Donegal Sinn Féin TDs Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Pearse Doherty have today written to Geraldine Larkin, the Chief Executive of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), appealing for the urgent publication of changes to I.S. 465.
The I.S. 465 protocol, set back in 2017, is under review by the National Standards Authority while a number of scientists and public representatives highlight their case that mica is not the primary cause of defective concrete blocks found in around 6,000 homes in Donegal.
The I.S. 465 standard continues to underpin the Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme and is causing serious issues with remediation recommendations, according to Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Pearse Doherty.
When Ms Larkin appeared before the Oireachtas Housing Committee on 14th May last, she indicated that it was likely that the NSAI would publish their draft amendment to I.S. 465: 2018 in quarter 3 of this year.
Deputy Mac Lochlainn said: “The current standard is widely regarded to be not fit for purpose and there is growing consternation that engineers working on behalf of the Housing Agency are overruling many of the recommendations for remediation from the engineers acting on behalf of homeowners, with reference to I.S. 465: 2018.
“This is deeply unfair to all parties, particularly the affected homeowners and it is a matter of the utmost urgency to get to a place where we have a standard, grounded in the most up to date evidence based science, and that all of us can have confidence in”.
Deputy Doherty said: “It is just unacceptable to ask homeowners to remediate their homes based on a standard that no one trusts. They must be assured that they will never have to go through this anguish again. All concrete blocks and foundations in affected homes should be tested and the updated standard should test for a wider set of deleterious minerals than just mica and pyrite.
“We are appealing to the NSAI to urgently publish their amendment and changes to this current standard. The remediation of defective block homes must be based on solutions and science that we can trust.”