Mica homeowners have given the government a deadline until Christmas to fix the revised redress scheme.
A major issue has been raised with the enhanced Mica Redress scheme announced yesterday.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien stated that homeowners would be getting a 100% grant, but the details of the scheme leave the average homeowner approx €65,000 out of pocket to rebuild their home.
The discrepancy lies in a surprise sliding scale applied on the rate of costs provided per 1,000 square foot.
Mica Action Group PRO Michael Doherty said the sliding scale was never accepted by the defective blocks working group and was “slid in at the eleventh hour”.
“It’s extremely disappointing and we believe it’s a deal-breaker,” Mr Doherty said.
He said the government can make the scheme ‘workable’ by removing the scale, which can be done in a matter of days.
“They owe it to the people to get rid of it before Christmas,” added Mica campaigner Paddy Diver.
The Mica Action Group held a press conference today with the aim of separating headlines from the details of the new scheme.
They said that focus on an increased payment cap of €420,000 has been damaging to the campaign.
“Let’s stop talking about this €420,000 cap which was purposely designed to lead people to the detail that people in Donegal wanted more to fix their homes,” Mr Doherty said.
He said the cap was a “smokescreen headline” and the reality was that very few homeowners will be compensated with the maximum grant, but many ordinary families will be forced to pay life-changing sums of money due to the sliding scale.
Mr Doherty said: “There has been kite-flying going on throughout, there has been a narrative designed to paint us in a picture that says you just can’t satisfy these people.”
