Ann O’Loughlin Books in Order

The Irish defective block crisis affects several counties within the Republic of Ireland. To date the counties most severely impacted have been County Donegal and County Mayo, with other counties having fewer affected buildings. An expert committee established in 2016 by the then Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal investigated the causes in both County Donegal and County Mayo, and concluded that the principal cause of the damage was due to the use of defective concrete blocks. Within county Donegal this was originally termed the Mica scandal in 2011, which is the point at which homes and other buildings began showing signs of cracking and decay. The term "mica scandal" arose because the expert committee had observed that defective concrete blocks within County Donegal contained excessive quantities of the mineral mica liberated within the binder. Within County Mayo the expert committee concluded that the defective blocks were caused by internal sulphate attack sourced from framboidal pyrite within the aggregate, as evidenced from both presence of framboidal pyrite and elevated sulphate content.