Mica and Pyrite homeowner representatives have announced plans to form a new political party.
Action groups in Donegal, Mayo, Clare, Limerick and Sligo say they intend to run candidates in both the local and national elections. Their main aim is to fix the Defective Blocks scheme.
Michael Doherty, PRO of the Mica Action Group in Donegal, said: “We really have had enough of the crap that we are putting up with here, we believe we have the opposition are doing their best but we are geared to fail because of the systems as they stand.”
“We have exhausted all avenues to work with local and national government to no avail. We afforded the Government every opportunity to work with us to fix this scheme, it is now clear we must take the necessary steps to fix this ourselves,” the five groups said in a joint statement.
On Tuesday, the five Action Groups formally registered their intentions with the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties at Leinster House to establish a political party.
They said they are now working to mobilise a campaign towards running candidates in each of the 13 counties and major cities affected by defective concrete blocks. “And we are confident, we will succeed,” they said.
“It is our intention to run candidates in all affected counties in the Local and National Elections. Four counties are now on the Defective Concrete Block Scheme. However, we know based on our research, this problem is manifesting in 13 counties so far. We will be making contact with victims in these other affected counties to establish Action Groups and asking each group to work under the umbrella of this New Political Party. We will also be making contact with campaigners who are fighting in our cities for remediation of thousands of defective apartments and town houses.
“Now is the time for all those who are suffering as a result of ineffective Government ‘light-touch’ regulation and corporate neglect to come together to demand justice, and for our homes, properties and lives to be restored.”
The groups said the decision was affected by government TDs’ “conscious decision to put their party before their people” – “a decision that has sealed their fate come election time.”
A Mica/Pyrite protest will be staged outside the gates of Leinster House today, Wednesday, as the Dáil votes on proposed amendments to the new scheme.
