A group in Clare is calling for the extension of a pyrite scheme to their county after their homes were "diseased" by the mineral.

The scheme is currently only available in Donegal and Mayo for homeowners whose houses were damaged by materials contaminated by pyrite.

The Clare Pyrite Action Group, which has around 25 members, is calling for the extension of the scheme.

In a report for The Pat Kenny Show, Newstalk reporter Síofra Mulqueen spoke to people in the county whose homes have been damaged beyond repair due to cracks in the walls caused by pyrite.

Martina Cleary, a homeowner affected by pyrite, said some people have described the blocks in their houses as "becoming like porridge".

She said: "What activates these minerals are either water or air, so every time it rains the water hits the outside, render goes through and saturates the block behind.

"What I've noticed is it started a year ago and there are cracks emerging daily from the inside as well now.

"When I'm sitting in my living room I actually hear the blocks cracking.

"You know your house is on a clock now and you don't know how long you've got.

"The more I'm seeing other houses at different stages, the more worrying it is, it's like having cancer in the house.

Ms Cleary said that as soon as she read about the grant which is available in Donegal and Mayo, she knew she needed it for her own house.

She said: "I have a certain amount of time to try and work and gather people and lobby and petition before my house is fit to demolish.

"I know I can't sell my house even if I wanted to.

"Legally what's happening now is it's a recognised problem, solicitors and engineers are liable so they will not sign off a house even if they believe even if at a tiny percentage there's pyrite in it because they will be sued by the new home purchaser.

"You're stuck, you're stuck in limbo."

Ms Cleary said she felt "incredibly alone" and spent "two weeks in near psychological meltdown" which led her to reach out to other people who may be experiencing the same issues with their homes.

She said: "You begin to see the levels of damage and the impact on individual people's lives and you get quite angry.

"You begin to say, what has caused this, what kind of negligence along the chain of command, whether in the production of this material or at the local authority or at the political or governmental level, that has allowed for decades for defective materials to be used on people's homes.

"There seems to be no responsibility taken, no culpability, and no onus put on people who should be responsible.

"This is a national scandal, we're only touching the tip of the iceberg. The fact that I'm in this county and can't avail of a grant that's in another county, that's pure discrimination."

Scheme details

Simon Beale, an engineer from Co Mayo, explained how the scheme works.

He said: "The scheme is applicable to owner-occupiers only but with pyrite, the main engineering recommendation for a house that has confirmed pyrite in the blockwork is unfortunately complete demolition and rebuild and reinstatement with new unaffected blockwork.

"I think we're dealing with 85 applicants in the Mayo area alone.

"There was always an estimated figure in Mayo of 350 homes and I would suggest it could be easily double that.

He added that successful applicants are entitled to maximum funding of up to 90% of €275,000.

He said "there are lots of cases when the rebuild cost could be €100,000 on top of that and the homeowner will have to make up that difference".

'Like cutting a cake'

Geraldine Kennedy, another member of the Clare group, said her home is "actually diseased from pyrite".

She said: "This was supposed to be my retirement home, but it's not going to be retirement home, it's nobody's home because at the end of the day its in limbo-land.

"You can't enjoy this house anymore because of the conditions and the way it looks."

She said there are two rooms in the home which are off-limits for fear the walls might collapse.

Ms Kennedy said: "It's like cutting a cake and taking a big chunk of that cake out.

"The severity of the problem in this house at the moment, if it's not rectified between now and six months time, God only knows what will happen, someone is going to be seriously injured."

Ms Kennedy said she feels like "a nervous wreck".

“There are two bedrooms in the house that are off-limits.. for fear it’s going to fall down”.

Geraldine is just one of the people impacted by pyrite in Clare. I’m reporting on the issue on @PatKennyNT. Locals are pleading with the government for help. #patkenny @NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/qPkTE0HtP2

— Síofra Mulqueen (@SiofraMulqueen) November 6, 2020

She said: "Sometimes you can be sitting and you can be watching the TV and you'll hear the cracking of the block.

"If heavy lorries are passing the house, the house actually vibrates it is very frightening to hear that.

"I never feel safe anymore and we're actually begging at this stage for the Government to extend the pyrite grant down to Clare.

"I'm 62 years of age now, I won't be getting a loan from a bank. Where are we supposed to get the money to fix this house?

She said the people who supplied the defective materials can sleep at night while she and her husband "just lie awake and listen to our house falling down".

She added that their house is gone beyond repair and has to be knocked down and rebuilt.

Ms Kennedy said the damage to the house, which is like "something you see in a movie", was "very disheartening" and "putting pressure on the family".

She added: "My hair fell out, I had to shave my hair to the bone because it fell out in chunks."

Scheme extension

Senator for Co Clare Timmy Dooley has raised the issue in the Seanad and said he said he would be working to convince the Department of Housing to extend that scheme to more counties.

He said: "To some extent, a lot of the hard slog has been done by other areas of the country.

"If we're to have an equality of rights here, the piece of legislation and statutory instrument that was signed to cover Donegal and mayo needs to be extended to cover the homes that are affected by pyrite anywhere in the country.

"There's a lot of costs associated with it but it shouldn't be beyond the capacity of the state to address that."

He added: "When you visit and talk with people who have been affected, you really do understand how devastating it has been.

"We often have difficulties in life, but there is nothing more destabilising on a family or an individual to have their little bolthole impacted to the extent they can't live in it."