18.4% mica in house bought by Donegal County Council

There remains a lack of clarity around Donegal County Council's purchase of five mica-affected dwellings in Inishowen for social housing.

In June, the Inish Times revealed the houses, at An Crannla in Buncrana, had tested positive for mica with a 15% ratio in the blocks and, despite the Council being aware of this, it bought the five houses for a total price of €600,000. The funding for the purchase came from the Department of Housing.

Mica-affected houses bought by Council

€600,000 paid for five Buncrana mica-affected houses this year

The Department of Housing has subsequently refused to confirm whether or not it was aware the five houses contained mica at the time of the purchase in February 2021.

It has also refused to confirm whether or not only one house out of the five was tested for mica or whether or not it was satisfied the structural integrity of the five dwellings was in no way compromised by the presence of excessive mica.

The Department did not give this paper a requested comment on whether or not the safety of the residents in the five houses was compromised; who within Donegal County Council signed off on the purchase of the houses; or whether it was a Council engineer or an external engineer who did so.

In a statement to the Inish Times, the Department of Housing said: “This is a matter for Donegal County Council.

“All local authorities operate with delegated sanction in the acquisition of second-hand properties for social housing.

“They are responsible for determining the suitability of the housing and compliance with legal and regulatory aspects.

“Local authorities do not seek prior approval from the Department for such purchases, as to do so would create a significant level of bureaucracy around acquisitions and in the case of the houses at An Crannla, Buncrana, Donegal County Council did not consult with the Department in advance.

“We understand that the Council officials will be providing a report shortly to their Councillors on this matter.”
At the time of going to print, the Inish Times had still not received a reply from Donegal County Council to its enquiry regarding the Council's acquisition of the five houses at An Crannla.

The Council has not confirmed or denied whether only one house out of the five was tested for mica; whether or not it it was satisfied the structural integrity of these five dwellings was in no way compromised by the presence of excessive mica; and whether or not the safety of the residents was being compromised.

Neither had it provided the requested information regarding who had ultimately signed off on the purchase of these homes.

The Donegal Live has seen the Donegal County Council report, referred to by the Department of Housing, on the acquisition of the five houses at An Crannla.

The report distributed to elected councillors contained only the results of Test Suite A: Simplified Petrography of Cut Concrete Sample for House 4 and House 5. Petrography is the branch of science concerned with the composition and properties of rocks. All of the tests were carried out by Fastnet Analytical Limited on November 10, 2019.

The Visual Assessment of the Concrete Condition of House 4 was given as “Apparently Sound”. The Visual Assessment of the Concrete Condition of House 5 was also given as “Apparently Sound”.

The Potential Risks given for House 4 were: “Probable 'free-mica' in fines with associated freeze-thaw risk if saturated”.

The Potential Risks for House 5 were: “Probable 'free-mica in fines with associated freeze-thaw risk if saturated”.

The councillors' report contains no explanation about the apparent omission of the other three houses from Test Suite A.

The same report contained the results of Test Suite B: X Ray Diffraction Analysis for House 5 only.

In terms of Muscovite, the term used for mica in the report, the sample from House 5 was found to contain 18.4%.

It is worth noting that in order to access the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, a house must undergo Test Suite B: X Ray Diffraction Analysis. A property will not be eligible otherwise. Social housing must follow the same protocol to qualify for remediation.

The councillors' report contains no explanation about the apparent omission of the other four houses from Test Suite B.

At its meeting of July 2021, Council's Director of Housing, Corporate and Cultural Services made the policy recommendation that “the Housing and Corporate Strategic Policy Committee consider the preparation of a policy for the acquisition of properties in the county”.