homes.

Compensation rates are calculated at €2,045 per square metre for the first 180 square meters of floor space. For each meter above 180 square meters, a rate of €1,250 applies.

“Anyone that didn’t [convert their attic], it means their square metres of liveable space is obviously quite a bit smaller,” explained Mr Marrey, who estimated the ‘nearly 70 percent’ of properties in Páirc na Coille are semi-detached or terraced houses.

“If you work that out by the price that they’ve given you on the ground which is €2,045 per square meter of liveable space and you have 94 square meters, that’s less than €200,000. You will not rebuild a house anywhere in the west of Ireland for less than €200,000.”

‘Circus’

Minister of State, Dara Calleary TD, previously told this newspaper that the Government would continue to review the provisions of the enhanced pyrite and mica redress scheme, which came into effect in 2022.

Representatives from Páirc na Coille Residents’ Association, county council officials and local county councillors will meet to discuss the issue on January 9. All four Mayo TDs have also been invited to attend.

Mr Marrey described a previous special meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District on the matter as ‘a bit like a circus’ which gave ‘no answers’.

He described the pyrite issue as ‘an injustice to the local people, based on inadequacies in the Government at the time’.

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See News Analysis in this week's print edition of The Mayo News on pages 12 and 13.