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Showing posts with label Hugh O'Donnell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hugh O'Donnell. Show all posts
Hugh O’Donnell –✍ Breaking news.
‘We must put our political and personal differences to the one side in the interests of these families and the victims’ - Cllr Frank McBrearty Jr

Donegal County Council has unanimously backed a call for an independent statutory judicial public inquiry into the explosion in Creeslough, County Donegal.

The explosion on October 7, 2022, killed 10 people: Shauna Flanagan (5), her father Robert Garwe, Leona Harper, Hugh Kelly, Jessica Gallagher, Martin McGill, James O’Flaherty, Martina Martin, Catherine O’Donnell and her son James Monaghan.

Speaking at Donegal County Council’s November plenary, Cllr Frank McBrearty Jr, who proposed the motion, said it was vital the proposed public inquiry had “an open terms of reference”.

(The full text of the motion is carried at the end of this article.)

He called on the new, incoming Dublin Government to establish the public inquiry “within its first 100 days in office”.

Speaking to his motion, Cllr McBrearty first referenced Martin Luther King Jr who said:

An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I believe these comments by Martin Luther King sum up the injustices the Creeslough families are enduring daily, 

It has been two years, one month and 18 days since the tragic events happened. This is the worst tragedy to hit Donegal in this century - 10 innocent people ranging from five-years-old to 59-years-old lost their lives that terrible day.”

Acknowledging Monday’s meeting was the first time he had spoken publicly about the Creeslough victims and their families, Cllr McBrearty said he had been approached for advice by The Harper family at the beginning of this year.

He said:

I have listened to them about their concerns and what has happened over the last two years. My advice to them was that they needed an independent statutory judicial public inquiry - that is what they needed to focus on if they wanted the full truth about what happened that terrible day.
As county councillors in local government we are given a mandate by the people to represent them on a wide range of issues. As the Great Irish American Politician Thomas Tip O’Neil once said “all politics is local”.
Today we must put our political and personal differences to the one side in the interests of these families and the victims.
We must try and understand that these families are heartbroken because they have endured the loss of the people they loved most in their lives.

The Independent Raphoe councillor said he could not imagine what it was like to lose a family member in such a terrible and untimely way.

“We all lose people we love at some time in our lives, but we never expect it to be in the way it happened in Cresslough,” he said.

Turning to his call for an independent statutory judicial public inquiry, Cllr McBrearty conceded some people might say it was “a waste of time”.

“We will hear the usual arguments against a tribunal - they are a waste of time, go on for too long.”

“Maybe they do,” said Cllr McBrearty, “and certain aspects of our media may agree and they are entitled to their opinions.

However, as the only public representative in this Council chamber and county today who has the experience of participating in a tribunal of inquiry, It is my firm opinion this is the only way the Creeslough families will ever get any justice worth talking about.
The one thing that these families will never be able to get back is their loved ones who were taken away from them unlawfully on October 7, 2022.
Why did this happen and who is to blame? Those are two of the most important questions, in my opinion, which must be answered by the State. Of course there are many other questions that need answering as well and only a public inquiry can deliver this.
When our Government does have the courage to establish this much needed tribunal, it has a moral obligation to ensure it is independent; the terms of reference are open; and that the families of the victims are legally represented and guaranteed full legal aid, on a par with those who will be represented by the State directly and indirectly.

There are currently a number of ongoing investigations into the Creeslough explosion.

Cllr McBrearty said certain commentators might use the excuse a tribunal could not be established until these were concluded.

He added:

This is completely incorrect. I know because the precedent was set when the Morris Tribunal was established in March 2002, while a number of Garda Investigations, Garda Complaints Board investigations, Criminal and Civil Court cases were ongoing.
None of these interfered with the other because each had its statutory obligations and remits. This sets the legal precedent which allows our next Government to establish the public inquiry to which the Creeslough families are entitled.

Giving an insight into his struggles with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to what he described as “an injustice”, Cllr McBrearty said he knew and understood what the Creeslough families were dealing with on a daily basis. He added: 

The mental health issues, such as panic attacks, anxiety, flashbacks, eating disorders, depression, suicide and much more which are associated with PTSD are just some of the things and feelings that these families will endure for many years to come.
“Time is a healer’, they say but I am not sure this is the case. It is okay not to be okay. However, until these families are given the full truth about why and what happened to their loved ones that terrible day, only then will it be okay. Maybe then they will be able to get back to some sort of normality.
I have been assured by Charlie Ward that if he is elected to Dáil Éireann he will fight to get a tribunal established by the next Government.
I am also calling on the local and national media to ask our General Election candidates to give a firm commitment - if they are elected on Friday, November 29, they too will fight to ensure an independent statutory judicial public inquiry is established into the Creeslough Explosion within the first 100 days of our new Government.
The truth and nothing but the truth is the only thing that will set these families free from their pain and suffering they are enduring every day without their loved ones. The worst form of injustice is pretend justice and that is why the elected members must fully support these families today.

