merrion street

Environment Minister Phil Hogan today welcomed the publication of the Pyrite report.  

The Minister said:

I am satisfied that the report, which contains 24 recommendations provides me and the various stakeholders with a roadmap to move forward and make progress towards rapidly resolving this difficult problem for homeowners.

The Minister also announced the establishment of an information helpline 1890 800 800 where people can get more information and copies of the report. In addition, the Department has set up a dedicated email, pyriteinformation@environ.ie, where people can email queries.

The Panel did not consider the State was responsible for causing the pyrite problem and therefore is not liable for the costs associated with remediation.

 The report clearly states that those parties with direct or indirect responsibility for the pyrite problem should bear the costs of remediation. Those identified with having responsibility include: builders/subcontractors, vendors, material suppliers and insurers.

The Minister said he intends to move quickly on the report:

I have already begun a series of meetings with the key stakeholders, including the Construction Industry Federation, the Irish Concrete Federation, HomeBond, the Irish Insurance Federation and the Irish Banking Federation. I have asked the Stakeholders to come back to me before the end of September with their proposals for resolving this problem and I am hopeful that the outcome of these discussions will provide solutions for homeowners. However, in the absence of viable practical solutions from these obvious stakeholders I will be left with no option but to advise the Government that a solution along the lines recommended by the Panel must be imposed. My preferred option is for responsible stakeholders to take ownership of this problem and to work with me to advance solutions which will lead to a resolution for the homeowners concerned.

In setting up the Panel, the Minister was conscious of the need to establish the scale of the pyrite problem being dealt with and he has noted that the Panel’s estimate is significantly less that the figures which have been speculated in the public domain.