Homeowners and defective concrete blocks

Sir, – Thank you for Lorcan Sirr’s informative piece “Have we learned anything from shoddy Celtic Tiger building?” (Opinion & Analysis, September 28th) and highlighting the under-resourced authorities that should have the ability to prevent future remediation schemes.

As a defective concrete block homeowner, I would really appreciate the word mica being replaced with the term defective block concrete.

The science from the testing of our blocks shows while mica is present in high amounts so too are other deleterious materials, such as iron sulphites and pyrite, and it is the presence of these materials that makes our home likely to deteriorate, including the foundations.

It is very frustrating to have the Government ignore the scientific research and continue to push a remediation scheme that does not work on homeowners. We either have to bear the financial cost of rebuilding our home, including foundations, or opt to replace outer and inner shell. In the second case, the bank will not secure a mortgage on the property if we wish to sell on the basis that the house may deteriorate further in the future, which means we will have to go through this nightmare again. – Yours, etc,