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Thousands of people protested in Dublin in June in support of families impacted by mica and pyrite. Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Criticism of council after 19 rejections of pyrite homes in Mayo overturned on appeal

Applications had been rejected despite engineers’ reports and tests confirming the presence of pyrite.

MAYO COUNTY COUNCIL has come under criticism after its rejection of 19 applications for the Defective Blocks Scheme was overturned on appeal.

The scheme was set up to provide financial assistance to people whose homes were built with concrete blocks containing mica and pyrite.

Over the summer a number of impacted homeowners in Mayo were told that they had not provided sufficient evidence of damage to their homes, despite their submissions of engineer reports and test results confirming the presence of pyrite in the walls of their houses.

In the case of one homeowner who spoke to The Journal in August, the council’s own assessment report noted pattern-like cracking present in the external walls. Despite this observation, the council’s rejection letter to this homeowner stated “pattern cracking is not present”.

All 19 rejections that were appealed have now been overturned and these homeowners deemed eligible for the the scheme.

Barbara Clinton from the North Mayo Pyrite Group, speaking to Midwest Radio today, said this situation “should never have happened” as all of the applicants had reports from the approved list of qualified engineers outlining the damage to their homes.

She said these reports “should have been taken as Gospel” but instead the council had “done a box-ticking exercise from a desk and rejected those homeowners”.

“They didn’t even do a visual inspection of the homes and then those homeowners were put through six weeks of torture – and let me tell you, it was torture for those families – waiting for a decision,” she said.

On Monday impacted homeowners had heard from the council that a decision on their applications would be delayed by two weeks, but yesterday they were all contacted by the local authority informing them that their rejections had been overturned.

“Obviously Mayo County Council have not got a clue what they’re doing,” she said.

Sinn Féin TD for Mayo, Rose Conway-Walsh, said she was glad the council “had seen sense”, but questioned why these applications were ever rejected.

It was very obvious to me – and I’m not an engineer – from the houses that I visited in this appeals process that there was pattern cracking. I do believe they should have never been refused in the firstplace and I don’t know why they were. To me there’s no real evidence that they should have been.

“These homeowners were put through an awful lot of undue stress on top of the stress they were already experiencing.”

The Mayo TD said she is concerned for the mental wellbeing of impacted families, particularly the children living in homes damaged by pyrite.

“One woman was telling me her three-year-old daughter, when she saw another house said ‘Mummy, that house is cracked just like our house’,” she said.

“There was a couple outside the Dáil today from Ballina and it was their fifth weddding anniversary – they spent it with placards outside the Dáil, with their children at home.

“Another woman outside the Dáil lives on her own and is solely responsible for the mortgage, she said the bank won’t lend her another €40,000 to meet the gap between what’s allocated in the scheme and what it costs to repair the house.”

She said the objective of government has to be to end this stress for families as soon as possible.

The appeals committee is made up of three people, two of whom are external to the council. In a statement, Mayo County Council stated that the committee is independent and noted that it had overturned the original decision.

“The council is satisfied with its handling of the applications,” it said. “The council, as outlined at the September council meeting has received 106 Stage 1 applications of which 74 Stage 1 confirmation of eligibility letters have issued to date.”

The council said it was “very mindful” of the acute stress and trauma involved for homeowners who have defective concrete blocks and “it is not the council’s intention to add to this”.

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    Mute Me-llamo Noel
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:09 PM

    @Steve Creaton: You should be ashamed of yourself to make such a comment.

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    Mute Brian Boru
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:13 PM

    Let’s be honest, he will be too old for a second term, especially in the final year or two. The Democrats have a problem on their hands.

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:08 PM

    @Steve Creaton: why?

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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:09 PM

    Happens me all the time. I’m half his age.

    Never forget putting on the swagger walk when I was younger, group of young ones coming towards me, tripped on a crack in the pavement and faceplanted. They laughed. I laughed.

    I was a lovely shade of red.

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    Mute An Drew Bearla
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:06 PM

    @Rafa Condron: if this is commonplace for you, fair enough. How many times does he have to stumble and mumble before people admit he is not fit for office.

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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 4:58 AM

    @An Drew Bearla: what an inane comment. Bore off

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    Mute Colm Kane
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 9:56 AM

    @An Drew Bearla: Did you not see the sandbag that was on the stage that he tripped over…. It can happen to anyone!

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    Mute Mark O Brien
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 11:02 AM

    @An Drew Bearla: The same people who think Biden isn’t fit for office for these reasons will swear blind that trump is fit for office, and he has done much of the same type of stuff.

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    Mute An Drew Bearla
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 1:45 PM

    @Mark O Brien: I know this is difficult to comprehend, but just because you criticise Biden, it does not mean you support Trump. Treating politics the same as your favourite football team leads to this type of blinkered vision, resulting in terrible politics and government.

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    Mute Daithi
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:31 PM

    He was rather slow getting back up – one could say he was Biden his time.

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    Mute Joanne Stokes
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:44 PM

    @Daithi: hahaha…

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    Mute Aindriú de Domhain
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:13 PM

    @Steve Creaton: You should be in a care home

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    Mute McMahon G
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:43 PM

    RFK Jr. for President.

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    Mute Tony Murphy
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:57 PM

    @McMahon G: YES!!

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    Mute John A.
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:28 PM

    @Hannah Hannah: You should all be ashamed of yourselves for trying to make eachother feel ashamed!

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    Mute Tony Murphy
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:55 PM

    @McMahon G: Yes, showering with his teenage daughter puts him in that category. She attributes her subsequent problems to this experience.

