Pyrite repair target reduced last year due to staffing and supply chain issues

The State body tasked with carrying out pyrite repairs reduced the target number of completions by 15 per cent last year, largely as a result of staffing and supply chain issues.

The Pyrite Remediation Scheme was set up to repair dwellings that have been significantly damaged as a result of pyritic heave caused by the swelling of hard-core underground floor slabs.

There was a target of 285 premises being remediated last year at the start of 2022.

However, at the September board meeting, Margaret Jordan, head of finance at the Housing Agency, provided an overview of the management account report from May.

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She told the board of the Housing Agency, that the pyrite remediation target for the year was “unlikely to be met”. In the October 2022 board minutes, it was noted this target was then reduced to 242.

The Housing Agency is a Government body working in the delivery of housing and housing services.

This reduction was “mainly due to contractor staffing shortages, supply chain delays, a higher proportion of one-off housing, and difficulties in securing tenants’ agreement to vacate properties”, the board minutes state.

According to the minutes, discussions are “now focusing on potentially bringing the scheme to a conclusion in the coming years”.

A spokesman for the Department of Housing said 235 properties were remediated last year.

The spokesman did not answer questions about how the number of completions compared to target numbers, but said the department provided €20 million to the Pyrite Resolution Board last year.

A summary on the scheme from October, released to The Irish Times under Freedom of Information laws, said it was estimated up to 4,000 dwellings may be eligible for remediation, “at an estimated cost of approximately €230 million by 2026″.

“It is unlikely that applications will cease entirely after 2026 but it is expected that they will reduce at a gradual rate thereafter and that the annual spend will drop significantly year on year,” the summary said.

Pyrite is one of three Government remediation schemes, with the other two being for defective blocks and Celtic Tiger-era defects for apartments and duplexes built between 1991 and 2013.

Cabinet last month approved plans for up to 100,000 owners of defective apartments or duplexes to get financial support from the State for the full cost of repairing their properties.

The scheme will also be retrospective, meaning people who have already had their properties repaired will also be able to seek the full cost of the work.