Pyrite homes 'left crumbling in middle of housing crisis'

A Belmullet councillor has said that Mayo County Council must ensure that houses impacted by pyrite are rebuilt, writes Joan Geraghty.

Cllr Gerry Coyle said the pyrite problem needed to be addressed in order to help with the housing crisis. He told council management at the February meeting of the local authority that pyrite remained a major issue in North Mayo, including in council-owned houses.

 “There is such a housing shortage, yet these pyrite houses are just left there crumbling down. In one place in Carrowtigue they are ready to collapse, and protective fencing had to be put up. I reported this to Health and Safety Authority, but absolutely nothing was done about it. 

"We have to keep the pressure on. We have an emergency for houses. These are our own derelict houses, not ones we have to buy off people. The public services are there but the houses are wrecks because of pyrite. 

"We are putting two million euro into the budget today to buy derelict houses when we don’t need to. These houses are there and if the work was done on them, we could have people living there in six months.”

Director of Services Tom Gilligan replied that the situation around pyrite is frustrating and told Cllr Coyle he hoped to have an update shortly.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.