'You're back at square one, only 25 years older' - Mayo Pyrite homeowners

Just a couple of weeks ago, a letter landed in Stephanie Hingerton Braz’s door confirming that her “dwelling meets the damage threshold.”

She is the latest resident of the Pairc na Coille housing estate in Westport to be added to the defective block scheme for homes with pyrite.

Like many of the community who bought the homes in 2003, she is nearing retirement. Many others have children in college, with rents like a second mortgage on top of it all.

It’s a close knit community and it has been heart breaking for many to see not just their own homes being knocked down but also those of their neighbours and friends.

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A lot of residents had anticipated paying off their mortgages in the next few years and enjoying a well-earned retirement, rather than having to go back to mortgage brokers and lenders to take out loans of €100,000 and more to cover the additional costs that aren’t covered in the schemes.

As one resident put it, “you’re back at square one, only twenty five years older.”

Stephanie is planning on using the lump sum she has built up over many years of work to put towards the costs that won’t be covered by the scheme.

Her son is in his twenties and is saving up as much as he can, not to buy a car or for a deposit, but to try and contribute to the costs of rebuilding his mother’s home.

'Kick in the teeth'

The financial as well as bureaucratic barriers are a lot to overcome. They partially explain why more than twenty homes in the fifty four house development have opted not to apply to join a scheme.

One such resident is Marita Kilroy, a lone parent battling cancer.

She doesn’t want sympathy but is very frustrated with “the deafening silence from Mayo County Council. They haven't even sent a letter letting us know, or even an information package going, these are the steps you need to take.”

She receives chemotherapy every two weeks and experiences brain fog and inability to concentrate. This means the bureaucracy involved in the forms and applications would be too much.

On top of that, she speculates that “nobody's going to give me a loan, given my health situation and that I'm not working.”

The fact that Pairc na Coille was built as an affordable housing scheme means that it’s not like most households have huge extra resources to fund the costs not covered by the scheme.

“We were just regular people earning a regular living. As a parent on one income coming into the house, I've been busting my balls and paying the mortgage every month. It's such a kick in the teeth.”

With her health understandably her primary concern, she says: “I don't stress as much as everyone does about it, purely because I'm in a different world. I'm living from a different perspective, because my health is just my priority, but at the same time, you don't want to be living in a house that's falling down around you.”

Financial barrier

Speaking exclusively to The Mayo News, Kevin Kelly, Chief Executive of Mayo County Council explains that he understands “perfectly the situation which regards Pairc na Coille.”

“I've looked at it in detail in the past with the elected members, and indeed made a submission to the Department in terms of the particular issues that that housing estate has encountered, in terms of the slope,the internal configuration and the attic spaces.”

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Residents had queried whether that given their mortgage is with the Council, they could get a top up to cover the costs.

The Chief Executive says this was “something that was considered and was part of a submission to the Department in terms of rule changes around mortgages.”

“We have outlined the issues, and it's up to the national level, then to consider whether or not there be any variations to the scheme.

“Issues around people's ability to participate in any scheme are issues to be dealt with at national level in the context of the formation of the scheme and the amendment of the scheme at any particular point in time. And it's not a matter for a local authority then to implement additional measures to address issues arising out of a national scheme.”

‘Not big enough’ cracks

Another issue is the frustration experienced by neighbouring semi-detached houses, where one house qualifies for the scheme but the adjoining house does not have “big enough” cracks.

It means that instead of both houses being demolished and rebuilt at the same time, a complicated demolition of one adjoining house takes place and the remaining house is left exposed to the elements.

The Mayo News raised this with the Minister for Housing, James Browne, when he visited Mayo recently to open new housing developments in Mulranny and Westport. He acknowledged that “whether or not something meets the requirements is a very technical assessment carried out by experts in the area, and it can lead to situations that people can find frustrating when two houses right beside each other, and one has to be knocked on and the other isn't.”

He revealed that he has “been looking at that situation and looking at a number of different situations to see how we can make the scheme a little bit more effective for people, and a little bit less distressing.”

“It is an extraordinary scheme in the sense that there is well over €2 billion going into this scheme, but we need to help and support people as much as possible. So everything is being looked at

He also told The Mayo News that he was pushing through primary legislation to enable retrospective payments to be received by applicants “as quickly as possible.”

The Minister plans to go to the Housing Oireachtas committee “ in the next couple of weeks, and I want to get this legislation passed over the next couple of months so people can get those payments.”

“I think that's very important. People are living in defective, concrete block type houses. They've been through enough trauma, in my view, and I want to get these payments made as quickly as possible.”

Clarifying confusion earlier this month about comments made at Mayo County Council meeting around whether or not a report had been given to residents, Kevin Kelly confirmed that a report was given to elected councillors a couple of years ago and a separate report was submitted to the Department, with input from the residents.

Next month, the Mayo Pyrite Action Group will be holding a public meeting in the Great National Hotel in Ballina. It will be held on Wednesday, November 5, at 7pm.