Tag Archives: Paddy Diver

ONE of the country’s most vocal campaigners on defective concrete blocks has appealed to Clare homeowners to work with him for better redress. Paddy Diver joined a remote meeting of the Clare Pyrite Action Group on Friday, just hours after they spoke to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien. Mr Diver from Donegal is one of up to 5,000 homeowners affected by mica. Like pyrite, mica causes defects that lead to cracking and crumbling of blocks. The Donegal activist was updated on the minister’s pledge to give a decision, in a matter of weeks, on the Council’s application for access to the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme. Mr Diver is a member of the working group looking for an increase in redress from 90 to 100% and one of the organisers of a protest in Dublin last June. “The light at the end of the tunnel is in all counties coming together,” he told the meeting. “In Donegal, we were kept on …

THE founder of a Donegal action group on defective concrete blocks is urging homeowners in Clare to work together on a national campaign for better redress. Paddy Diver from Carndonagh said an “all-Ireland movement” is needed to persuade the government to extend the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme to counties beyond Donegal and Mayo, and to increase the level of redress to 100%. Mr Diver, who is part of a working group set up to examine the scheme, warned that the situation in Clare, where more than 50 homeowners have joined a local action group, may yet be as serious as that in Donegal where an estimated 5,000 homes are affected. While County Donegal homes are experiencing damage due to mica, its impact is similar to that caused by the pyrite that is present in Mayo, Clare and potentially several other counties. “We really need to pull together on this,” Mr Diver told The Champion. “Whatever we get from government, it’ll …