Donegal County Council has been prevented from buying houses due to the Mica situation, according to Cllr Gerry McMonagle.
An emergency meeting is being sought with the Department for Housing to demand a Mica testing machine for the local authority to use.
Cllr McMonagle said it was unfair to expect council staff to have to make their own assessments and judgments on housing purchases. Raising the issue at this month’s plenary council, Cllr McMonagle said that an aggressive plan plan is needed to purchase and build much needed homes in Donegal.
“It’s no secret any more that we are in the midst of a housing crisis,” Cllr McMonagle said.
“The lack of building of homes this last 12-15 years, the Mica problem and the war in Ukraine are now putting a terrible strain on our ability to provide social houses for the many people who are on the waiting list. In Letterkenny alone, there are over 1,000 approved applicants four housing, 116 of them are approved for transfer. A vast majority of that is because the houses they are currently in are too small.”
Cllr McMonagle said that the council is not able to buy houses because of the testing process they have to go through, adding: “The fact that IS 465 is not fit for purpose at this stage to test for all deleterious materials I think is a shame.”
He added that the government needs to “step up” and get the new testing criteria in place.
“Many houses out there were built pre-mica that are up for sale, we need to be looking at that and making judgements on that. We need to buy more houses, this is going to get worse.”
