100% Redress councillor Tomás Seán Devine logged off a meeting of Donegal County Council today due to his anger over the defective concrete crisis.
Cllr Devine had joined today’s housing meeting remotely while assisting a couple getting their home tested by the Housing Agency.
The couple, living in the Glencar area of Letterkenny, and both in their late 70s, are also facing the difficult situation of the wife starting chemotherapy.
Cllr Devine said that seeing their living conditions moved him close to tears.
“This is a mortal sin to humanity,” Cllr Devine told the council this morning.
“When I opened their door this morning, the smell of dampness nearly killed me.”
The damp conditions in the Letterkenny couple’s home. Photo: Cllr Tomás Sean Devine
Cllr Devine said the couple is trapped, with nowhere else to move to.
“We need modular homes, we need something,” he said.
Cllr Devine said he could no longer listen to today’s special plenary meeting and logged off.
Before leaving, he told those in Lifford: “We have 13 government councillors in that chamber, folks, we need to do something drastically about housing in Donegal and defective blocks.”
The damp conditions in the Letterkenny couple’s home. Photo: Cllr Tomás Sean Devine
Speaking to Donegal Daily afterwards, Cllr Devine said: “I am sick of sitting in meetings, talking groundhog day.
“Since I got elected I have no disrespect for anyone, but we had three Fine Gael councillors prepared to walk away from Fine Gael over Senators, and we have thirteen councillors there in the Chamber, and a handful of government-aligned independents, they don’t show the same want to walk away from the party over housing.”
Cllr Devine added: “We have the biggest housing crisis in Europe and the Housing Minister is still showing no signs of showing up here in Donegal. I think councillors, no disrespect to them, should be putting more pressure on their party and government leadership to get the finger out.”
