by David Raleigh
HOMEOWNERS in a Limerick housing estate hit by pyrite are “waiting in limbo for years” for approval for rebuilding works despite showing proof the defective material has caused severe cracking and movement in their homes.
Leonard and Majella Croxton, of The Meadows, Lower Park, Corbally, are living in constant fear their home will crumble around them, due to pyrite in their foundation.
“I’ll be dead before this gets sorted. We’re in absolute limbo. We’ve had no progress, no nothing, no compensation. They’re just kicking the can down the road,” Mr Croxton said.
The Limerick couple have spent thousands of euro on engineers’ reports, soil analysis, and boring holes in their floors to prove their foundations were built with defective concrete.
Fourteen houses in the estate were built on pyrite foundations, which has caused cracking and movement in the buildings.
Mr Croxton said they provided proof that pyrite was causing structural problems when they applied for help to rebuild their homes through the pyrite remediation scheme.
Independent engineers carried out tests in their house two years ago but the couple have had no answer as to when they will be approved for remediation.
Leonard Croxton was shellshocked when he first discovered the pyrite problem in his foundation in 2008.
He had been the general foreman and site manager on the construction of the houses in the estate.
“Do you think I’d have bought a house if I’d have known about the pyrite?” he asked.
“Nobody knew about pyrite when these houses were built in 2003.”
Now the application process for remediation on their homes appears to have stalled, they feel under more stress.
“We’ve been through the mill, and then we thought, ‘We’ve been accepted by the pyrite remediation board’, but they’re kicking the can down the road.”
Mr Croxton said he feels the government’s focus has been concentrated more on finding a solution for homes in Donegal which have been destroyed by defective blocks or mica.
“While we feel sorry for the Donegal people, we were making a nice bit of progress until they marched to Dublin and then all of a sudden our situation has come to a screeching halt.”
When asked for a response, the Pyrite Resolution Board, which deals with applications to the pyrite remediation scheme, said it could not comment on individual cases.
“However, it is important to note that applications to the Pyrite Remediation Scheme have to pass through the various stages of the process,” a spokesperson said.
“As the process associated with each stage of the scheme is completed, an application is updated and progresses to the next stage. As an application progresses, an applicant is emailed and made aware of when key milestones occur.”
“Where an application has not yet moved to the next stage, it is an indication that work associated with that stage is not yet complete but when concluded, an applicant will be made aware of the stage change to the application.”
The spokesperson said planning and scheduling of remediation works of homes, is undertaken by the Housing Agency who manage this process on behalf of the Pyrite Resolution Board.
“The remediation date for a dwelling is only communicated with an applicant following the procurement process, contractor appointment and finalised works programme”.
