Pyrite protest to be ‘first of many’

OVER 200 people marched through Ennis this afternoon (Saturday, January 29) in what was described as “the first of many” protests by homeowners with defective concrete blocks. 

Members of Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG) were supported by campaigners from Donegal and Mayo – the only two counties currently covered by the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme; as well as homeowners from Limerick and Sligo. Speaking in the shadow of the O’Connell monument at The Height, campaigners from other counties pledged their support while homeowners here spoke of their frustration. 

“The Minister for Housing visited my house on August 27 and he was such a lovely man,” Mary Hanley of CPAG told the crowd. “He was so pleasant, he was so nice and he was feeing so sorry for me. I said to him, ‘If this grant isn’t given soon, I’ll be six foot under’. His answer to me was, ‘Oh, not at all Mary no, a couple of weeks’. Now, it’s a hell of a long time since August 27 and I haven’t seen or heard from Darragh O’Brien since. Darragh O’Brien was supposed to meet our Oireachtas members last Thursday at at 3 o’clock. He hasn’t seen them and I don’t know why he didn’t see them.”

Mrs Hanley, a retired school principal warned the politicians in attendance that the patience of homeowners is running out. “This is our first protest,” she said, “but unless something happens very soon, it won’t be the last. It will be the first of many. Every politician in this county – the councillors, the TDs and the senators – I know you all want to be back in their offices in two years time. Well then, you better get up and start talking to Darragh O’Brien, because lads he doesn’t listen to us. He’d better start listening to ye. We won’t listen to ye either if ye don’t do something.”

Founder of CPAG, Dr Martina Cleary said the houses of those affected have become “ticking time bombs”. 

The Crusheen woman described a series of queries sent by the Department of Housing to Clare County Council, on a technical report the authority submitted last July, as “an insult to the intelligence of the people of County Clare”. She said the letter, sent in December, was “an exercise in trying to force us, our experts and the county council into a prolonged game of ruling out a non-exhaustive, never-ending list of what might be causing the gaping holes and the damage to our homes, while blatantly ignoring the evidence on the table”. 

She said that even if the recently-revised grant scheme was opened to Clare, many homeowners would not qualify under the new terms. “They’re putting lots of different clauses in there… One of them is this damage threshold and what that actually means is that a government-appointed inspector will come out to your house and say, ‘Do you know what? You’ve got damage, but it’s not damaged enough.”

Dr Clearly described the publicity around the new scheme and the possibility of 100% redress as “propaganda”. “Let me make it very clear to you, it’s not,” she said. ‘It’s very few houses that will ever in a million years get that. The demolition options available within that scheme are not going to be accessible to the vast majority… We have to stand up now and we have to really make our voices loud and clear.”

Appealing to the politicians present, Dr Cleary said: “Do not pass that [scheme]”. She also asked that Clare be represented on the Working Group which was tasked with reviewing the grant. 

Homeowner Linda O’Callaghan told the gathering she is among those being discriminated against “on the ground of geography”. “The government aren’t slighting me,” she said. “The government are slighting County Clare and that is why every resident of County Clare should be furious.”

Most Oireachtas members were in attendance and there was a strong turnout of representatives on the local authority. 

Currently, Clare County Council is liaising with the Department of Housing on a technical submission seeking access to the grant scheme.