Council protest planned as frustrations ‘boil over’

Campaigners for people living in homes distressed by defective concrete blocks are to hold a protest at next week’s meeting of Donegal County Council due to what they say is frustration “boiling over” over a lack of information on the redress scheme and a failure to find solutions for homeowners needing emergency accommodation.

Both the Mica Action Group and 100% Redress No Less group are calling for support for the protest on Monday morning at County House in Lifford ahead of the council’s last plenary meeting of the year.

Despite apparent progress on up to 400 stalled stage 1 applications to the scheme and hope that the regulations for the new scheme will be published before Christmas, anger is mounting over the conditions that some homeowners are living in.

Campaigners are calling for a €15,000 accommodation grant for accommodation costs in the revised scheme to be made available immediately.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien told the Dáil two weeks ago he was certain “we will be able to front-load some of the expenses where homes are dangerous”.

Paddy Diver of 100% Redress No Less said campaigners are prepared to “occupy” a Government building to highlight the frustration at the lack of progress if a solution for unsafe homes is not found soon.

“We will be holding a mass demonstration at the next council meeting. If they don’t listen to us up there, we are going to take over a Government building - and we will stay in it.”

He said frustration is growing because engineers have been sending reports to Donegal County Council “condemning some of these houses as unfit and unsafe for occupation”.

“We are just sick of the inaction. We know that Donegal County Council is having its last meetings and they are going to thank everyone for a great year and give each other high fives. But it is not a great year.

“We need action and we cannot have people going through another winter and Christmas [in unsafe homes]. We are demanding that these families are put into a safe home for Christmas.”

Lisa Hone, chair of the Mica Action Group, who was due to meet with John O’Connor, the Minister of Housing’s homeowner liaison on the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme on Tuesday, said “the pot is starting to boil over again” because of the “closed door mentality” from the department and the county council.

“Homeowners are desperate for information and there is huge frustration on the ground on so many levels in terms of what is happening in the current scheme, the lack of information for people living in unsustainable and unhealthy housing and the lack of plans for modular homes.”

Chair of the council’s defective concrete block committee Cllr Martin McDermott said he “absolutely” understood the frustrations of homeowners who are living in unsafe homes “who are on to me every day of the week”.

The Fianna Fáil councillor said the provision of modular homes “absolutely should be an option,” adding that there are up to 20 homeowners he is aware of who need emergency accommodation “straight away”.

“Certainly their frustration is getting high and it is very, very understandable. Is the process taking too long? Absolutely. Does there need to be something done immediately? 100%.

“There are people who should not be in their homes over Christmas. And the Government and the department, in particular, absolutely have to come forward with a solution”.

Donegal Sinn Féin TD Pádraig MacLochlainn said that despite the minister meeting with the chief executive of the county council ten days ago, there has been no word on what steps are to be taken.

He said the provision of high-quality modular housing which would be needed for the next 15 to 20 years “is absolutely necessary”.

“They have to build high-quality modular housing. They have to do it. The Housing Agency has to be deployed urgently to find temporary alternative accommodation and that has to be funded by the State. That has to be incorporated into the scheme.

“There is a budget allocated for this year and next year for the scheme - so use that money for that purpose. That has to happen now urgently for the families that have to get out of their houses.”