Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Families have been torn apart, we’ve lost dear friends on this journey, so the success is bittersweet...
Billion euro scheme will fix crumbling houses
IT could cost the Irish government more than a BILLION euro when work is completed, but for now families with homes built from Mica defective blocks are celebrating.
After years of struggle, distress and a battle for recognition, the redress scheme has finally been signed off.
And in less than two weeks it is hoped the first applications will be accepted by Donegal County Council from residents who found their world literally crumbling around them.
The Government has agreed to pay 90% of the rebuild or repair costs with a cap of €275,000 (£245,000).
That means in the worst case scenarios, people will have between €245,000 and €250,000 to work with.
And for hairdresser Ann Gorman, 47, and husband Vincent, 50, a digger driver, the help cannot come too soon.
They were the first Donegal family to discover the harsh realities of a Micaaffected home. It has been condemned and will need to be razed to the ground and a new home built on the site.
Ann said: “It has been heartbreaking, we thought we were defeated time and again. But the people from the Mica
Action Group just kept going and when they got the media on board, something really changed and suddenly Leo Varadkar was talking to us and giving us hope.
“So instead of me telling people our house wasn’t fit to live in, explaining that it was literally falling apart and was not even repairable, the media was able to put the whole horrible picture right in the face of Government and thankfully they acted.
“Four years on from that moment, we have success. We can hope the Government took the right decision because they’re compassionate, but they suddenly had no choice but to accept we needed help and the whole world knew about it.
“Our community in Donegal has been devastated by Mica-defected blocks. I’d say there isn’t a family that’s not affected somewhere with loved ones or friends.”
Many of the details of Ann’s story are repeated around the county. In 2018, the
Daiuly Mirror heard of Donegal houses shifting in the winds and rain of Storm Erik
Within days our campaign revealed thousands of properties had been built using blocks contaminated with high levels of Mica and would never last.
Ann said: “In 2001 my father gave Vincent and I the land to build our dream family home and we moved in in November 2002. Five years later we were ready to paint the exterior of the house but the painter discovered the cracks in the plaster that just wouldn’t hold any filler.
“We started in earnest to investigate what was wrong the following year and in June 2008 we were told our house was condemned. The foundations were crumbling to dust, the walls were shifting and cracking inside and out and the roof was lifting in high winds. We were