THERE was a large attendance of Oireachtas members and councillors at the recent pyrite protest in Ennis when politicians were warned that their seats could hang in the balance if redress isn’t provided soon.
They could also face a further challenge in the form of election candidates standing on the issue of pyrite redress. Deputy Cathal Crowe told The Champion the frustration of homeowners was “very understandable”.
“We have to respect where they are coming from,” he said. “They’re slowly watching their homes fall around them and with each month, the structure of their home deteriorates further.”
In relation to a meeting with Minister Darragh O’Brien which was cancelled, at short notice, last week, Deputy Crowe was confident it would be rescheduled.
“I’m in constant contact with Minister Darragh O’Brien and also with the redress group here in Clare,” he said.
“Minister O’Brien made a firm commitment in Mary Hanley’s front lawn in August last year and he stands over that commitment and that commitment remains that homeowners in Clare will get redress and it will be on similar term, identical terms in fact, to homeowners in Donegal and Mayo.”
The Fianna Fáil TD expressed the hope that delays in adjudicating on the council’s application to the redress scheme would soon end.
“There are two things at stake,” he said. “There’s a frustrating wait, but in the coming weeks, we’ll have five sample results coming back from a laboratory in England and those will be lodged with Clare County Council, packaged up into an additional submission and there’s already a huge volume of paper work with The Department of Housing.
“I very much believe it will be treated as an addendum. It’s final verifications and my hope still remains that Clare will be on the same starting blocks with Mayo and Donegal.
“The other issue at stake is improving the terms of redress. I would have been one of those who believed, at first glance, it was superior, but there are still many shortfalls.”
Deputy Joe Carey agreed that patience is now wearing thin among homeowners.
“People are anxious,” he said. “Commitments have been given. They have to be honoured. The aim and objective is to get Clare included in the scheme as soon as possible.
“A lot of work has gone on. A new scheme has been put together. Clare needs to be part of that. Obviously, Clare County Council have a role in this. They have to collate the information and go back with a substantive response to the request that was made by the Department a number of weeks ago.
“It is very slow. People need a solution. They need to know that this problem will be fixed. People are experiencing problems through no fault of their own. I think Government need to respond. It’s not fair, just or equitable that only two counties in Ireland would be included in this scheme.”
In respect of the ongoing delays, the Fine Gael member agreed these are causing considerable frustration.
“I understand that further tests were done, that weren’t done initially on [Council] stock and that has delayed the process,” he said.
“Questions arose in relation to that. I’m aware that Clare County Council are in very regular contact with the Department. They’re of the opinion that the information that they’re putting together will suffice and get us into the scheme. There’s been a lot of false dawns in this and you want to see it get over the line.”
He said that while the revised grant scheme was welcome, there are still many issues to iron out.
“I’ve raised questions directly with the Taoiseach on this, and there are issues in relation to the sliding scale and we need to get the scheme right from the start.”
Deputy Violet Anne Wynne said Clare people now need answers and she urged the minister to act.
“They have been more than patient and it is high time they were given clarity on the extension of the scheme,” she said.
“It is imperative that the Department acknowledges the presence of pyrite in the core sampling conducted across Clare last year.
“Minister O’Brien has repeated to me, through multiple correspondences that the same ‘rigorous testing’ that was required in Donegal and Mayo would be applied here and in order to confirm the presence of the deleterious material pyrite, at which point Clare would be included in the terms of the scheme.”
Deputy Wynne was scathing about what she called “political footballing” and “extra hoops to jump through”.
Councillor Mary Howard who also attended the march said she still believes an investigation is needed at national level.
“I don’t think we’ve an option when we see people and their homes are compromised,” she said.
“We’re getting more and more storms. I would not sleep if I was living in a home affected by pyrite. I think it’s so wrong. They’ve been treated incredibly disrespectfully as has Clare County Council.
“This has to be dealt with but we need to find out also how this happened. Where are the checks and balances? Where is the quality control? Somebody has to be accountable. It can’t be the homeowners.
“A lot of people are heading into retirement. They can’t get another mortgage at this stage, we do need to do everything in our power to support them. We need to put the pressure on and keep it on. I don’t think we’ve any alternative.”
Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, PJ Ryan also attended to show solidarity with homeowners, including the many in South East Clare.
“I’m here today to show my support for people affected, through no fault of their own,” he said.
“We have to keep up the pressure to make sure the issue is addressed. This problem is widespread and it does seem to be widespread especially in the Shannon area.”