Inishowen teenager pleads for family home to be included in retrospective payment

An Inishowen teenager has written to all County Councillors about the strain his family is under after rebuilding their home destroyed by defective concrete blocks.

Ethan O'Donnell's family home rebuild finished days before the Government’s cut-off for the retrospective payment, resulting in the O'Donnells being excluded from the increased payment. 

The Burnfoot family was one of the early movers who engaged in the scheme from June 2020, when their house was tested for defective blocks. They have borrowed €50,000, paid €24,000 in rent, and lost thousands in testing costs. On safety grounds, the family left their home in June 2021. Construction began on the family home in October 2022 and was completed on January 31, 2024. Ethan's parents received their final payment in late March 2024.

Last October, the former Housing Minister, Darragh O’Brien, declared that there would be a 10% increase in the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme. In June of this year, it was announced by the Housing Minister James Browne that the increase was undergoing legislation so it would apply retrospectively to all applications that had incurred eligible costs since March 2024. Meaning that anyone who had their rebuild completed before that date wouldn’t qualify for the 10% increase.

The Leaving Certificate student at Scoil Mhuire outlined in his letter why he feels his family has been punished for joining the scheme early, and if they were able to avail of the increase, then they would be in a position to repay their loan and get on with the rest of their lives. 

Ethan's letter to Donegal County Councillors reads as: "I am writing to you as I know a lot of my future is in your hands. Our house is one of the many in Donegal that was affected by Mica.

Our house got tested for Mica in June 2020, and my parents decided to move us out of our home in June 2021, as the cracks in the living room were so wide along the wall and on the ceiling. By the time I went back to Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana, in August 2021, we had to get on a different bus than before the holidays.

All through the time that we were in the rented house, I could see the strain that was on my parents every day as they tried to get us back home. We were in a tough situation, and I was trying my best to get on with my studies as the Junior Cert was around the corner.

My sister Layla also started Scoil Mhuire in August 2022. I started my Junior Cert in June 2023, which was right in the middle of the rebuild of our house. I tried to help my dad as much as I could, as well as keeping up with my studies.

We finally moved home just before Christmas 2023, with almost all the work completed. I thought this was going to be the end of the pressure on Mum and Dad, but I know that we are under serious financial pressure, leading to loans from my grandparents from time to time.

Dad always said that once this 10% increase comes through, we’ll get back to normal, but he told me that we won’t get it because we finished our house too early. How can that be a punishment? How is that fair?

I start my final year at Scoil Mhuire this month, and I will sit my Leaving Cert next June with the hope of college next year.

I’m afraid to apply for any courses that are far away from home as I know my parents do not have the money to help at the minute.

I beg you to remove this stupid date on qualifying for this 10% increase, not only for my parents’ future but for mine and my siblings’ as well.

Yours faithfully, Ethan O'Donnell."

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Councillor Joy Beard has described the letter as a "heartbreaking example of how the Government’s arbitrary cut-off date is punishing families who did everything they were told. No child’s future should be limited because their parents acted early to keep their family safe. No family should be punished for acting early. It’s time for fairness."

Touching on Ethan's concerns about adding financial pressure to his parents by attending university, the 100% Redress Councillor added that young people shouldn't be carrying this burden, "yet they are. I've had other families contact me to say that the money they put aside for college funds is going to be used now to rebuild their homes."

"They can't do both, and this is a situation some people are finding themselves in. We have to remember at all times we have done nothing wrong, and this generation coming behind us has done nothing wrong, yet they're growing up with the consequences of the decisions that they had no part in."

"No child should be afraid to apply for college because their parents are weighed down by debt from rebuilding their home, and no young person should have to plead for fairness because of a cut-off date, and I think Ethan's words should be a wake-up call."

"Extending the retrospective payment in the context of a multi-billion euro scheme is a drop in the ocean, but for these families, it would mean everything,” added Councillor Beard.