Two emails sent by a Housing Authority official in error to mica campaigners show the “disdain Department of Housing officials has for those affected”, residents claim.
In one email principal officer Paul Benson, who has been taking part in the discussions on how to address the scandal, which has seen thousands of homes crumble due to defective building blocks, accused a mica campaigner of wanting to “cause a scene”.
The emails, seen by the Sunday Independent, were meant for his colleagues but instead were sent to mica homeowners, departmental officials and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien in recent weeks.
As a decision on how to solve the mica issue is delayed again, talks between the Government and affected residents in Donegal and Mayo have, at times, been anything but cordial, critics say.
It is understood family representatives taking part in the working group have told the Coalition that the engagement since the start has been “continuously thwarted and stymied”.
Asked by family representatives on the working group on September 28 why they had not been shown a draft of the final document, Mr Benson mistakenly emailed everyone back.
He appeared to criticise Donegal representative Eileen Doherty in the email.
“She just wants to cause a scene, saying we have misinterpreted their submission,” he wrote.
Read the full report by Rodney Edwards in today’s Sunday Independent, or via their online edition on independent.ie.
Tags: