Six new Traveller houses to be demolished due to pyrite

THE HOUSES of six Traveller families in Finglas, Dublin, are to be demolished because of damage believed to be caused by the mineral pyrite in their foundations, Dublin City Council has said.

The families, who have been living in their newly built houses in the Avila Estate for less than seven years, have to leave their homes in the coming weeks. However, the council said there is “no hope” the houses could be rebuilt for at least four years.

The council plans to move the families to other social housing and to private rented accommodation until their houses are rebuilt. One family is choosing to live in a caravan rather than leave the estate.

Concerns about the presence of pyrite in building materials arose more than two years ago when private houses built by Menolly Homes in an estate in north Dublin began to show signs of structural damage including cracks in walls and floors.

Reports of the problem quickly spread to other estates of private and local authority housing built by a number of developers, including buildings which are part of the Ballymun regeneration scheme. A number of legal actions involving local authorities, developers, home owners and the owners of a north Dublin quarry are ongoing.

Several hundred houses have sustained damage which has been linked to pyrite damage, but in the majority of cases remediation work to remove the defective infill material in the foundations and replace it with sound fabric has been sufficient to rectify the problems. In the case of the six Travellers’ houses, the damage was so severe that they cannot be saved.

The six houses are located in Avila Close, part of the larger Avila Estate, a Traveller group housing scheme of 51 houses located off the Cappagh Road in Finglas.

Local Sinn Féin councillor Dessie Ellis said structural problems began to appear in the houses more than two years ago.

“I’ve seen the effects of pyrite in a lot of houses, but these are the worst I’ve ever seen. There are huge cracks in the walls, the doors don’t fit into the frames, there are drafts everywhere. The strain it has put on these families is appalling.”

The council estimates that the legal proceedings surrounding the pyrite problem will take a minimum of four years to complete and said the houses cannot be reconstructed while legal action continues.

The families affected had largely grown up in the Avila Estate and have children attending local schools and were keen to return to the estate once their homes were rebuilt.