If the incoming Government does not establish a public inquiry into the Creeslough explosion within the next six months, Cllr McBrearty pledged to re-submit his motion “again and again until they do the right thing by these families”.

He added:

There is a Latin proverb which runs ‘Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum’ - Let Justice be done though the Heavens fall. If our new Government does not establish a public inquiry into the Creeslough explosion, the Heavens will fall.

The full text of Cllr Frank McBrearty’s motion to Donegal County Council

I am requesting that the new incoming Government establish within its first 100 days an Independent Statutory Judicial Public Inquiry with an open terms of reference into the explosion in Cresslough, Co Donegal that Killed 10 people on the 7th Oct 2022, and I am calling on all the elected members of Donegal County Council to support my motion for this much needed Public Inquiry.

⏪Hugh O’Donnell is on the ground in Donegal.

Donegal County Council Calls For Creeslough Public Inquiry Within Government’s First 100 Days In Office

Hugh O’Donnell –✍ Departments of Housing and Justice challenged to put Housing Agency on notice to desist from overturning recommendations by qualified and registered IS 465 Chartered Engineers.
The striking thing about Donegal County Council’s July plenary was the deafening lack of discussion on a nevertheless unanimously agreed motion concerning increasing numbers of defective-home owners. (The full text of the motion is carried at the end of this article.)

In the almost indecent, nothing-to-see-here, haste to move on, proposer Cllr Frank McBrearty (Independent), was almost denied the opportunity to sum up.

Cllr Tomás Devine (100% Redress) seconded the motion. There followed a perfunctory acknowledgement by the director of water and the environment. Strangely, the opinion of not one other councillor was sought or heard.

Cllr Devine revealed more than 70 families in Letterkenny had had the remediation recommendations of their IS 465 certified engineers downgraded by the Housing Agency.

He added:

People living in semi-detached homes, one is being downgraded and the other is still being demolished. I can’t get my head around it. The review of IS 465 needs to come a lot sooner, in fact it needs to be abolished.

Addressing the Council, Cllr McBrearty said he was bringing the motion on behalf of all homeowners who had applied to the 90/10 and Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks schemes and had their engineers’ recommendations downgraded.

He quoted a response from Donegal County Council contained in a Freedom of Information request he had made.

It said:

I wish to clarify that the wording of the query appears to suggest the remedial option approved can be different to that recommended by the chartered engineer.
This is never the case and the Council do not decide the remedial option for any dwelling.
The chartered engineer must prepare a report in accordance with IS 465 in respect of the relevant dwelling, that sets out confirmation of the existence of damage to the dwelling arising out of or in connection with the use of defective concrete blocks in the construction of dwelling and recommend a remedial option for the relevant dwelling that represents the minimum feasible remedial works.

Cllr McBrearty added there was “overwhelming evidence” the Mica Freeze – Thaw theory and the IS 465 testing protocol, was designed and created by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) technical committee, assisted by Donegal County Council.

He said: 

I am requesting elected members support this motion because the affected homeowners having their recommendations downgraded illegally, should be fully supported by the people who promised them, when they ran for election on June 7, they would stand by them and take whatever actions were necessary to have these decisions reversed.
This includes the decision in the 90/10 scheme, to grant people options other than Option 1 (full demolition), due to the fact that total sulphites, including pyrrhotite, is the cause of the structural defects in Donegal properties. It cannot be denied by the Council Executive this is the case.

Summing up, Cllr McBrearty referred to the overwhelming evidence, reactive iron sulphide minerals are the cause of the structural defects in Donegal properties.

