Tag Archives: mica

THREE generations of a Kilkishen family are “heart-broken” at the prospect of losing their home, after expert tests confirmed the presence of pyrite. Dan Moloney told The Champion of the family’s devastation and his fears for his elderly father-in-law and daughter who also live in the house. “We are in a living nightmare and we honestly don’t know if half the house is going to be gone when we wake up each morning,” Mr Moloney said. “My father-in-law is a widower. The man is 90 and he’s blind. When he hears noises in the night, he thinks it’s thunder, but I’m afraid it’s actually the sound of the house cracking. From day to day, it’s getting worse. We can’t close the back door anymore because the walls are bulging. We’re tried all the fixes going, but it’s at the stage now where we can’t keep patching it up. I’m a broken man, but I’m more worried about my family than …

Clare TD questions county’s exclusion from pyrite scheme review THE Tanáiste has said that homeowners in Clare, whose properties are being damaged by pyrite, will have to be included in efforts to assess the effectiveness of a State-supported remediation scheme. Leo Varadkar made his remarks in response to a Dáil question from Deputy Violet Anne Wynne who voiced concern as to why a working group, set up to review the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, had failed to include a representative from this county. The Clare Sinn Féin TD said that while the establishment of the group was a positive move, the government could not continue to ignore the people of this county. “I would like to know why a representative from the Clare pyrite group was not invited and included,” she said. “This is completely unacceptable, disheartening and, quite simply, not good enough. It has taken 12 years to get to this point for those affected in Mayo and …

THE government has been accused of “outrageous discrimination”, in excluding Clare from a new exemption on Local Property Tax (LPT) for homeowners who have defective concrete blocks. As the Finance Minister unveiled legislation that will bring in a raft of changes to the way LPT is levied, Dr Martina Cleary of the Clare Pyrite Action Group hit out at the failure to acknowledge the proven presence of pyrite in a number of homes across this county. Under the new LPT rules, outlined by Minister Paschal Donohue, affected homeowners in Donegal and Mayo, will now be given a temporary exemption. The redress scheme for those affected by pyrite and mica currently only covers those counties. As the local authority prepares to make the case for Clare’s inclusion in the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, Dr Cleary said she sees no reason why the exemption couldn’t be made available to homeowners in Clare who can have the documents required to prove they …

A MAYO activist, who has been central to a campaign to highlight the issue of defective concrete blocks, has pledged to work with affected homeowners in Clare so that they too can get redress. Jamie Lee Donnelly from Ballina is one of the founders of the North Mayo Pyrite Group, which now represents 600 people whose homes are cracking and crumbling because of defective materials. She told The Champion she strongly favours the inclusion of Clare in the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, which currently covers only Mayo and Donegal. As an expert group meets this week to look at calls for an increase in the level of redress from 90 to 100%, Jamie backed calls for other counties, including Clare, Limerick and Sligo, to be given access to supports. “I would urge people in other counties to make their voices heard,” she said. “Don’t sit back, don’t take this. We are fortunate in Mayo and Donegal that we have …

DEPUTY Joe Carey has been told that a decision to extend a redress scheme to Clare homeowners affected by pyrite is “premature” until a full report on the extent of the problem has been compiled, writes Fiona McGarry. The Fine Gael TD tabled a questions to the Minister for Housing asking him to report on work to incorporate Clare in the defective concrete block scheme and whether homeowners will be eligible for 100% of the costs. Responding, Minister Darragh O’Brien outlined how Clare County Council is compiling a report on the extent of the problem in this county. “Such analysis will provide the evidential basis necessary for the consideration of any extension of the scheme,” he said. “Pending the receipt of and consideration of such analysis it would be premature to consider an extension of the scheme,” the minister added. In respect of the existing scheme which only covers Mayo and Donegal, Minister O’Brien said he expects a review being …

A CALL has been made for a Clare representative to be appointed to a committee reviewing the defective concrete blocks scheme, in the hope that redress might be extended to homeowners in this county. In the Seanad this week, Senator Timmy Dooley said the lives of homeowners in Clare and elsewhere have been “decimated” by the presence of defects caused by pyrite and mica. The matter was raised in the upper house by Senator Dooley and two party colleagues, Lisa Chambers and Niall Blaney. Senators Chambers and Blaney, representing Mayo and Donegal respectively, which are covered by the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, called for the redress to be increased from a maximum of 90% to 100%. Senator Dooley told the house the scheme must be extended to this county, where the extent of the issue is only becoming known. “…There is a real issue with defective blocks in County Clare,” the Fianna Fáil senator said. “It is not mica …

AS THOUSANDS of people gathered in Dublin on Tuesday (June 15) to demand full redress for to repair homes with defective concrete blocks, it has emerged that one public building in Clare, as well as a number of council houses could be affected. Members of the Clare Pyrite-Mica Action Group were among the thousands who thronged the area around the Convention Centre, where the Dáil has been sitting, before marching to Leinster House to hand in a letter calling on Minister Darragh O’Brien to extend the existing redress scheme to and to cover to 100% of costs. Currently, the scheme only covers Donegal and Mayo and will only cover 90% of costs. A homeowner from Newmarket-on-Fergus said he believes that the scale of the problem in Clare could be huge. “My home is getting worse week-by-week,” he said. “A qualified engineer has seen it and said it’s grade four pyrite.We were filling and painting for a while, but it’s gone …

THE founder of a group of up to 40 home owners, whose properties are crumbling because of defective building materials, has appealed to the government not to delay the extension of a support scheme to County Clare. The council has confirmed that it has sought the extension of the scheme and been contacted by the Department of Housing. The authority has made contact too, in recent days, with The Clare Pyrite/Mica Action Group. “Our situation has been raised by the council, TDs and senators, we’re so grateful for that support,” Dr Martina Cleary said. “It’s very important now that the process isn’t made overly complex. Several of our members are living in homes that are ready to fall and they’re afraid for their lives. Each winter that goes by, with the damp and the frost, the situation is getting worse and you can literally hear the blocks cracking. You can imagine the psychological stress. In Mayo and Donegal, where people …