Tag Archives: Clare Pyrite Action Group

AS THOUSANDS of people gathered in Dublin on Tuesday (June 15) to demand full redress for to repair homes with defective concrete blocks, it has emerged that one public building in Clare, as well as a number of council houses could be affected. Members of the Clare Pyrite-Mica Action Group were among the thousands who thronged the area around the Convention Centre, where the Dáil has been sitting, before marching to Leinster House to hand in a letter calling on Minister Darragh O’Brien to extend the existing redress scheme to and to cover to 100% of costs. Currently, the scheme only covers Donegal and Mayo and will only cover 90% of costs. A homeowner from Newmarket-on-Fergus said he believes that the scale of the problem in Clare could be huge. “My home is getting worse week-by-week,” he said. “A qualified engineer has seen it and said it’s grade four pyrite.We were filling and painting for a while, but it’s gone …

THE presence of pyrite in a number of Clare homes has been “definitely proven”, following a process overseen by the local authority and the Department of Housing, writes Fiona McGarry. Scientific evidence of defective blocks has been welcomed by the Clare Pyrite/Mica Action Group. They said the findings of a study of a sample of their members’ homes strengthens their campaign for access to a redress scheme which currently only applies to homeowners in Donegal and Mayo. The group took part in a protest this Monday in Ennis to highlight the issue and further their claims for access to the system. Tomorrow, members of the Clare group will join protesters from other affected counties outside a Dáil sitting at the Convention Centre in Dublin and added their voices to calls for the redress scheme to cover 100% of the costs associated with restoring their homes; in some cases this will involve demolition and rebuilding. “Our group is now up to …

A PARTEEN woman, whose home has been seriously damaged by the presence of a defective building material, has made an emotional appear for others affected to go public about their situation. Geraldine Kennedy is one of more than 35 members of the recently-formed Clare Pyrite/Mica Action Group. The group is calling for home owners in this county to be allowed into a scheme to address the issue of defective concrete blocks in Donegal and Mayo. The grandmother of ten has already spent thousands of Euro on tests to prove that her home has 95% pyrite. She later spent €6,000 to have a chimney taken down, after fears it might fall. During a meeting over Zoom with Senator Timmy Dooley, Mrs Kennedy urged others to go public to highlight the extent of the distress the issue is causing. “I would encourage people to get in touch with the media,” she said. “We have already gotten local and national publicity. It’s not …

MORE than 40 homeowners in Clare are believed to be living in properties seriously damaged by defective materials like pyrite and mica, according to Deputy Cathal Crowe. Since the establishment last month of the Clare Pyrite Action Group, a number of people have come forward. Deputy Crowe, who has tabled a number of questions to the housing minister, is calling on others to do so. Mary and Séamus Hanley live in a detached house near Shannon which was built in the late ‘80s. “We have the house painted every few years and noticed hairline cracks two or three years ago, which we didn’t really take much notice of,” said Mary. “A year ago, my son said, ‘There’s a huge crack along the end of the house’. That’s now going from top to bottom and things have really deteriorated since then.” The couple engaged an engineer who judged their home to “significantly damaged”. “We had heard about pyrite in other parts …

POLITICAL answers are being sought on behalf of a number of Clare homeowners whose properties are affected by what they believe to be defective building materials like pyrite and mica. The plight of Geraldine Kennedy of Parteen, which was highlighted in last week’s Clare Champion, prompted a visit from Deputy Cathal Crowe, who said he had been able to put his fingers into the cracks in the wall because they were so wide. Deputy Crowe has since tabled two questions to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, on behalf of Geraldine and several other homeowners. “There are as many as 42 confirmed cases in Clare,” he said, “and many more suspected cases. My first question for the minister is to explain the options available to homeowners here. The existing schemes are very county-specific. We will need the buy in of Clare County Council on this, but I don’t foresee a major difficulty in that respect.” Deputy Crowe said …

A GRANDMOTHER of ten, living in South East Clare, says she is living in fear over the condition of her home where serious building defects have been identified. Geraldine Kennedy from Parteen came forward after an article in last week’s Champion, where a woman in the north of the county called on others to join the new Clare Pyrite Action Group. “My hair has fallen out over this and I’ve had panic attacks,” Mrs Kennedy said. “We are incredibly frustrated because we’ve had to pay for all kinds of tests and repair work and, at this stage, no matter what we do, it won’t solve the problem. I would be afraid the house will fall down and the only option would be to have it knocked altogether and rebuilt.” Engineer’s reports have shown the presence of a defective material in the blockwork of Mrs Kennedy’s home. The family has already spent thousands on tests to the building to prove the …

A NORTH Clare woman has outlined how she is in “a living nightmare” after serious problems were discovered with the structure of her home, because of defective building materials – most likely pyrite and/or mica. The woman, who spoke to The Clare Champion on condition of anonymity, said she has now found herself saddled with a large mortgage on a property she will be unable to sell in its current state. “I lie awake at night and feel like I am listening to the house crack and creak,” she said. “My understanding is that there could be many others in Clare who have the same problem and I’m calling for us to come together to see what we can do.” The house is a detached property and was bought by the woman in the late 2000s. “At the end of last year, I started to see horizontal cracks on the external gable and on the front facade of the house,” she …