Limerick City and County Council is engaged in the preliminary stage for upcoming refurbishment works on houses in College Avenue, Moyross. This stage includes initial air tests as recommended practice in preparation for the commencement of the works.
Asbestos was commonly used until 1999 in building materials, mainly for insulation and fireproofing, across the Irish construction industry.
Virtually all buildings constructed before the year 2000 contain some asbestos material.
While there is no risk from contained asbestos, Limerick City and County Council has begun the air tests, which will conclude by the end of this week at College Avenue. This is a recommended practice prior to the removal of the asbestos.
Tests have been carried out this week on over 30 homes in College Avenue by industry specialists with no health risks detected.
Furthermore, a specialist asbestos survey carried out in 2016 confirmed, as anticipated, the presence of asbestos in the homes, with a recommendation that any potential risk material should be removed or managed when refurbishment works are being carried out.
In event that these current tests continue to confirm no risks associated with asbestos in the homes, Limerick City and County Council still intends to carry out remedial works that will be completed over a couple of days, to remove asbestos where appropriate from any individual houses, purely as a precautionary measure.
The HSE has been contacted in relation to this matter and the advice to householders is that the risk to public health is minimal provided that the works are carried out to appropriate standards and overseen by specialist asbestos contractors. For those carrying out work on the removal of asbestos, advice will be provided by the occupational health service.
Householders are being engaged with prior to any works on their homes and we will continue to keep residents advised as the contracts progress.