We’ll bring capital to standstill over mica
Families unhappy with redress proposals vow to step up protests
FURIOUS mica families have warned that they will bring Dublin to a standstill next Friday as they refuse to sign off on the ‘unacceptable’ redress proposal.
Campaigners who were seeking 100% redress were left angry yesterday, calling the proposal a ‘hash job’ after it recommended only giving 100% grants to those carrying out remediation work.
Those demolishing their homes would not be entitled to 100% redress under the plan, despite activists suggesting that at least a quarter of mica homes in Donegal need to be knocked down.
The Department of Housing’s 30-page paper suggested that if the redress scheme was changed to 100% for all affected homes just in Donegal and Mayo, the total cost of the scheme would go from €1.4billion to €3.2billion.
Donegal woman Ann Owens
confirmed to the Irish Daily Mail that the mica activists on the working group on this issue will not sign off on the proposal. She said this document does not reflect their wants, needs or asks.
‘We need 100% redress. The size of the house is absolutely irrelevant for the purposes of the scheme,’ she said. ‘We want a guarantee of the blocks. If we accept a remediation option, only the new walls are guaranteed. The walls that stay inside your house that are mica-ridden, they’re not insured. I replaced all my outer walls four years ago and now my inner walls are failing.
‘We’re not going to sign off on this. There have to be changes.’
Ms Owens also said the group will be ‘marching on Dublin next Friday’. Another mica activist told the Mail that tens of thousands of protesters could descend on the capital on October 8 and ‘bring Dublin to a standstill’.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin attempted to quell concerns yesterday as he suggested that this will not be the final proposal brought to Government by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien. He told reporters at Rosslare Europort yesterday: ‘We will meet with the minister and his officials in relation to the scheme.’
The Mail then asked the Taoiseach if partially rebuilding the mica homes instead of knocking them down could lead to further issues down the line. However, he said that ‘certification would deal with this’. He added that there is a ‘regulatory framework’ in place to ensure a controversy like this does not happen again.
In its submission to the mica working group, Engineers Ireland said there was ‘considerable unease’ amongst engineers on the scheme at the prospect of recommending retained blockwork. An Engineers Ireland spokesperson said last night its engineers ‘want to ensure that homeowners have safely constructed dwellings’.
Activist Paddy Diver said yesterday that he was furious with the Department of Housing’s proposals. He accused the Government of ‘scaremongering’ by suggesting that it could cost the taxpayer €3.4billion. Mr Diver called the report ‘vague’ and a ‘hash job by the Department of Housing’.
Eamonn Jackson, chair of the Donegal Mica Action Group, meanwhile, said that the group will not leave anybody affected by defective blocks behind. He said that while the working group is made up of homeowners and Department of Housing officials, the document reads like it was written solely by civil servants.
‘This document doesn’t reflect the position of homeowners,’ he stated. ‘I would hope nobody would make a final decision based on this. It is just their side.
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty also raised concerns yesterday, stating: ‘The big issue, obviously, is the fact that they’re not providing 100% redress for homes that have to be demolished.
‘My understanding is that 18 homes were demolished in Donegal affected by mica over the summer. There are many, many more that are going to have to be demolished, that’s the reality of it.’
It is proposed that a new scheme would cover content removal and refitting, costs for utility disconnections and reconnections, reinstating driveways and gardens and extensions to homes.
Alternative accommodation costs have also been ‘agreed in principle’, but no estimates or costings were disclosed. The
‘Walls inside are mica-ridden’
Report doesn’t say if there is a ‘cap’
report also does not say if there will be a ‘cap’ on redress. It suggests that work would be based on a cost per square foot and discounted as appropriate. It would, however, exclude the cost of foundations, betterment and salvage.
Homeowners would also be allowed to apply to the scheme for a second time if the original blockwork retained in the home after the first remediation subsequently requires replacement.
A spokesperson for the Department of Housing told the Mail last night that ‘the draft report outlines the background and operation of the current scheme, the objective of the working group, the homeowners’ position and departmental observations’. They added: ‘The homeowners’ position paper will form part of the discussions to be had over the coming week and will inform any proposed enhancements to the scheme.’
A spokesperson for Minister O’Brien did not respond to request for comment.