Independent Donegal County Cllr, Frank McBreart, has branded the Housing Agency’s behaviour towards defective concrete impacted homeowners in the county “unethical, unjust and underhand”.
Cllr McBrearty was speaking in the wake of a very well attended public information meeting in the Volt House in Raphoe on Friday evening, which discussed taking a Judicial Review of testing protocol I.S. 465.
Cllr McBrearty said:
Unfortunately, defective concrete impacted homeowners throughout our county have had to familiarise themselves with technical terminology such as I.S. 465, which tests for mica only, and only in Donegal. I.S. 465 is the Frankenstein standard designed by the Irish Government, the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) and Donegal County Council as an entry requirement for the now infamous Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme (4th February 2020).
Touted as a 90/10 scheme, it ended up being a 60/40 scheme, and far too expensive for the majority of homeowners to access. Worryingly, what we are seeing now is some of the 90/10 applicants whose chartered engineers recommended Option 1 (Full Demolition) being downgraded by the Housing Agency, which was given responsibility for the second failed Government redress scheme - the Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme.
The homeowners who are most vulnerable to the unethical, unjust and underhand behaviour of the Housing Agency are those who used Irish labs, and not Petrolab Minerology and Petrography Specialists, in Cornwall, in England. The latter correctly identified the cause of defective concrete blocks and products as Internal Sulphate Attack.
Cllr McBrearty said he believed homeowners who had not conducted any testing to date were very vulnerable. “They are at the mercy of the merciless Housing Agency,” he warned:
I cannot stress this enough, they will be open to abuse by the system if they enter the Enhanced Grant Scheme, especially if they do not have a sulphate attack analysis conducted on their blocks and foundations.
If foundations are not tested, they must be taken out and new ones put in under proper building control, however, that is only if homeowners get full demolition from the Housing Agency.
Home owners who are new applicants to the Enhanced Grant Scheme will face an uphill battle to get an Option 1, full demolition because they do not have scientific testing conducted - especially the sulphate attack analysis which proves what the problem actually is, which is certainly not mica.
My advice to defective concrete impacted homeowners in Donegal is, if you can afford to test your blocks for sulphate attack prior to entering the Enhanced Grant Scheme, it will legally put you in better position if the Housing Agency gives you an Option 2 to 5 - based on the new building condition assessment and their testing for MICA only under the flawed Irish Mica Standard I.S. 465 protocol.
Cllr McBrearty also said he was making political representations on behalf of those who have had their Engineer’s recommendations of an Option 1 Full Demolition downgraded by the Housing Agency. Cllr McBrearty said:
It is my belief this action is not legal, not least because of a reply I received to one of the many FOIs I submitted to Donegal County Council.
It stated that the Council does not interfere with a Chartered Engineers recommendations. “I am confident I will force Donegal County Council and the Housing Agency to overturn their unlawful decisions to downgrade the recommendations of qualified engineers. Especially, when it has been scientifically and categorically proven MICA is not the cause of this defective concrete scandal, this human disaster, prevalent right across my Municipal District - from St Johnston right through to Glenfin, Cloaghan and Brockaigh – and beyond. (45km - 45 minutes)
🖼 Cllr Frank McBrearty Jnr serves as an Independent Councillor on Donegal County Council.
I wholeheartedly concur with Councillor Frank McBrearty's viewpoint. The Housing Agency's decision to substitute scientific test results with visual assessments ridicules the testing system. The government's grant scheme is nothing but a disaster for homeowners. Only a legal challenge through Judicial Review against the fraudulent IS. 465 (applicable only in Donegal) can truly reveal the deceit of the government and Donegal County Council.
ReplyDeleteJustice and full compensation for the affected homeowners will only be achieved when I.S. 465 is superseded by existing EU standards that scientifically test for all harmful materials. This is the only way to ensure that homeowners are treated fairly and compensated fully.