FURTHER uncertainty has arisen over the timeframe for access for Clare’s homeowners to the defective blocks grant scheme.

While the Minister for Housing announced last June that Clare and Limerick would be included in the revised grant scheme, there is uncertainly currently as to whether Darragh O’Brien has signed the required order. While it had been hoped that pyrite homeowners in Clare would be able to apply for the grant early this year. doubt has been cast on that timeframe.

“Our understanding is that Clare is not actually included in the scheme until the Ministerial Order has been signed,” Dr Martina Cleary of Clare Pyrite Action Group(CPAG) said. “We have only just learned of this after becoming aware of media queries to the minister over the status of this order.

“To date, these media queries haven’t been responded to. This is really concerning because there is potentially another major delay now for homeowners in Clare and in Limerick. We have also been made aware that the Council has a role in requesting the signing of the order, so we have to wait now for further clarity on that.”

This week, CPAG and its counterparts in Limerick, Mayo and Donegal issued a joint statement condemning tha lack of progress and clarity on the revised defective blocks grant scheme. They voiced concern that specific questions raised last October on topics including the timeframe for rolling the grant out to the Midwest, remain unanswered. 

“Further, following briefing meetings with the Councils of each of the four counties in November 2022, assurances were also given that the new scheme would be running by Quarter 1, 2023, and that stakeholder consultations regarding regulations would include input from homeowner representative groups,” the joint statement said.

“As of 18th of January 2023, none of these promises have been delivered on. The Minister is still unable to confirm a date when the enhanced scheme will be operational, and homeowners may apply.

There is now a real concern that those who are suffering in defective concrete homes are being deprioritised, while the Department of Housing deal with additional crises Government has created from lack of regulations, failure to build housing capacity and inadequately support and plan. 

“The ongoing stalling of this scheme seems a strategic ploy by Government, to leave those suffering this crisis in extended, prolonged and indefinite limbo. Through each stage of the DCB campaign, homeowners in each of the impacted counties have been subjected to years of distress, delay and destruction of not only their homes, but also their personal, professional and family lives.”

The four action groups also noted the minister’s initiative to tackle defective housing developments.

“While we stand in solidarity with homeowners impacted by this issue, it is vital to highlight the continuous discrimination towards the Defective Concrete Homeowners,” the statement said.

“A defect is a defect regardless of type or scale. In comparison to the speedy and non-prohibitive response to this Building Defects crisis, this is more than an urban and rural divide, it is about a Government prioritising large vested financial interests and property holdings first – ensuring any defects in this area are immediately fixed, without protest, without the toxic narrative of maligning those who are innocent in this scandal and without the pretence of doing something to right a wrong, while in fact doing nothing at all.”