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    Mute Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:56 PM

    Hope the clone makes a full recovery

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    Mute Denis Ryan
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:23 PM

    @Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024: I thought you said he was a actor with a 3/4 scale white house on a sound stage.

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    Mute Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:30 PM

    @Denis Ryan: I got intel from a reliable source that for 80′s actor Arthur roberts was removed as a body double as he wasn’t playing to the ‘script’.

    when roberts (playing Biden) met boris johnson last summer he asked johnson did he ever see any of his martial arts movies in the 80′s. Johnson became suspicious and democrats decided to use a clone to lay Biden. No one knows what became of roberts. Clearly this clone is malfuntioning. the technology is still at the early stages…

    https://flipboard.com/article/biden-body-double-blows-cover-during-meet-with-boris-johnson-real-raw-news/f-bf1486acd5%2Frealrawnews.com

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    Mute Andy O'B
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:57 PM

    @Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024: the crazy thing about the internet is now I do not know if you are being serious or not…if you aren’t, it’s a funny joke. If you are being serious, you need help. Seriously!

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    Mute Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:10 PM

    @Andy O’B: I’m only offering you the red pill to learn potentially unsettling or life-changing truths – or the blue pill of you wish to continue living in the matrix. you will never see who deep the rabbit hole goes sniffling around on the surface
    https://www.buymeacoffee.com/truther

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    Mute Denis Ryan
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:21 PM

    @Andy O’B: Seriously Andy, would you not take the red pill ;)
    So to recap red pill good, blue pill bad. Its weird most of the pills I took back in the day were white or slightly speckled. Had a pink panther once in Amsterdam but that’s a story for another day.

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    Mute Daithi Mac An TSionnaigh
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:40 PM

    @Steve Creaton: you should be in a care home

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    Mute Martin Lynch
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:38 PM

    @Steve Creaton: Disgusting comment!

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    Mute Sean Partidge
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:03 PM

    @Hannah Hannah: oh look Anna Anna is back.

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    Mute john murray
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:23 PM

    Not as horrific as that time Enda Kenny tripped over a plantpot and accused Ursula Halligan of assault.

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    Mute Barry Donnelly
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:58 PM

    Yeah but Trump

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:41 AM

    @Willie Marty:

    Compilation Joe Biden CSPAN

    RAW VIDEO & AUDIO January 6, 2015

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    Mute R
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:56 PM

    @Steve Creaton: I hope when you’re his age we say the same about you.

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    Mute Michael Holland
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:21 AM

    If this happened Trump, there’d be another witch hunt..

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:43 AM

    @Michael Holland:

    i saw a Trump interview recently and he said Biden isn’t physically fit to be POTUS

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    Mute R
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:58 PM

    @Hannah Hannah: You should be ashamed of yourself for believing in that conspiracy theory bulls**t

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    Mute Johnny Kelly
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 2:02 AM

    @Steve Creaton: He is 80!
    It can happen.
    More care needs to be taken where he has to climb on and off stages

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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:29 PM

    @John A.: SHAME!

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    Mute Lydia McLoughlin
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:56 PM

    @Steve Creaton: I’d say he’s being very well cared for at home at the moment!

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    Mute Ham Hat
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:35 PM

    He loves the Apartheid Occupation of the Middle East more than his homeless people. Such a ziosless

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:42 AM

    @Ham Hat:

    Joe Biden was committee chairman the week W Bush and Blair lied about WMD

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    Mute John Moore
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:13 AM

    He styled it out well. Nobody noticed.

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    Mute Vladimir Poitín
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:55 AM

    @John Moore: lol.

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:17 AM

    @Hannah Hannah: oh good grief!!! While your cult hero’s delays and ridiculous advice killed 1000s.

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    Mute Jason Walsh
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:41 PM

    He definitely ordered a nuclear strike on that sand bag. “I’m said nuke it, I’m the president god darn it”

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    Mute Robert Halvey
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 7:19 AM

    Who among us ,of any age ,has not stumbled and in fact fell down .

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    Mute Anthony Ross
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:46 PM

    I would say who put the bag there maybe a trumpet

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    Mute Numinous20111
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:11 PM

    @Anthony Ross: Whoever left any obstacle on a podium being used by a President (no matter what the president’s age or which president) should get a serious chewing out. That is beyond stupid carelessness.

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    Mute Daniel Carry
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 2:10 AM

    So what. Gerald Ford did it all the time. Bush Sr puked into the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister FFS.

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    Mute Jimmy Fitzpatrick
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 5:56 AM

    I was at a confirmation yesterday and I seen 3 people slip, won’t tell what gender they were!

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:46 AM

    @Jimmy Fitzpatrick:

    my uncle was working in Galway years ago and he was climbing up a ladder

    he was wearing white sneakers

    a man said “Isn’t it a fright to god to see a grown man still wearing his communion shoes”

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    Mute Dave Grant
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 7:46 AM

    Russia.

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:16 AM

    I would trip over my own shadow and I’m not yet Joe’s age, but he certainly does seem to have some senior deterioration issues, mentally. But then, the USA presidency does seem to be a puppet title… Unless you’re Donald Trump.

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    Mute Edd
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 11:29 AM

    Who the US President is does not matter as they are not decision makers but they just rubber stamp the decisions of others.

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    Mute Fearg
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 9:50 AM

    American ‘elections’ are just their version of EuroVision. It’s shameful how poor the performers are. Surely there is more talent available for the corporate controllers to employ.

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:34 AM

    @Steve Creaton:

    Compilation Joe Biden

    CSPAN

    RAW VIDEO & AUDIO

    January 6, 2015

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    Mute Patrick D Keane
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 2:48 PM

    No need for a lone gunman when Biden is around

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