‘The Government keeps giving us defective schemes’: Mayo Pyrite Action Group demand 100pc redress and accountability
The Mayo Pyrite Action Group held a public meeting on Wednesday evening, November 5, at the Great National Hotel in Ballina that brought together homeowners affected by defective concrete blocks.
The meeting aimed to share updates on the ongoing pyrite scandal, outline the challenges still facing homeowners, and renew calls for 100pc redress for those whose homes have been affected.
Stories of heartbreak, exhaustion and anger were shared, as families whose homes are crumbling around them made a united call for full redress.
As of September, 470 applications had been submitted to Mayo County Council under the redress scheme, with 434 approved and 115 properties completed with scheme funding.
These figures are described as "the tip of the iceberg" by the group, as the actual number of affected homes remains unknown, as many people are locked out of the current scheme.
Under the current Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, households can access up to €462,000 in compensation, based on the size of their home.
In October 2024, the Government announced an increase in rates per square metre, raising the maximum payment from €420,000 to €462,000. However, legislative amendments still need to be enacted.
Alongside the call for 100pc redress, homeowners are also calling for extended timelines to complete remediation works, retrospective payments, flexible ownership rules to protect next of kin in cases where a homeowner dies, and permission for side-by-side reconstruction in certain circumstances.
Homeowners are also calling for a review of IS465, the standard used to determine whether a home meets the damage threshold required to qualify for the scheme.
The standard has been widely criticised as a major barrier preventing many affected homeowners from accessing support.
The public consultation on the review of IS465 closed in July, with more than 600 submissions made to the National Standards Authority of Ireland. The revised standard has yet to be published.
Margaret Walsh from Belmullet organised the event. She is a defective concrete block homeowner and a member of both the Mayo Pyrite Action Group and the 100% Redress Party.
Ms Walsh commissioned a private test on her home, which revealed framboidal pyrite and high sulphur levels in the blocks. Despite the extensive damage, she remains locked out of the scheme because her house does not meet the current eligibility threshold.
"If I was on the 90/10 scheme I would probably be having my house remediated now," she explained, "I am just waiting for the nonsense of horizontal cracks, vertical cracks, and width of cracks to meet up in one photograph."
Ms Walsh described the condition of her home and explained that the damage has become extensive, both inside and out.
"I have extensive damage in my house in all walls, inside and outside. I have rising damp and electrical failures because of damp in the sockets. I've had a gas leak because the gas hob has corroded unearth from the damp,
"I have had to replace two showers on external walls because the moisture from the blocks has come through and burnt out the showers.
"I have dehumidifiers everywhere to try and get rid of the damp, and they fill up with water so fast. I have black mould everywhere."
It isn't just Ms Walsh's home that is affected, it is having serious health impacts on her family.
"I have children who have allergic rhinitis now, one with asthma, [who experiences] constant chest infections, and an overprescription of antibiotics,
"They are teenagers and young adults, and they are very distressed about what's happening to their house, and they see me worried as well," she said.
"There are children who have grown up in this county, and they have known nothing else but living in a defective concrete block home."
Ms Walsh remains determined to keep fighting for affected homeowners and hold the Government to account.
"We want Minister Browne to amend the bill so we have fairness," she said, "we want a faster turnover of the processes, the application process is far too slow, and the remediation side is too slow."
She explained that the group is calling for a dedicated Defective Concrete Block Committee within Mayo County Council to improve communication between action groups, stakeholders and affected homeowners.
On the recent Dáil vote on a motion by Deputy Charles Ward of the 100% Redress Party, which the Government voted down, Ms Walsh said: "We note that - we note who voted with us and who voted against us.
"Most of us are at an age profile where we were thinking of retirement, we were planning - and that's all been put on hold for us," Ms Walsh added, "we have different lives because we have defective homes."
Do you pay for your funeral or to fix your house?
"The Government keeps giving us defective schemes," said Mary Connors from Inch Island, County Donegal, who bought her home in 2006.
"Five years later, I learned it was built with defective concrete blocks. Ever since then I've been campaigning for 100pc redress."
Ms Connors is an active campaigner who has travelled to Dublin to protest and helped lead the grassroots movement that saw four councillors and one TD from the 100% Redress Party elected in Donegal.
"There were about 15 of us on the political lobbying committee, meeting every two weeks," Ms Connors explained, "we realised we needed to change things and get political,
"Now the other political parties are sitting up and taking notice," she said, "we've taken four seats on the county council - we're not fooling around. We're serious."
Ms Connors explained her current living situation as "like living in a slow earthquake," saying that each storm that hits Donegal brings a new sense of fear for the safety of her home.
"My windows don't close because the blocks have shifted, and I have lots of air leakage in my windows. I have cracks all outside my house, there is a 33.3mm crack in the front of my home," she said.
"It looks like a very sad house. I have cracks inside my house running across three walls," she added.
She said the toll on homeowners has been immense, leading to suicides, marriage breakdowns and mental health struggles such as PTSD, depression and anxiety.
"Do you pay for your funeral or to fix your house?," she asked, "people can't afford to send their kids to college because they need the money to rebuild their homes. What do you do?"
"There has to be accountability with the quarries, banks, insurance companies - with everybody involved in this, otherwise we are never going to learn."
Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh was the only political representative from Mayo in attendance at the meeting.
She said there was no difference between Sinn Féin's position and that of the 100% Redress Party, stressing that the issue was not about politics but about people.
"This is personal, it is not party political, it is personal, to get all homes in Mayo fixed as quickly as possible."
The Mayo TD called for retrospective payments for those who rebuilt their homes before the first Pyrite Remediation Scheme came into effect in February 2014, and for fairness for homeowners entering the scheme at different stages.
"We were told that nobody would be dispatched because of the point that they entered the scheme, and we are holding the Government to that."
Deputy Conway-Walsh also joined the calls for a public inquiry into what she called "one of the biggest scandals that has ever happened in this country."
"There has to be accountability with the quarries, banks, insurance companies - with everybody involved in this, otherwise we are never going to learn," she said and added that the inquiry should be run alongside the rebuilding of people's homes.
She also raised concerns about the long delays facing Mayo homeowners awaiting pyrite tests and results.
"I have raised this with the chief executive of the council. How long does it take for tests to be done and for the results to come back? I cannot get an answer as to why it is taking so long."
Also in attendance at the meeting was Cllr Ali Farren from Malin Head, County Donegal, who represents the 100% Redress Party. He lives in a defective home and works in a defective community centre.
Describing himself as an "accidental politician", Cllr Farren said he entered politics because he saw the urgent need for representation for affected homeowners.
"We are the only voice for defective homeowners in the country. I would love to see people in this area working together to put a candidate together. This party is an opportunity."
Speaking on the counter-motion put forward by the Government in response to a 100% Redress Party proposal in the Dáil, Cllr Farren said the result was disappointing but not surprising.
"It was demoralising, but it's something we knew," he said. "The Government is the Government, but it was our way of highlighting the problem and showing just how many things are wrong with this scheme."
Also at the meeting was the Pyrite Support Group, which was set up to help Mayo homeowners dealing with defective concrete blocks and the challenges of navigating the system alone.
Mayo County Council's Defective Concrete Block Community Facilitator, Caroline Wilson, who provides guidance and support to affected homeowners, was at the meeting.
The service is free and confidential, and helps homeowners with tasks such as scanning and uploading documents and accessing information on available support.
Clinics are held by appointment in Ballina, Ballycastle, Belmullet, Crossmolina, Castlebar, Foxford, Killala and Westport, offering one-to-one support to the public.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.