Motion to amend sliding scale in pyrite redress scheme

A LETTER is to be sent to the Minister for Housing to remove the sliding scale rate per square foot applied under the pryrite redress scheme.

Its inclusion is leaving property owners thousands of euro out of pocket in rebuilding their homes.

A joint motion was tabled at the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council by Councillors Neil Cruise and Jarlath Munnelly seeking the support of colleagues and management to write to the Minister for Housing, Dara O'Brien, to petition him to remove the sliding scale rate per square foot introduced in the recent Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme and to replace it with a uniform rate per square foot that is commensurate with current building costs.

The support sought was forthcoming.

Councillor Cruise said the new scheme is better than the old scheme, but one thing that has become increasingly obvious is that on a standard size house, people would be out of pocket by €65,000 to €75,000.

The sliding scale, he said, does not make any sense.

On another issue, Councillor Cruise said they were going to have to come with a situation where rental properties are made available for the people who have suffered through the pyrite scandal. There is a deficiency of those in the county.

However, there is a huge amount of houses which are not being used and maybe if there was a grant of €75,000 to €100,000 made available to people that is overseen where they could bring older properties into use, it would take pressure off the property market in the county.