The Raphoe councillor added: 

Council now needs to now accept, publicly, due to the fact this motion is going to be passed, it got it wrong with the theory Mica was the cause of the structural defects.
There are a number of chartered engineers in this council. [The Director] is one of them. I am asking him to put his reputation on the record and state publicly mica is the cause of the structural defects, as opposed to the structural defects being caused by reactive iron sulphide minerals – predominantly pyrrhotite.
I am asking the CE, who is also a chartered engineer, to put it on the record here Mica is the cause of the structural defects,” said Cllr McBrearty, who added the facts would emerge during the forthcoming Judicial Review and impending High Court Case being taken by his mother and father.
The facts are, the Executive cannot deny any longer Mica is not the cause of the structural defects in Donegal properties.
It was a smokescreen, as stated in The Ditch, the Mica Theory was designed to ensure ‘minimum feasible remedial works’ in a scheme designed around a false protocol, which in Donegal, only tests for the presence of Mica.
This warrants a public inquiry, which will examine why Council engineers took the line since 2013, along with other chartered engineers, who helped to design and create the IS 465 protocol, Mica was the cause of the structural defects, when in reality, it was nothing more than a cover-up in this defective concrete blocks and defective concrete scandal.

The full text of Cllr Frank McBrearty’s motion to Donegal County Council

That this newly elected council calls on the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien TD; Secretary General of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Mr Graham Doyle; the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD; and Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Ms Oonagh McPhilip's, to ensure and put the Housing Agency on notice they must desist from and reverse their unlawful actions to overturn qualified and registered IS 465 Chartered Engineers’ recommendations, made on behalf of their clients, "based on science" and that the Housing Agency gives a legal undertaking that they will not ignore the science which proves that Mica and Freeze Thaw is not the cause of the Donegal defective concrete scandal – incorrectly labelled as the Mica Scandal by those in power.

The Engineers’ recommendations are legally based on scientific evidence, obtained from scientific testing, especially that of Petrolab from Cornwall in the UK.

The above departments must legally act before it is too late for the affected home owners who have had their Engineers recommendations downgraded to date.

The Housing Agency's illegal actions have been imposed on desperate home owners unlawfully, which has resulted in them accepting an incorrect engineering solution, forced on them because of the flawed IS 465 Mica protocol, enforced by Donegal County Council and the Housing Agency, when entering both the 90/10 and now the enhanced grant schemes.

The Housing Agency must act on this unlawfulness with immediate effect and do so based on the science that proves that the presence of Mica in concrete blocks and the incorrect theory that Freeze – Thaw is a contributing factor in the defects, identified in the Irish Mica Standard IS 465 Protocol used for testing, is a clear breach of EU directives that have been endorsed by the NSAI in the IS EN 771-3:2002 standard and standards prior to this.

The IS EN 12620:2002 standard for aggregates used in concrete is also being ignored by the Irish Mica Standard IS 465 protocol, which is also a clear breach of EU directives and Irish Standards that must be adhered to for concrete blocks manufactured in the Republic of Ireland.

The Department must act now, and the evidence today shows that Local Authorities all over Ireland are testing all new developments under the blocks standard IS EN 771-3 and not the Mica Standard IS 465.

The over whelming scientific evidence of internal sulphate attack in the concrete blocks tested over the last four and half years is now undeniable, and this evidence is supported by the world’s leading experts by way of peer review studies and peer reviewed literature, published in the past and today.

If the Departments above do not act on this motion, then I am calling on the newly elected council to come together and take the appropriate legal action in the superior courts and do so on behalf of all those directly and indirectly affected by the defective concrete scandal labelled incorrectly as caused by Mica and Freeze – Thaw.

⏪Hugh O’Donnell is on the ground in Donegal.

Housing Agency’s Continuing ‘Unlawful’ Downgrading Of Correct Engineering Solutions For Crumbling Homes Unanimously Opposed By Donegal Councillors

Hugh O’Donnell –✍Irish Standard deliberately designed to deny homeowners remediation
A 14-strong group of Donegal homeowners impacted by the defective concrete scandal is launching a judicial review of “fraudulent” testing standard IS 465 (2018).

Including Donegal County councillor Frank McBrearty Jr, the group will challenge the legality of IS 465 - deliberately created and designed, it says, to circumvent existing EU concrete manufacturing regulations.

Cllr McBrearty has long asserted the imperative of a judicial review given what he describes as the “demonstrable failure” of both government redress schemes.

Cllr McBrearty said:

Increasing numbers of Donegal homeowners are discovering the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme (June 2020) and its replacement, the Enhanced Grants for the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Their Construction (June 2023), cannot and will not remediate their crumbling properties.

“That was never, ever their intended purpose,” he added.

This is obvious because both schemes are underpinned by a statutory instrument (SI 25) based on an Irish Standard (IS 465) which, in the case of Donegal homeowners, tests only for mica.

