Fingal County Council is to review its stock of local authority houses built in the last 10 years to assess whether a building material which is alleged to have caused cracks in houses in a private north Dublin housing estate was used in their construction.
Menolly Homes, Dublin's largest housebuilder, used the infill stone material in several estates in Kinsealy, Baldoyle and Portmarnock. Laboratory tests on a number of houses show the material has expanded, causing ground floors to rise and floors and walls to crack, it said.
Menolly Homes has initiated legal action against Irish Asphalt, the quarry company that supplied what Menolly claims was defective material. A spokesman for Irish Asphalt yesterday acknowledged legal proceedings had been taken against it by Menolly Homes in relation to construction materials it supplied.
Large cracks have appeared in the walls and floors of at least 40 of the 300 houses in the Drynam Hall estate in Kinsealy, built by Menolly Homes three years ago.
Tests are being carried out on 60 houses in the estate. The material, which carries the mineral pyrite, was also used in the construction of Menolly developments at Beaupark near Portmarnock and the Myrtle development in Baldoyle. Tests are being carried out on these estates.
Fingal council said yesterday it had begun an investigation into the Drynam Hall cracks that would involve consultation with the developer, the Department of the Environment, National Standards Authority of Ireland and others.
It is also reviewing its housing stock to identify estates where the material may have been used.
