A delegation from the European Parliament is due to arrive in Donegal next week to investigate the defective concrete crisis.
According to the Mica Action Group (MAG), they are due here on Monday as part of a three-day mission. The objective of the delegation is to fact find and form a complete picture of the impact and issues of the crisis in order to compile a comprehensive report which can be submitted to the EU Commission. The international team of MEPs from Spain, Estonia, Latvia and Ireland will be headed up by Chair Ms Dolors Monserra. They will witness the devastating consequences of the disaster first hand. The trip will include visits to impacted homes, other affected buildings plus an extensive series of discussions and interviews with homeowners and campaigners across affected counties. They will also speak to scientists, engineers, political and administrative representatives.
Representations to the EU Parliament were spearheaded by campaigner Joe Morgan two years ago in collaboration with petitioning homeowners, University of Ulster researchers Prof. Paul Dunlop and Dr. Eileen Doherty of MAG and the support of the Left Group of MEPs.
Following the initial presentations made to the EU Petitions Committee by Joe Morgan and Ann
Owens in 2021, MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan then worked with MEP Sira Rego, Left group coordinator, to request the committee undertake a mission to Donegal to see the devastation for
themselves. With agreement from the other political groups in the EU Parliament, the fact-finding delegation was approved.
“The EU Delegation visit to Donegal has been over two years in the making following the initial submission of eight petitions to the EU Parliament,” Mr Morgan states.
“In November 2021 we travelled to Brussels where impacted homeowners presented to the EU Petitions Committee. The committee decided unanimously to leave the Petitions Open for further investigation. A visit from an EU delegation is by no means a guarantee. The fact that we have managed to secure the mission is an indication of the seriousness and scale of the Defective Concrete Crisis. It is clearly a concern to legislators that it has been escalated to the highest level of the EU Parliament.”
The visit, he added, has been designed to ensure that the EU delegates are left in no doubt of the shattering impact of this catastrophe first hand – not only the destruction of our homes and other affected buildings, but also the emotional, physical and financial damage it has wrought on our communities by being allowed to persist unaddressed for so long.
The EU delegation are required to write up a comprehensive account of their observations, which can then be submitted to the EU Commission.
“It is our hope that this report, together with two EU complaints, submitted within the same timeframe, will be enough to spur the EU Commission into discussion with the Irish Government to provide effective remediation to impacted families and ensure this crisis cannot continue to the next generation of Irish citizens hoping to own their own homes.”
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