Council 'found wanting' on Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme

Donegal County Council have been “found wanting” in terms of the Working Group on the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme, established by Housing Minister, Darragh O'Brien, a mica redress campaigner has claimed.

Speaking to Donegal Live following a meeting in Burt's An Grianán Hotel on Wednesday evening, which discussed the concerns of building contractors regarding the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, Paddy Diver said: “The Council has been found wanting and it needs to get the situation rectified very, very fast or no contractor is going to want to get on the scheme.

“There is a massive discrepancy between the 5% retention figure for a contractor on a public contract and the 25% retention figure for a contractor repairing or rebuilding a mica-affected private house. The Housing Agency needs to takeover the Scheme because Donegal County Council is not fit for it.

“I think the councillors know now where the contractors stand. Contractors are not happy with the scheme. From start to finish, it is not working.

“Fair play to councillors Martin McDermott, Jack Murray and Albert Doherty for turning up. They have heard the concerns of the contractors and they are going to try and fix the scheme.

“However, they have to do it now, in a very tight window, because the previous Council representative on the Working Group did not.

“They have two to three weeks to stop the 25% retention figure, which is unheard of, being held off the contractor at the end of a job, for maybe over a year. No-one saw this coming. It is crazy that this was not foreseen.”

Mr Diver added the new council representative on the Working Group had to “hit the ground running”.

He said: “I hope it is Martin McDermott, someone who will go in there and actually fight or argue for it and say, 'We have been blindsided here. We didn't spot the retention figure issue' before this scheme is signed off on by the Working Group. That date is coming very, very fast.”

Mr Diver added that the representatives of the mica-affected homeowners had been working “day and night to get a new scheme over the line”.

“Our paperwork is ready. We don't need till mid-September. We need an answer from the Government by the end of September.

“Donegal Council needs to step in and sort out the situation with building contractors. The homeowner representatives have enough on their plates.

“As far as I am concerned, we were in there wasting valuable time fighting for a liaison office for people looking to get on the scheme. That should have been done by the Donegal County Council representative. It is now up to Donegal County Council to step up for the contractors and for change.”