Tag Archives: Dr Martina Cleary

A NEW levy on concrete products, designed to fund grants for homeowners with defective blocks, has been criticised by a leading Clare campaigner.  As part of Budget 2023, a levy of 10% on concrete blocks and other products is to come into effect from next April. Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said the charge will help to support the new defective blocks grants scheme, which was extended earlier this year to include Clare and Limerick.  Dr Martina Cleary, Founder of the Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG), said the move ultimately ends up hitting consumers, including those who will need to buy materials to remediate their homes. “Of course, there has to be a penalty on those responsible for defective blocks, but this levy is not targeting the real culprits,” she said. “The culprits are highly profitable companies who should be facing significant fines. The levy is just putting the cost back on individuals and families, as well as those who need …

A WARNING has been issued by the founder of the Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG) that defective blocks may be present in every county in Ireland. Addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing last week, Dr Martina Cleary urged members to address the possibility that problems may come to light in many other counties. “I will tell the eminent members of the committee that this problem may not yet be in their counties but it is coming,” she said. “We currently know of defective concrete blocks, or suspicions of same, in 12 counties along the western and eastern seaboards. It is likely a problem in every county. “The decisions the committee comes to and the recommendations it makes will be instrumental in influencing how this crisis plays out among members’ constituents, neighbours, friends and family. “They may have defective concrete blocks in their homes and do not realise it. Do not let the situation play out elsewhere as it did …

THE horror of discovering her home had pyrite was recalled by the founder of The Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG) before members of the Oireachtas Committee on Housing yesterday (June 23). As part of what has been described as ‘accelerated’ scrutiny of the legislation to underpin a revised grant scheme, which will include Clare and Limerick, Dr Martina Cleary addressed the committee on Thursday. The seven-hour process, which also heard from expert engineering witnesses and Department of Housing officials, falls short of full Pre-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS), which the government has avoided in a bid to pass the law before the summer recess. “On August 1, 2020, following a misdiagnosis by engineers, including those appointed by my insurance company, crumbling and rotting blocks were discovered behind the render of my small bungalow,” Dr Cleary told TDs and Senators. “In that moment my life changed, and the sustained nightmare of coming to terms with this began. The first shock was hearing from …

CLARE campaigners have voiced concern at the amount of time available to address an Oireachtas committee this Thursday afternoon on the bill underpinning the new defective concrete blocks grant. Last Tuesday, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien confirmed that homeowners in Clare and Limerick are to be given access to the revised scheme. The legislation to activate the grant will come before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing on Thursday, via a mechanism that has been described as “accelerated scrutiny”. This falls short of full Pre-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS), which had been sought by homeowners’ groups including the Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG). However, it is seen by some as a compromise position, in that it reduces the likelihood of delays in passing the legislation before the summer recess. The Housing Committee will sit from 1pm to 8pm on Thursday to discuss the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022. The founder of the CPAG, Dr Martina Cleary, has been …

THE vice-chairperson of the Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG) has urged people to stop suffering in silence if they have defective blocks in their homes.  Mary Hanley told a major conference hosted by the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) last week that people must open up and share their experiences. Mrs Hanley, who showed the Housing Minister her badly cracked home in Drumline last August, made her comments during a special session dealing with the mental and physical health impacts of living in a house with defective materials.  Referring to a presentation from TUS’s Dr Lorcan Byrne on the impact of housing insecurity and the importance of collective action, Mrs Hanley said that encouraging people to speak up remains a challenge. “Dealing with officialdom is one of the biggest stressors facing our group of homeowners,” she said. “A lot of us in Clare – and in Mayo and Donegal – would love to just go home and close the …

TIGHTER regulation of building materials and processes must be introduced so that Clare’s pyrite scandal is never repeated.  Making the keynote address at a major conference on the impact of defective concrete blocks, Deputy Eoin Ó Broin said that those responsible for the pyrite and mica issues must be held accountable. The Sinn Féin spokesperson on housing is also the author of major study of building regulation in Ireland. “This is not simply about apportioning blame,” he told the ‘Losing Your Home’ conference, hosted by the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS). “It is important to understand who is responsible in order to cover costs and to ensure that families and homeowners get support. We also need to fix the system to make sure this never happens again. We have to use this opportunity to fix the mistakes of the past because no-one else should suffer.” The author of Defects – Living with the Legacy of the Celtic Tiger, said …

PYRITE-affected homeowners in Mayo shared their experiences with those in Clare during a major conference this week on the impact of defective concrete blocks.  Entitled ‘Losing Your Home,’ the event was hosted by the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) and organised by lecturer and Chair of the Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG), Dr Martina Cleary. The two-day interdisciplinary event brought together expert engineers and geologists, politicians and affected homeowners.  Co-Chair of the Mayo Pyrite Action Group (MPAG), Josephine Murphy outlined the emergence of the problem in 2013 in the home of north Mayo couple, Dorothy and Tom Keane. “They received a letter that December from the SEAI [Sustainable Energy Association of Ireland] to say that a cavity wall [insulation] service should not be delivered due to cracks in their walls, that was the first sign,” Mrs Murphy said. “It was not until 2020 that tests confirmed the problem of pyrite. Two samples taken from their home were described as …

MORE than 1,000 homes in Clare could have pyrite, new research shows, with Newmarket-on-Fergus the worst hit area.  A study unveiled by Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG) chairperson, Dr Martina Cleary, estimates that 1,025 homes and 11 public and private buildings have defective blocks. A survey of 90 members of the CPAG, shows affected homes in 38 locations. Seven of these are in Newmarket. Drumline, Ennis, Kilkee, Kilrush and Sixmilebridge have five homes each. There are four properties in Cratloe, with the same number in Feakle, Kilkishen and Shannon. Clonlara, Crusheen, Inagh and Miltown each has three pyrite-affected properties. There are two in each of Doolin, Doonbeg, Fanore, Ennistymon, Quin and Tulla. The remaining 19 are dotted across Clare.  The findings were unveiled this week at a conference on the impact of defective blocks, hosted by the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS). The data shows that 17 private housing estates are affected and five Council developments.  Respondents were also …