In my opinion, we in Donegal are entitled to challenge the legality of IS 465 by way of judicial review based on that fact.

We feel the Irish Standard should include all deleterious materials. We should test for everything if we are going to do things properly.

If you want to find out the truth about what is actually wrong with your home, you have to forensically test it for everything. If the engineer visually inspects your property and sees structural defects, the only way you are going to be able to find out for certain exactly what is wrong with your home is to test it forensically.

The Raphoe councillor referenced the core sample test results provided to Donegal homeowners by Petrolab Limited in Cornwall in England.

He explained: 

There are more than 2,000 sets of these results now available. Petrolab does what Irish laboratories are not doing. It gives the client a visual estimate of the reactive iron sulphate minerals in their core samples. However, this is not covered in statutory instrument SI 25 - therefore the schemes - and is not covered in IS 465 guidance protocol for testing.

Donegal home and property owners are restricted to testing for mica, based on the now scientifically discredited theory of freeze/thaw - created by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NASI) through Technical Committee 063.

Regardless, Petrolab is telling clients, based on a visual estimate, their core samples contain reactive iron sulphate minerals, which under EU regulation should not be present in the concrete aggregate used to manufacture the blocks.

My father’s house was the first in Donegal to have the sulphate attack analysis carried out. His testing was based on Petrolab’s expertise, not an Irish Standard. He now has a full suite of test results showing internal and external sulphate attack.

When Petrolab completed its tests, we commissioned a geo-technical examination of the ground to enable Petrolab and our chartered engineer to finalise the report saying there was no contamination in the ground. That meant the report could state it was the aggregates which were causing the external and the internal sulphate attack the same as the internal sulphate attack that’s happening in the blocks.

As a result, the engineer’s recommendation was that Mr McBrearty Sr’s home and its foundations be fully demolished and the house rebuilt.

Cllr McBrearty continued: 

Based on all that, the quickest solution for homeowners, in the opinion of myself and the 13 other homeowners, is to take a judicial review on the legality of IS465.

If our application for judicial review is granted, based on what we have to say about IS 465 and SI 25, it would be over in a matter of weeks.

I am of the opinion, even if we lose the judicial review, it opens up the same successful course of action taken by Enda Craig and the community in Moville to prevent a sewage treatment plant being built at Carnagarve in Inishowen.

It would have been easier if we’d been able to get just one TD out of 160 to take the judicial review, than me as a councillor and the rest of the group. The risks would not be as high. It has been done before, in 2010 by Pearse Doherty - over the delayed by-election in Donegal South West - and in 2013 by Thomas Pringle - over the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).


To be continued ...

⏪Hugh O’Donnell is on the ground in Donegal.

Breaking 🔴 Donegal Homeowners Taking Judicial Review Of ‘Fraudulent’ Defective Concrete Testing Standard

Hugh O’Donnell –✍ is on the ground in Donegal.



An Garda Síochána is investigating allegations of corruption within Donegal County Council (DCC), it has been confirmed.

However, there appears to be a self-imposed media blackout in the county regarding the criminal investigation - Garda Pulse Number: 21599636.

The Garda investigation concerns DCC’s March 2, 2021 purchase of five houses in its Inishowen Municipal District, known to contain defective concrete blocks - previously and incorrectly referred to as Mica.

In a letter to Donegal county councillor, Frank McBrearty, on November 2, 2023, Assistant Garda Commissioner for the North West Region, Clíona Richardson, said she had:

been kept apprised of all developments in respect of the investigation into your allegations of corruption by Donegal County Council and the acquisition of five defective concrete properties therein.

 

Assistant Commissioner Richardson added she was “aware that Superintendent Patrick O’Connell continues to update you in respect of its [the investigation’s] progress and current status”.

The letter also informed Cllr McBrearty, Assistant Commissioner Richardson had appointed Superintendent Barry Doyle (Sligo/Leitrim Division) to liaise with him in relation to his correspondence with regard to the death of Mr Richard (Richie) Barron (October 14, 1996).

Cllr McBrearty has also been assigned a Garda liaison officer - Inspector Paul Gallagher - regarding Mr Barron’s death and issues in his correspondences to date.

Superintendent O’Connell (Monaghan Garda Division) is leading the criminal investigation into DCC’s purchase of the five crumbling houses in An Crannla estate in Buncrana, along with Detective Inspector Denis Harrington (Mayo Garda Division).

