FAO Taoiseach Micheal Martin FF, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar FG, Minister Eamon Ryan GP, Minister Darragh O'Brien FF, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe FG, Minister for Public expenditure and reform Michael McGrath FF. Minister for foreign affairs Simon Coveney FG.
Dear Joe,
The evidence that I have gathered up in my investigations into all deleterious materials, sulphides minerals, the creation of IS 465 and SI 25 to date, clearly shows that you, the Mica Action Group, Ann Owens, Eileen Doherty, Damien McKay and Senior civil servants covered up the real problems in Donegal, which is Sulphide minerals. These are the sulphides showing up in reports: Pyrrhotite, Rare Pyrite, Minor Pyrite, Chalcopyrite and Marcasite. These are the most dangerous sulphide minerals that are found in concrete around the world and there are many examples of this in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maurice in Quebec Canada and Norway that we are aware of.
In Oct 2019 Eilean Doherty and Ann Owens, as members of the MAG were invited to attend an international conference on Pyrrhotite being held in Connecticut in the USA. Six months before their adventure/holiday they were interviewed by US journalist Carolyn Lumsden of the Hartford Courant newspaper, who visited Donegal and saw what was happening in our beautiful county. She also interviewed a number of home owners, who you know personally, and I understand that you spoke with her also. A few days before Ann and Eileen headed off on their Wild Safari, they were interviewed by the Inishowen News. What I don't understand, why would these two Ladies, who love the media attention that surrounds this scandal, shy away from telling people what they learned about Sulphide minerals at that conference, especially the press? Why they did not download this conference onto the MAG Facebook page, so that people could educate themselves on what actually is wrong with their properties (4 hours of conference on you tube). We now have the evidence in reports that show Sulphides are a bigger problem than Mica and Pyrite (cover up).
As they say in the Western Movies, you are the head honcho in this scandal. Why did your Government and previous governments cover up the full extent of the problem in Donegal. Well, this coverup started in 2016, when Government established the expert panel. In June 2017 the expert panel delivered their findings and recommendations and one of those recommendation was a study? Sadly, that has not happened to date.
⏩Frank McBrearty Jnr has been a County Councillor on Donegal County Council since 2009.
Dear Joe,
The evidence that I have gathered up in my investigations into all deleterious materials, sulphides minerals, the creation of IS 465 and SI 25 to date, clearly shows that you, the Mica Action Group, Ann Owens, Eileen Doherty, Damien McKay and Senior civil servants covered up the real problems in Donegal, which is Sulphide minerals. These are the sulphides showing up in reports: Pyrrhotite, Rare Pyrite, Minor Pyrite, Chalcopyrite and Marcasite. These are the most dangerous sulphide minerals that are found in concrete around the world and there are many examples of this in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maurice in Quebec Canada and Norway that we are aware of.
In Oct 2019 Eilean Doherty and Ann Owens, as members of the MAG were invited to attend an international conference on Pyrrhotite being held in Connecticut in the USA. Six months before their adventure/holiday they were interviewed by US journalist Carolyn Lumsden of the Hartford Courant newspaper, who visited Donegal and saw what was happening in our beautiful county. She also interviewed a number of home owners, who you know personally, and I understand that you spoke with her also. A few days before Ann and Eileen headed off on their Wild Safari, they were interviewed by the Inishowen News. What I don't understand, why would these two Ladies, who love the media attention that surrounds this scandal, shy away from telling people what they learned about Sulphide minerals at that conference, especially the press? Why they did not download this conference onto the MAG Facebook page, so that people could educate themselves on what actually is wrong with their properties (4 hours of conference on you tube). We now have the evidence in reports that show Sulphides are a bigger problem than Mica and Pyrite (cover up).
As they say in the Western Movies, you are the head honcho in this scandal. Why did your Government and previous governments cover up the full extent of the problem in Donegal. Well, this coverup started in 2016, when Government established the expert panel. In June 2017 the expert panel delivered their findings and recommendations and one of those recommendation was a study? Sadly, that has not happened to date.
In 2018 the NSAI created a technical panel Chaired by Denis McCarthy (former CE of Waterford Co Co) and on that panel were the following: Mr Frank Lee Chair of the expert panel, Liam Smyth expert panel/concrete federation of Ireland, Dr Robbie Goodhue Trinity College Dublin (one of the good guys), Dr James Lombard creator of the Pyrite scheme/chartered engineer/SI 25 (deceased RIP), Aidan O'Connell chartered engineer/SI 25 and Damien McKay chartered engineer/SI 25. Damien McKay has many questions ahead of him in the courts, why he left out Sulphide attack in his many reports (some I have reviewed) and when he helped create the Statuary Instrument SI 25 for Government, Sulphide attack was deliberately excluded, which is in IS 465.
