Eimear Smith

A Mica crisis in Donegal has crushed the lives of many Donegal homeowners, but the community refuses crumble as it comes together demanding 100 per cent redress from the Irish government for up to 4000 homes that have health and safety hazards.

High levels of mica – a rock mineral – in bricks has resulted in crumbling homes, thousands worth of bills, protests, boycotts, and homeowners forced out of homes by a problem created 20 years ago by Donegal brick suppliers.

A large crack in the outer wall of one Inishowen home

Calls by homeowners and the Mica Action Group have become louder as lack of financial support from the Irish government has become apparent over the last few years. This was highlighted by recent protests attended by over 15,000 in Letterkenny, Buncrana and Ballina.

The Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal is one of the worst affected areas, and many University students are facing significant work to their homes or lifestyle.

Louise Doherty, a Donegal student from Inishowen who will attend Queen’s in the coming academic year said: “It’s really heart breaking and stressful to know that your house is falling down and there’s nothing you can do to stop it… I lie in bed at night, and I can hear the blocks smashing within the walls of my house. The floors are separating from the windows, the house is freezing, some of my windows don’t open… We are going to have to rip out our entire home”. The family will move out while a smaller house will be built in place of their original family home.

Many homeowners affected in Donegal are still paying their first mortgage, and paying a second will cause significant stress to families.

The Doherty’s, like many, will be paying a second mortgage, working past planned retirement in order to do so. Many older people and families are not able to get a second mortgage so rebuilding the house is not even viable.

While some people’s homes will be demolished and rebuilt, others are rebuilding them bit by bit. Mary McLoughlin, a Malin Head primary teaching student at University in Dublin, watched the outer wall of her home be rebuilt a few years ago, as cracks over an inch wide appeared in it. Spending over €10,000, the family home still has mica contaminated bricks on the inside walls, and in the adjacent garage. McLoughlin described the situation as “awful.”

Within the current mica redress scheme holiday-homeowners are not covered. Many families of Queen’s students have family holiday homes in Donegal in areas like Malin Head, Buncrana and Downings. They will pay fully for the restructuring of the house or be forced to watch it decay. Many travelled to the protests in Donegal over the weekend in solidarity, and for their own Donegal properties.

One Queen’s student who attended the Buncrana protest described the situation surrounding second Donegal homes as “terrible” as they would not be receiving any financial help. While understandably priority in the scheme is given to those whose home is their primary dwelling, the absence of financial compensation for holiday-homeowners, or small landlords, is shocking and worrying to some.

There have been many community responses to the increasingly visible problem in Donegal. The Mica Action Group, set up in Donegal in 2014, are applying pressure on parties to take responsibility. While many homeowners did not come forward earlier due to fear embarrassment or invalidation of insurance cover, the immensity of the problem has led to over 1,000 homeowners registering with the group online.

Cassidy Brothers, the firm who supplied most of the illegally contaminated, weak blocks, face a condemning boycott of the company. Throughout the Inishowen Peninsula, signs on lampposts, fences and spray painted on gable walls of houses call for the closure of the company. However, closure may only lead to another change of hands of the firm. The company have not offered significant support, taking lengthy time to respond, comment, apologise or acknowledge homeowners.

Spray painting on the fence of a new housing development in Carndonagh, Co.Donegal

There is some political support for a 100 per cent redress scheme but recent discussions between Donegal TDs, including Sinn Fein’s Padraig McLaughlin, and Taoisach Michael Martin have not yielded more financial support.

There is a jarring comparison between the government pyrite redress scheme for Dublin in the 2010s, where there was 100 per cent redress, €4500 grant for accommodation, no cap on grants and exemption from Local Property tax. In the Donegal-Mayo scheme there is 90 per cent redress, no accommodation grant, €275,000 cap on grants, and no exemptions for Local Property Tax, despite the houses being structurally unsafe to live in. While not identical situations, this raises questions of the Irish government’s regard for those outside the Irish capital.

With thousands of homes across Donegal deteriorating, anger continues to grow from residents as the financial support emerges as inadequate for most involved. Some cannot afford to apply for the scheme due to initial costs and hundreds will be left homeless.

With little accountability and support from Cassidys and the Irish government, thousands may come under more stress while forced to make decisions between safety, healthcare, and even University education costs. As Doherty puts it, “100 per cent redress for all these families is 100 per cent necessary and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. We didn’t cause the problem so why should we have to pay for a mistake that’s not ours?”

Names have been changed

For more information, visit www.micaactiongroup.com

Eimear Smith is a Politics and English student at Queen’s, and a host of The Eco Scoop

NEWS - Inside Donegal's Mica Crisis