Minister for Housing, Darragh O'Brien has decided that all defective concrete block homeowners whose homes were not recommended for full demolition and rebuild by the Housing Agency will be offered a full technical review of their application.
The decision was made following the recent receipt of preliminary results from scientific research into damaged dwellings in Co Donegal.
Over 100 defective concrete block homeowners in Donegal had their chartered engineers' recommendations of full demolition downgraded to lesser options of remediation.
Affected homeowners held a protest at the Department of Housing this afternoon to highlight their concerns as they felt the latest scientific evidence was not reflected in the decisions they received.
Homeowners said earlier today that the Housing Agency’s recent downgrade decisions which favoured less comprehensive repair options left many "devastated and questioning the integrity of the process".
This evening’s announcement from the Department of Housing means homeowners who have been given a non-demolition option will be offered a choice of continuing with the work on their dwelling under the option determined or the option of a full technical review of their application by the Housing Agency.
If homeowners choose to continue with their works, they can continue to avail of the 40-year Government guarantee.
Homeowners who received a recommendation for full demolition and a rebuild from the Housing Agency will be unaffected by the changes announced today.
A spokesperson for the Department of Housing said the change announced today is in keeping with the "long-standing commitment that the scheme be evidenced based".
They added "as has been articulated on many occasions, the scheme has been designed in such a way so as to ensure that no person will be left behind the science".
Scientific research provided to the Department of Housing into damaged dwellings in Co Donegal claims that the underlying mechanism of damage is because of Internal Sulfate Attack due to the presence of excessive amounts of pyrrhotite.
International peer-reviewed academic research published last year said blockwork containing pyrrhotite "could potentially fail in the future".
A spokesperson for the Department of Housing said a review of homeowners’ applications will be informed by the current research once the Government commissioned review of the testing standard [IS 465:2018] used to assess homes is complete.
The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) is conducting the review of the IS 465:2018 testing standard following a Government decision in November 2021.
The spokesperson added that the Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien will also be asking the Chair the Expert Group on the Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, Paul Forde to examine all the research completed to date.
Furthermore, Mr Forde will be asked to provide advice as to the implications to the grant scheme as a direct result of the research findings that "have come to light in recent days".
The minister will also seek advice from the Expert Group on any potential changes that could be made to the scheme’s ministerial guidelines in advance of the revised I.S. 465 standard.
Last August RTÉ News reported an international research consortium funded by Geological Survey of Ireland and the Department of Housing had worked closely with the NSAI technical committee to conduct scientific investigations into the causes of concrete failure in defective concrete from Donegal.
Professor Paul Dunlop of Ulster University, who heads the research consortium told RTÉ News his research team found that the primary cause of concrete failure in Donegal is due to an "iron sulfide mineral called pyrrhotite that is present in the aggregates that were quarried and used to make concrete in Donegal".
The Housing Agency previously told RTÉ News it issued 315 decisions on applications initially made to Donegal County Council at the end of August.
Of the remediation options recommended at that time; 192 (61%) were the same as the applicant’s engineer; 111 (35%) were of a lower order than the applicant’s engineer; 9 (3%) were of a higher order than the applicant’s engineer; 3 (1%) refusals of an appropriate remediation option.
Homeowners who applied to the first scheme appointed chartered engineers listed on a specialist register for assessing their homes. The Housing Agency chartered engineers listed on the same register assessed those applications submitted to local authorities between June 2020 and June 2023.
There are five remedial options available under the enhanced scheme, ranging from full demolition and rebuild to lesser options of demolition and rebuild.
