Defective blocks campaigners go to Canada to explore research opportunities

Two defective blocks campaigners from Inishowen are travelling to Canada this week to explore research opportunities stemming from the experience of dealing with the pyrrhotite crisis there.

Dr Eileen Doherty and Professor Paul Dunlop are travelling to Laval University in Quebec City to explore opportunities with a number of research experts in the area of pyrrhotite and the crisis that occurred there in the last number of years. 

Hundreds of homes around Trois-Rivieres, a town between Montreal and Quebec City, were damaged after they were built with low-quality concrete that contained the mineral, which expands when it comes into contact with water and air.

Experts in the crisis from Quebec visited Donegal as part of the international conference on defective blocks that was held in Letterkenny last November. 

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Professor Dunlop of the School of Geography and Environmental Sciences at Ulster University was one of an international team that published research that found that defective concrete blocks in Donegal are failing because of pyrrhotite and not mica. The trip to Quebec has been funded by Ulster University and is a follow on from last year’s conference.

Dr Doherty said: "This trip is an opportunity for us to visit the region, find out about the research that has been undertaken there from a geological perspective as well as meet with key stakeholders who have been involved and affected by this crisis. We hope to learn about their approach, take on board some of these learnings that can inform the defective blocks crisis here as well as to further forge research relationships and links with these international experts."