It is understood they have established an Incident Room, staffed by Garda officers, as well as a Detective Sergeant, Sergeant and Garda officer who specialise in fraud.

In the last three weeks, a meeting has also taken place between these two senior officers and DCC Chief Executive, John McLaughlin, in Council HQ, County House in Lifford.

What is not known is whether or not DCC’s executive officers have subsequently informed its 37 elected members about the ongoing Garda criminal investigation.

The Garda team has also spoken to the Department of Housing in Dublin and the Housing Acquisition Section in Ballina, County Mayo.

It is believed Garda will issue court warrants in the coming weeks for all of the documentation held by the three bodies in relation to DCC’s purchase of the five houses.

The revelation DCC had purchased the five houses from a developer to add to its social housing stock, initially emerged in June 2021.

The funding for the purchase came from the Department of Housing.

The purchase cost of the houses was €602,000. The refurbishment cost of the houses was €68,650 and the fees for the purchase amounted to €12,000.

In addition, DCC had previously leased the five houses for 10 years at a cost of €307,000 and, when that lease expired, it rented the houses at a cost of €33,000.

In total, DCC spent €1,022,655 on the five properties.

In February 2022, a spokesperson for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage confirmed: “The Department was not aware of issues relating to mica in the properties referred to, when they were acquired by Donegal County Council.”
 
This failure was highlighted again by an external review of the purchase commissioned by DCC following accusations of “systemic corruption” within the Council made by Cllr McBrearty.

The review, published in July 2022, was carried out by consultants BDO Ireland.

It found the written notification to the Department of Housing on the condition of the five houses could have been qualified “and/or could have included the details of the geological tests the council had carried out in 2019”.

The BDO review continued:

Approval by the Department of Housing was granted on October 9, 2020 and was conditional on the council being satisfied as to the condition of the five houses, which they were, having commissioned the geological tests in 2019 and having been inspected by the council.

On March 4, 2021, the council sought approval for the drawdown of the funds for the purchase. As part of its submission process, the council stated on a form provided to the department that the houses were of ‘good condition, improvement works required’ which the council believed was consistent with its assessments carried out in 2019 and 2020.

However, BDO believes that this statement could have been qualified by reference to the geological tests that had been conducted in 2019.

The Department of Housing approved the purchase of the five houses, conditional upon the council being satisfied as to their condition.

In fact, only two of the five houses were tested. However inexplicably, they were not tested under the IS 465 Protocol.

⏪Hugh O’Donnell is on the ground in Donegal.

Breaking 🔴 Garda Criminal Investigation Into Alleged Corruption In Donegal County Council

Hugh O’Donnell –✍ is on the ground in Donegal.

Exhaustive scientific testing reveals internal and external sulphate attack in foundations of Raphoe home.

If there is one thing at which Irish governments excel, it is scandals. As for tribunals, well there’s one for everyone in the audience.

The Blood Transfusion Service Board anti-D scandal (1994); the HIV/Hepatitis C contaminated haemophilia factors scandal (1985); the Cervical Check cancer scandal; and the Mother and Baby Homes Commission Report scandal (2021), to name but a few.

Characterising innumerable shameful episodes in the past 60 years ‘scandal’ is impactful. It conveys the absolute suffering and devastation caused to citizens’ lives when decision-makers take the conscious political choice to act without ethics or compassion.

In Donegal another scandal is unfolding to add to the long and indefensible list, which includes the [Morris] Tribunal of Inquiry into complaints concerning some Gardaí of the Donegal Division (2008).

The Defective Concrete and Defective Concrete Products scandal is shattering lives and destroying futures.

Family homes in the county, built on defective concrete foundations, with defective concrete blocks, are literally crumbling before the eyes of their owners.

This degradation is being caused by pyrrhotite and internal sulphate attack in the defective concrete and concrete products used in the construction of the houses.

Unbelievably, these defective materials were manufactured by Ireland’s concrete industry, which was subject to absolutely no domestic statutory regulation - none.

The Government response to this latest scandal has been depressingly predictable.

Actively victim blaming, the Government and senior civil servants have presented not one but two deliberately inutile and tortuous redress schemes as the panacea for all of Donegal’s defective concrete ills.

However, experience is showing the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme (June 2020) and its replacement, the Enhanced Grants for the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Their Construction (June 2023), are mere governmental mirages. Both are inaccessible, inadequate and insulting to homeowners.