S.I. No 25 of 2020, Dwellings damaged by the use of Defective concrete blocks in Construction (remediation) (Financial assistance) regulations 2020.
I.S. 465 is the Irish Standard specification for Assessment, Testing and Categorisation of Damaged Buildings Incorporating Concrete Blocks, Containing Certain Deleterious Materials.
What should be in these 2 documents is all Deleterious materials and Sulphide minerals. Heads will have to role for deliberately camouflaging these 2 very important documents. The NSAI, The technical committee, Civil servants, Government and others will have to answer why this was left out, especially when the 90/10 scheme was signed into Law.
Irish standard IS 465 2018 + A1 2020, means stamped into law since 2018 and amended in 2020 in lay terms. That is the standard you and Government created for defective concrete blocks in Donegal and Mayo, which is your Irish standard for the Republic of Ireland. Why would you create this standard when the EU standard for masonry units/concrete masonry were already in place since 2003, 2011 and then NSAI adopts it for the Irish Standard on the 25th Sept 2020?
S.I. No 25 of 2020, Dwellings damaged by the use of Defective concrete blocks in Construction (remediation) (Financial assistance) regulations 2020.
I.S. 465 is the Irish Standard specification for Assessment, Testing and Categorisation of Damaged Buildings Incorporating Concrete Blocks, Containing Certain Deleterious Materials.
What should be in these 2 documents is all Deleterious materials and Sulphide minerals. Heads will have to role for deliberately camouflaging these 2 very important documents. The NSAI, The technical committee, Civil servants, Government and others will have to answer why this was left out, especially when the 90/10 scheme was signed into Law.
Irish standard IS 465 2018 + A1 2020, means stamped into law since 2018 and amended in 2020 in lay terms. That is the standard you and Government created for defective concrete blocks in Donegal and Mayo, which is your Irish standard for the Republic of Ireland. Why would you create this standard when the EU standard for masonry units/concrete masonry were already in place since 2003, 2011 and then NSAI adopts it for the Irish Standard on the 25th Sept 2020?
In 2003 we have EN 771-3, 2011 we have EN 771-3 amended and then we have the NSAI adopting this as their new Irish standard IS EN 771-3. Then we have the standard recommendations SR 16 2004 and SR 16 2016 which clearly states 0.1% of Pyrrhotite is the level acceptable in concrete (which means there is a very % of it being in the concrete foundations) and we have evidence that the properties in Donegal are well over this limit. I have in my possession reports showing 2.4% Pyrrhotite and 0.98% of other sulphides. These reports show that these properties are at the highest level of risk factor due to Sulphate attack and they also have 16% free Muscovite Mica in the block work, with poor cement content and Nutant strength well below 7.5 N.
My Conclusion
The Senior Civil Servants, Government and you, are complicit and culpable in covering up this scandal, just as John O'Donoghue, Michael McDowell and others did with Garda corruption, which is still systemic in Ireland today as is Local Government. The creation of IS 465 by NSAI on behalf of Government clearly shows the extent you and others were prepared to go in covering up the full extent of what was happening in Donegal and now other parts of this Island. This is not just a problem in the 26 counties, because parts of the 6 counties are showing similar problems due to concrete products being bought from the Free State. These products should have been sold in compliance with EU and British standards, but they weren't, due to the policing of this industry by Quarry owners and Concrete manufacturers themselves (self-regulations).
My Conclusion
The Senior Civil Servants, Government and you, are complicit and culpable in covering up this scandal, just as John O'Donoghue, Michael McDowell and others did with Garda corruption, which is still systemic in Ireland today as is Local Government. The creation of IS 465 by NSAI on behalf of Government clearly shows the extent you and others were prepared to go in covering up the full extent of what was happening in Donegal and now other parts of this Island. This is not just a problem in the 26 counties, because parts of the 6 counties are showing similar problems due to concrete products being bought from the Free State. These products should have been sold in compliance with EU and British standards, but they weren't, due to the policing of this industry by Quarry owners and Concrete manufacturers themselves (self-regulations).
