Mica redress could top €2 billion

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that the Government will “do everything it can” to help people whose houses have been damaged by the presence of mica minerals in cement blocks. A full redress scheme, as is being demanded by those affected, could cost over €2 billion.

The Taoiseach made his pledge in the Dáil before TDs were due to vote on a Sinn Féin motion to grant the homeowners 100 per cent redress. The Dáil carried the motion, with Martin stating that what had happened to some 5,700 homes in the north-west was “scandalous and devastating”.

Grave defects caused by the presence of muscovite mica in the cement blocks that were used to build the homes has brought attention back to the issue, with many of the houses affected requiring demolition. According to the Mica Action Group and the Report of the Expert Panel on Concrete Blocks published in 2017, mica attracts moisture from the environment, with external walls especially affected, and weakens the strength of the blocks, causing them to eventually crumble.

In 2016, an expert panel was set up to investigate problems with homes affected by mica and another mineral, pyrite. In 2019, the Government approved a €20 million repair scheme that those affected now say is not fit for purpose. Under the scheme, eligible homeowners are required to pay 10 per cent of the repair costs and to continue paying their mortgages, while the Government covers 90 per cent of the cost. Dublin homeowners were granted 100 per cent redress in a similar situation, when their homes were affected by pyrite, and the same solution has now become the major demand of the homeowners affected in Donegal, Mayo and elsewhere.

“Government reports have estimated the cost of a full redress scheme at €1 billion but were all affected houses to be demolished the cost would most likely exceed €2 billion with over 5,000 private homes thought to be affected.”

A redress scheme being run by Donegal County Council has so far recommended that about a quarter of the houses be demolished, with engineers involved believed to be in favour of demolition of all the houses due to fears that mica could still be present in other blocks within the structure and surface in the years to come. Government reports have estimated the cost of a full redress scheme at €1 billion but were all affected houses to be demolished the cost would most likely exceed €2 billion with over 5,000 private homes thought to be affected. An estimate for the number of social houses and public buildings affected due to being built with blocks from the same supplier has not yet been made.

The EU’s Construction Products Regulation covers “a suite of harmonised standards covering most construction products including aggregates, and concrete blocks”, but the Department of Housing has stated: “It should be noted that primary responsibility for demonstrating a construction product’s compliance with the requirements of the Construction Products Regulation rests with the manufacturer of the product.”

Estimates states that the number of homes affected could yet rise to 10,000, a development that would lend yet more voices to the campaign for full redress. In the meantime, Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien TD has stated that his department is working through submissions from the action group, “which we received five weeks ago and we are liaising with other departments and agencies to figure out how best to address some of the concerns raised”.