The Mica Action Group has said yesterday’s Oireachtas housing committee was a positive step towards fixing the enhanced Defective Blocks scheme.
The marathon seven-hour session analysed the government’s new defective blocks bill, which is estimated to cost at least €2.7 billion. The maximum grant is now €420,000.
Fast-tracked scrutiny into the legislation heard from Mica homeowners and experts on the flaws of the scheme.
In the opening address, Mr Michael Doherty, Mica Action Group PRO, said homeowners felt that they were seen less as victims but instead more ‘chancers’ or opportunists looking to get something for nothing.
“All we wanted were our homes back on a like-for-like basis – only what we have already paid for,” he said. “Not an unreasonable request when we look at the nearest precedent available – the Pyrite Remediation Scheme mainly in Leinster.”
Representatives identified 35 different issues in the General Scheme which render the enhanced scheme “unworkable.”
Dr Andreas Leemann from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology told the committee that it can take anywhere between three and 20 years for signs of damage in defective blocks to become apparent.
“Some foundations might well have no problem, but others are surely a ticking time bomb,” Dr Leeman said.
“And you don’t know exactly when it will go off, due to difference in pyrite, pyrrhotite (another mineral) content, concrete quality, exposure conditions.”
Speaking after the committee, Michael Doherty said he believed that government, Department of Housing and committee members were “are under absolutely no impression of what needs to be done.”
Mr Doherty said there is a lot of work to be done on regulations “if we get the scheme right”.
However, if the scheme is not right, he said there will be no talk of regulations.
The committee was considered a positive step at the start of a busy three weeks, Mr Doherty said: “Let’s plan for success, let’s plan for this government taking on board which will be significant recommendations from the committee today and implementing them.”
