Mica campaigners ask for urgent action on vulnerable homeowners

The Mica Action Group is putting pressure on Donegal County Council to provide special support for vulnerable homeowners dealing with defective concrete blocks.

The group has raised the issue with the council in recent days and is calling on the local authority to engage with the Department of Housing about support for homeowners suffering from illnesses or disabilities, as well as elderly homeowners.

Six case studies of homeowners in vulnerable circumstances have been presented to the council by the Mica Action Group.

Chair of the group, Lisa Hone, said there has been acknowledgement from the council that “there aren’t solutions in place”.

“That has to be addressed and they [the council] are away to push that up to the Government and we will be pushing that up to the Government.  

“The next step is to actually come up with solutions to the needs of these families and to allow them to successfully navigate this very demanding and complicated process.”

Many of the families will need adaptive housing when they move out while their homes are being rebuilt, she said. 

“This is all wrapped up in this extensive infrastructure that needs to be part and parcel of the scheme.”

There is “a lack of urgency” in dealing with such cases, she said.

“It is unreasonable that you would ask somebody who is facing a serious illness to completely demolish and rebuild their house. 

“What I am not seeing is a sense of urgency and that is hugely disturbing that despite the Government and the council being fully aware of these circumstances and the stark reality of what people are facing into, that they are still not acting to put in place a plan that will get these people in the most vulnerable circumstances [into the scheme]. It is completely unreasonable and negligent.”

She said there are still “huge frustrations” about the length of time applications to the redress scheme are taking.

“It just needs to be sorted - it needs to be sorted in terms of resources in terms of how the applications are processed and certainly it is not tenable that this situation can continue into the revised scheme. There has to be a different way of going about it.”

Protest postponed

Meanwhile, a demonstration by defective concrete blocks campaigners, which was to be led by county councillors at Leinster House today, has been postponed due to the death of Buncrana councillor Nicholas Crossan’s brother Malachy at the weekend. The protest is now due to take place later in February.

“It is only right as a mark of respect to the family and also to allow the councillors to attend the funeral, as would be the norm, that we are going to postpone the protest,” Ms Hone said.