Dublin People - Anger over housing delay

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Anger over housing delay

Thursday, 10 July 2008

NORTHSIDE residents are furious that a major problem in the construction of their new homes is set to delay their moving-in date by over three years.
Tenants of Sillogue Road, Ballymun, can see their new homes from the rundown blocks they currently live in but they have been told that it will still be well over a year before they can move into them.
They have already been waiting for two years and have now learned that construction on the new homes has hit a standstill as pyrite was found in the foundations of the development.
Pyrite is a mineral known to chemically react and expand when it makes contact with air and water and it has caused problems in a number of Northside housing estates.
Gerry and Anita Kinsella are two of the many residents on Sillogue Road who have reached the end of their tether with the frustrating situation.
“We signed for our home over two and a half years ago,” Anita told Northside People.
“We should have moved in over 18 months ago but we were told that there were unavoidable delays.
“It was only three months ago that Ballymun Regeneration Limited (BRL) told us that the problem related to the pyrite.”

It is understood that the mineral has been found in the subfloor of many of the new houses.
The mineral causes a swelling of concrete floor slabs.
“I can’t understand how they have not managed to rectify this problem already,” Anita continued.
“Meanwhile, we have been left in these blocks which are very neglected. It’s particularly frustrating since I can see these lovely new houses from my window.”
Another local resident, who didn’t want to be named, said she was also tired of waiting.
“I was supposed to move into my house around three years ago,” she told Northside People.
“It’s ridiculous to have so many people waiting like this. These blocks should have been demolished ages ago yet everything has been held up because of a mineral in the foundation.”
She added: “Dublin City Council recently ploughed around e200,000 into refurbishing the lifts of these blocks. Would it not have been better for them to put that money into trying to fix the problem with the houses so that we can move out of this block.”
Locals councillor Andrew Montague (Lab) felt the situation was unfair to the tenants.
“It’s terribly unfortunate and frustrating for them,” he said.
“Pyrite is a relatively new occurrence in Ireland which means people are unfamiliar with how to resolve the issue.
“I really hope BRL will find alternative accommodation for the tenants caught up in all this.”
Ciaran Murray, managing director of BRL, recently told Northside People what the situation was in relation to the new houses.
“The sub-floor in that scheme of houses is unsuitable and it has caused a delay of about one year for the scheme,” he explained.
“We have detected high levels of pyrite which when exposed to air could cause cracking.
“Pyrite is an issue that we have to address. We needed to put a halt on the development until we resolved the issue rather than having people move into the houses and then having to deal with the effects of the pyrite a few years down the line.”
He added: “This is one of those unexpected problems that we have encountered in a regeneration of this size where there has been so much demolition and construction while residents have been kept in situ.”

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