This industry was also not being policed by local authorities all over the state with proper Building control, Market surveillance officers and Planning enforcement officers who had the powers to enforce the regulations (systemic corruption in Local Government). As members of the European Parliament, action should be taken by the parliament to prosecute the Irish Free State for not abiding to the standards set down for the manufacturing and production of concrete products under EU standards. This is a failure of you and all the legislators in power to ensure that we the citizens of this country are protected.
IS 465 was created as a smoke screen and out of that the biggest part of your coverup was the creation of Statutory Instrument SI 25 90/10 defective concrete block scheme, which is really only a 60/40 scheme with a cap of 275K. This scheme was designed for option 1-5, but in fact it was designed for option 2-5 outer relief only. Option 1, which is full demolition was never going to be a runner, because you and others didn't want it to be. Why would you create an Irish standard for defective concrete blocks, when you already had European standards EN 771-3 (2003, 2011, 2020) which is now the Irish standard (IS EN 771-3). Statutory Instrument SI 25 the Government document, was created by Top Senior Civil servants and they deliberately left out all deleterious materials and Sulphide minerals and only included Free Muscovite Mica and Re-active Pyrite (Donegal & Mayo).
As a Government Minister at that time, you were leading (Head Honcho) the campaign assisted by Ann Owens, Eileen Doherty, MAG and Damien McKay. In Oct 2019 the 2 Mica warriors came back empty handed from the US - or did they? No media on this and the silence has been deafening to say the least ever since. Four months later in Jan 2020, a week before your Government announced the General election, SI 25 the statutory Instrument was passed into law and the unconstitutional scheme created by you and others was announced. I blame you for silencing Ann Owens and Eileen Doherty about what they must have learned about Sulphides at that time and you did this because you were only interested in getting re-elected to the Dail and not interested in the rights of every victim in this scandal. They were obviously so desperate to have this unconstitutional scheme passed, anything that got in its way, stopping it from getting up and running would have to be ignored no matter what the consequences were, even if it meant leaving Sulphide minerals out. This now clearly shows why experts should have been representing us from day 1 and acting for us in the Government working group when it was set up on the 15th June 2021.
When Ann and Eileen stepped down in 2020 from the MAG? Quote: it is the best we could get. This "poor me" attitude still continues to be used by them today when they are trying to get out of the holes, they have dug for themselves and they have dug a few of these. They were so desperate at that time they kept silent about Sulphides at your behest and that is the biggest crime in this scandal, a missed opportunity for all the victims getting justice was lost that day when you announced the scheme. In a tribunal and the forth coming cases taken in the High Court, you will have your opportunity to explain why you denied people justice.
The Mica Shakespeare play continues, Casting with Ann Owens, Eileen Doherty, Michael Doherty, MAG and Deputy Joe McHugh FG, to be continued...
Finally, I have given you plenty of opportunities to meet with me and discuss what I have been bringing to your attention. Have no doubt I will be confronting you and your Government Ministers in front of the international media and the eyes of our Irish brothers and sisters around the world will be watching. History will not be kind to you and others in this scandal.
I look forward to your response.
Yours Sincerely
Cllr Frank McBrearty Jnr
The Mica Shakespeare play continues, Casting with Ann Owens, Eileen Doherty, Michael Doherty, MAG and Deputy Joe McHugh FG, to be continued...
Finally, I have given you plenty of opportunities to meet with me and discuss what I have been bringing to your attention. Have no doubt I will be confronting you and your Government Ministers in front of the international media and the eyes of our Irish brothers and sisters around the world will be watching. History will not be kind to you and others in this scandal.
I look forward to your response.
Yours Sincerely
Cllr Frank McBrearty Jnr
Thirty seven local representatives and one only shines the light into dark corners where the real dodgy business and decisions are taking place. .........". All they are is a protective buffer to absorb the wrath of the people and safeguard the Cl Executice and administration. Gatekeepers all ..... The same applies to TD's amd MEP's ... obscenely paid punch -bags put in place to absorb complaints from the electorate as they play out their ' front - of - house ' hoodwink. Meanwhile, the ' back - of - house ' lobbyists and senior civil servants attend to the real business of state without interruption from the great unwashed."....
ReplyDeleteCorrupt from top to bottom. This sydrome, corrporate corruption, is not only specific to Ireland and Britain but all over the capitalist and imperialist world. Remember, profit trumps all other considerations, including peoples homes. As for governments, "mere committees" to govern the "affairs of the rich". Quted from Marx, echoed by Connolly.
ReplyDeleteCaoimhin O'Muraile