Defective blocks campaigners want EU proceedings against the Government

Defective concrete blocks campaigners are set to escalate their efforts to bring pressure to bear on the Irish government through the EU.
Campaigners Joe Morgan, Dr Eileen Doherty and Professor Paul Dunlop, who have been leading an engagement with the EU, are to meet with the EU Commission in Brussels in June to again highlight the defective concrete blocks crisis.
The campaigners will be accompanied by Swiss scientist Dr Andreas Leemann, who along with Professor Dunlop and others, has carried out research that has concluded the mineral mica is not the primary cause of the defective blocks crisis which has affected around 6,000 homes in Donegal. They will be joined on the visit by Lisa Hone, chair of the Mica Action Group.
The efforts of the campaigners have been supported by The Left group in the European Parliament, including Irish MEP Luke “Ming” Flanagan.
Mr Morgan, an affected homeowner, has led the EU initiative by defective blocks campaigners and presented to the European Parliament's Committee on Petitions in Brussels in December 2021. He said the visit to Brussels will mark an escalation of the EU campaign beyond the EU Parliament.
He said the delegation wants the EU Commission to take infringement proceedings against the Irish Government for disregard of EU regulations.

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The visit represents the first opportunity to appeal to the EU Commission directly to intervene, he said, and will highlight that an effective remedy is required for a crisis that has been caused by the lack of enforcement and implementation of EU regulations.
"The Irish Government continues to ignore insights from homeowners and local authority representatives in relation to flaws in the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme.,” he said.
"We will argue that the EU has a responsibility to mandate the Irish Government to implement and enforce EU regulation; and that they must insist quarries are fully assessed on an ongoing basis to guarantee products are fit for purpose.”
Mr Morgan said the Irish Government “has had ample opportunity to listen and to learn from campaigners, homeowners, scientists and industry experts”.
“Despite detailed submissions, they have ignored pleas to design and implement a scheme that will support families and businesses in rebuilding their homes, and their lives. Instead, they offer financial assistance equivalent to 60/80% of true rebuilding costs and ignore the need for modular homes to accommodate families whilst their homes are repaired.”
Professor Dunlop, who is continuing to research the defective blocks issue, said the visit to Brussels is an opportunity to present the findings to the EU Commission.
“These findings, which have been internationally peer-reviewed and published in the leading global scientific journal Cement and Concrete Research shows that EU12620/2002, which limits sulfur content in aggregate destined for construction to 0.1% if pyrrhotite is present, has been breached in the homes we tested by as much as seven times the allowable limit. Importantly, if EU regulations were being followed and enforced, this could not have happened.”
Dr Doherty, an affected homeowner and former spokeswoman for the Mica Action Group, said the group will convey how governance failure on behalf of the Irish State contributed to the defective blocks crisis.
She said the Government still has questions to answer on the causes of the crisis and its response to it.
“Given the limited resources available, enforcement action relating to the Construction Products Directive was generally carried out on a reactive basis. Typically, market surveillance activity was triggered on foot of acting on information received from complaints. It begs the question, why since we have been campaigning and communicating this issue directly to Government since 2014, why these complaints were never acted upon?”