There have been calls for Donegal County Council staff members to travel to local offices across the county to help people with applications to the Mica Redress Scheme.
Inishowen Cllr Martin McDermott, chairman of the council’s Mica Redress Committee, urged the local authority to take action to support homeowners “before it is too late”.
Cllr McDermott told the council this week that the current application process is “very, very difficult and cumbersome”.
“It is very much built around red tape,” he said.
He proposed that staff dealing with the Mica scheme should visit local municipal district offices at least one or two days a week to facilitate people with their paperwork and to upload their applications.
“I am not so sure somebody who does not have the expertise and somebody that is not engaged in this will know exactly what is to be done. There are a lot of questions when you go to do that application. I would say, probably the engineers need to do more for applicants as well, in relation to that process, and actually have their paperwork and their application process better than what it has been coming into the local authority,” Cllr McDermott said.
He said staff have been doing a fantastic job to date, but “there is a situation out there where a lot of vulnerable people can’t understand how the application process works.
“I think, as a local authority, it is important, and it is going to be important going forward over the next 10 to 15 years, we have someone locally in the municipal district offices to deal with people who are struggling with the application process.”
The council has now put in place extra support in local libraries to help applicants with scanning and uploading documents. The libraries where this is available are: Central Library Letterkenny, Carndonagh Community Library, Buncrana Community Library, Twin Towns Community Library, Bundoran Community Library,
Leabharlann Phobail Ghaoth Dobhair and Leabharlann Phobail na Rosann.
Mr. Patsy Lafferty, Director of Housing, Corporate & Cultural Services said he would anticipate that the new enhanced scheme coming this year would be more streamlined.
Cllr McDermott urged the council to be more proactive about helping people.
“This is something that is not going to go away,” he said.
He called for a collaborative group to bring together the council and LCDC, which has the HSE and ETB on the committee, for the betterment of homeowners.
“We all need to start working together here in this county, as a team. At the minute, I think we are fractured. We are all going in different directions. And that is not for the betterment of homeowners and certainly not for the betterment of people living in houses that are falling down around them. They need help. They need mental health help.
“We are the body that represents Donegal
“Involve whoever needs to be involved, whether it is the Mica Action Group, and make sure we as public representatives are involved and put a system together that helps the people before it is too late.”