BREAKING: Controversial Mica Sliding Scale 'gone'

Donegal County Council will receive guidance within three weeks which will enable it to reimburse outstanding engineers' fees to people caught up in the ongoing Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme impasse.

Speaking to Inish Live, Donegal County Councillor Martin McDermott (Fianna Fáil) said he also expected the 'enhanced scheme' announced by Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien on November 30, 2021, to be up and running before the Dáil's summer recess, minus the highly controversial 'sliding scale'.

Cllr McDermott and Cllr Albert Doherty (Sinn Féin), chairperson and vice chairperson respectively of Donegal County Council's Mica Redress Committee, met with Paul Benson, a principal officer in the Housing Department who sat on government-established Working Group on the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme, in Lifford yesterday. Noel Halvey from the Housing Agency was also present in the meeting, as were senior Council officials.

Cllr McDermott described the meeting as "constructive".

He said: "We went through all areas of concern [regarding the current and incoming schemes].

"The good thing is that the outstanding monies will be paid back. They have met with the Attorney General and they are putting a document together to send to the Council, which will allow the Council to pay back the outstanding fees to people. I think that is vitally important that we can get the money back.

"The legislation [for the new scheme] is going to be in the Dáil before Easter, probably the end of March. That has to go through both houses of the Oireachtas, which is probably going to take eight to twelve weeks. It will be summertime before the whole thing is ready to go. At the end of the day, we want the right scheme.

"The sliding scale is something that is certainly going to be gone. The timescale is difficult and it is annoying but I think we need to get this right. We need to get IS465 updated as well, which will allow other people with deleterious materials in their homes to get into that scheme as well," said Cllr McDermott.

Cllr McDermott confirmed that foundations would also form part of the IS465 review, which will be carried out by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NASI).

He said: "We are very strong that the foundations situation needs reviewed. 

"If you think about it, it doesn't make sense that if you have to toss your house in the morning, you should have to rebuild it on the same foundations, without testing it. Now, maybe those foundations are fine and that is okay, there is no problem, but, why would you build a brand new house on top of foundations that you have not even tested?  

"Regarding the new scheme, the pressure is going to be on now to have it up and running before the summer recess. There is going to be big pressure on to get this through as quickly as possible. That is what we are trying to do here, to put the pressure on the Government TDs and the ministers to get this over the line and put pressure on their departments to get this done as quick as possible 

"People will also be able to apply for the €5,000 grant as well in three weeks time when the guidance comes back to Donegal County Council," said Cllr McDermott.

In terms of the new scheme, when it is introduced, Cllr McDermott said homeowners will engage their own engineers to carry out a visual inspection on the house in question.

He added: "Your own engineer will send that to the Council and Council will send that to the Housing Agency.

"The Housing Agency will determine  what level your house is at and what testing needs to be done. This testing will be done   in conjunction with your own engineer. Tis report will go back to the homeowner and you then put your application into the Council, as normal," said Cllr McDermott

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