As a result, just as the victims of the Cervical Check cancer scandal are being forced to seek compensation in the High Court because the Cervical Check Tribunal is so ineffective, one Donegal couple is preparing to do the same regarding their collapsing family home.

The High Court case pertaining to the home of well known Raphoe nightclub owner Frank McBrearty (79) and his wife Rosalind (77) is currently being prepared. Proceedings are expected to be issued in the High Court in the coming months.

The couple’s journey to the High Court began in January 2021 when Rosalind wanted to paint her new home for the first time. Frank and his son, Donegal County Councillor Frank McBrearty (Jr), had an inkling there was something “seriously wrong structurally” with the property.

Frank recalled:

That is when we decided to get our home tested. It was structurally failing before our very eyes. In May 2021, we employed the services of an Irish Standard (IS) 465 chartered engineer and coring contractor, even though we were excluded from the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme due to its inequitable financial cap of €247,500.

IS 465:2018 includes the standardised protocol for determining whether a building has been damaged by concrete blocks containing certain excessive amounts of mica.

It has been described as a “fraudulent” standard because it was specifically designed to ignore pyrrhotite and internal sulphate attack, the scientifically proven cause of defective concrete and defective concrete products. Blaming mica is a false flag.

“So began the exhaustive process to scientifically ascertain the cause of the structural defects in our home,” said Frank. 

Over the coming months our Test Suite A and Test Suite B results came back from the UK laboratory, Petrolab, which is based in Cornwall, England. Our chartered engineer instructed Petrolab to use the IS 465:2018+A1:2020 Guidance Protocol. This identified 16% Mica in our blocks. However, our blocks were above the Newton strength threshold of 7.5 mm/2, which flagged a major problem for our engineer. If not mica, what was causing our home to disintegrate?

Informed by his own extensive research, Cllr Frank McBrearty Jr, a member of Donegal County Council’s Mica Redress Committee, advised his father to get a third test conducted on the core samples.

Frank said: “This test was called a sulphate attack analysis. We commissioned it as a result of the visual estimate of reactive iron sulphide minerals, such as pyrrhotite and others, identified in the Petrolab Suite B Test results, in August 2021. Frank said: 

The results proved conclusively, the cause of the structural defects in all of the concrete core samples taken from our blocks was the presence of reactive iron sulphide minerals, predominantly pyrrhotite, above the permitted level of 0.1%. Essentially, scientific testing showed beyond doubt there was internal sulphate attack in every single one of the concrete samples cored from our blocks.

Just over a year later, Frank took the crucial step of testing the foundations of his home, even though, worryingly, the necessity to test foundations was also deliberately excluded from the 1S 465 protocol.

Frank said this decision was based on an awareness of the alarming information which was coming to the fore about the deleterious effects of reactive iron sulphide minerals:

Alarmingly, the tests carried out on the concrete cored from our foundations revealed the foundations had lost 75% of their strength over the previous 15 years. 

Consultations with the Petrolab geologist then highlighted concerns over the lack of information on the ground conditions prior to the foundations being poured during construction.

As a result, our engineer strongly advised a geotechnical examination be carried out on the ground around the foundations.

So we appointed Causeway Geotech Limited from Northern Ireland to conduct boring holes at five different locations around the foundations. What was extracted was bagged and tagged, then forensically examined by Geotech’s laboratory.

Thank God the results came back showing no contamination, which meant our engineer, in consultation with Petrolab, could now finalise his report on the foundations. This report, supported by a full set of scientific test results, shows at some stage, our foundations will have to be taken out and replaced.

A philosophical Frank said he and Rosalind know they could be both dead before the situation is resolved in the High Court or in the Higher Courts such as the Appeal and Supreme Courts or even Europe if necessary.

He observed:

The scientific test results on my foundations have been supplied to all stakeholders and individuals that have played a key role in the ‘redress’ schemes.

I can’t understand why they are saying publicly that no one has yet presented any proof of the structural defects in the concrete foundations. I have done exactly that.

I believe an Independent Statutory Judicial Public Inquiry should have already been established into the situation in Donegal. In addition, I don’t understand why no Donegal TD has not taken a Judicial Review in the public interest against the Government’s IS 465 Protocol and unfair Statutory Instrument SI 25 Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme.

No matter how hard it will be, I am confident justice will prevail over time but sadly some may not have that time left to see their homes and properties being fully demolished and rebuilt at no cost to them.


⏪Hugh O’Donnell is on the ground in Donegal.

Donegal Couple Build High Court Case On Solid Foundations

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