Mica campaigners say they are planning to escalate protests by occupying a council building this week.
A sit-in protest is being organised at the Carndonagh council offices this Thursday morning.
The protest is expected to see affected families gathering with sleeping bags seeking shelter in what they view as a safe building.
Up to 10 families involved are currently living in condemned homes built with crumbling defective blocks. They are seeking to be fast-tracked through the redress scheme to access funds for alternative accommodation and emergency repairs.
The protest builds on a demonstration held outside the Donegal County Council offices in Lifford last Monday.
Activist Paddy Diver said that homeowners would have to “cross the line” to add urgency to their pleas.
“Urgency has to mean urgent, not the urgents in the past,” he said.
Diver said the protest seeks to highlight the dangerous homes that the worst-affected families are stuck in.
“We are going to occupy a government building because it’s safe, it’s not condemned, it’s not damp mould,” he said.
He called on people to show solidarity with the families, saying: “It’s these families today but it could be one of our family members tomorrow.
“Get the pressure on this council and this government to get the cogs turning.”
Donegal County Council issued a statement to defective blocks homeowners last Friday saying that they want to help homeowners and work with the Mica Action Group. The local authority continues to wait on the enhanced defective blocks scheme announced a year ago. Chief Executive John McLaughlin and Deputy Chief Executive Liam Ward said the council cannot deal with emergency housing provision under the current scheme but they have sought a delegation to meet with the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien to discuss the worst affected homes.
In response, Mica Action Group Chairperson Lisa Hone said the national and local government has failed to deliver a solution over 8 years after the mica issue was first presented to Donegal County Council in 2014.
“If you understand, you will act,” Ms Hone wrote, calling on the council to deliver practical measures to support families. She called for a triage and fast-track programme to be agreed upon to process applicants through the redress scheme, in particular, the families most severely affected.
Ms Hone requested a follow-on meeting with the executive this week and weekly meetings thereafter.
The letters are available to read in full on the Mica Action Group Facebook here.
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