Inishowen’s County Councillors are calling for a retraction of serious accusations made against them regarding the Mica crisis.
At today’s meeting of Donegal County Council, representatives of the Inishowen districts refuted claims of corruption in relation to the purchase of five mica-affected homes in Buncrana.
Five social houses in An Crannla estate tested positive for the presence of mica after cracking emerged shortly after they were bought by Donegal County Council earlier this year.
Councillors in Inishowen deny claims made by Cllr Frank McBrearty that they had prior knowledge of the defective material being present in the homes.
“There’s only eight of us, and we can defend ourselves but we will also be defending Cllr Bernard McGuinness, God rest him. We want his name cleared as well,” Cllr Martin Farren said.
Cathaoirleach Jack Murray told members that at no point in the deal were documents given to Inishowen councillors regarding the purchase of An Crannla houses.
Cllr Murray said families living in An Crannla are extremely distressed by the use of their homes in this “game”.
“Their homes are appearing on the front page of newspapers regularly. One woman contacted me very fearful because the headline was that her house was being demolished,” Cllr Murray said.
He called for empathy for those directly involved.
“Families are very annoyed at this whole saga, they think the houses are fine at this point. You would swear by some of the allegations being made that these houses are going to fall down,” he said.
Cllr Rena Donaghey, also speaking for the late Cllr McGuinness, said: “I think it’s despicable what’s going on. There’s not one ounce of truth in what has been said.
“You just can’t come out an make an allegation with no foundation.”
Cllr Nicholas Crossan called for an end to the accusations, or else proof of claims: “If somebody has evidence, please bring it forward today so that we can get this cleared up and have a happy Christmas. I am fed up with being called corrupt.”
