Mica campaigners taking pathfinder legal cases in Commercial Court

Photograph, from left: Adrian Sheridan, Jamie-Lee Donnelly, Paul Harkin, Clare Daly, David Coleman, Mick Wallace, Sean Hegarty, Dr Ambrose McCloskey.

Buncrana man Shaun Hegarty said he knew it would be with great difficulty the Working Group on the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme was ever going to achieve a quality orientated 100% redress outcome for principal dwelling owners in dire straits.

Speaking exclusively to Inish Times, Mr Hegarty said it was never going to be achieved quickly and also somehow compensate those excluded, including second homeowners losing their hard-earned investments or farmers.

“I do hope the peaceful protest in Dublin on October 8 can once again refocus this, out of touch Government to do the right thing by everyone affected.

“Well done to all the organisers and everyone attending and raising awareness. It is the last shot to show this Government that the victims of this scandal are not just a number, some are emotionally drained at this point with all the ups and downs of the summer’s delay in the working group report, on top of living with a crumbling house.”

Shaun Hegarty, a founder member of the 100% Redress group, said he and his colleague, Adrian Sheridan, had been exploring legal options from late May, well before the working group had been established.

Mr Hegarty said: “We knew '100% redress for all' was never going to be offered, so we had to have something there for the people whenever this announcement [the draft report from the working group on the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme] came.

“We have been working on this project, negotiating, getting meetings, making people aware and doing our research and testing which nobody else was doing. There was no-one doing testing. We have tested several houses. We have even tested concrete foundations. That is how we can stand over anything we say.

“We formed the 100% Redress group to proceed in law and to take a case to Europe, to fight for people's rights whenever there was nothing left. We now have an email address for people to contact if they want to join our legal action, at no charge to themselves. I would ask anyone affected by mica to get in touch at: defectiveblocks@colemanlegal.ie. There is a questionnaire there, which is very straightforward to fill in and then Coleman Legal will get back to them.

“At the moment, we are going to proceed with 10 pathfinder cases and, hopefully, get it into the Commercial Court. After that we will proceed with several other cases,” said Mr Hegarty.

The Commercial Court is a division of the High Court which deals solely with significant commercial cases.

“At this minute in time, we will look at different types of cases, including, someone who has built their house in late 2020, and someone who has replaced their outer leaf in 2017 and has now discovered the blocks they used to replace their outer leaf were full of deleterious material as well.

“The incorporation of high quantities of deleterious material results in what is known as 'latent defect'. This defect is not apparent in the beginning but it exposes itself over time. We will also be looking at the older homes, those types of cases.

“We tested blocks supplied in August of 2020 and the results came back with free muscovite mica content of 15% in the cement paste. The testing laboratories in the UK classify anything with greater than 5% content of free muscovite mica to be high risk and highly susceptible to freeze-thaw, or in layperson’s terms a bad winter. We also tested blocks supplied to a homeowner in 2017 to replace their outer leaf and they have come back with exceptionally high mica levels.”

Adrian Sheridan said: “I have seen houses as far back now as the mid-1980s that are actually approved for demolition. We started thinking then, 'How far forward does this go?' and then houses where blocks were delivered in August of 2020 have come back at 15% of free muscovite mica. Which means, if the industry is still putting out blocks which contain so much deleterious material and the test laboratories are classifying those blocks as a high risk, you wonder, is the scheme ready to be rolled out, if they are still manufacturing the same product?

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"Because, you would simply be demolishing a house, which contains muscovite mica and replacing it with the same product, if market surveillance is not ramped up rapidly.

“The county council, which was responsible for market surveillance, at this stage, should have been making sure all blocks that are shipped into Donegal were free from deleterious materials that will result in that house having to be demolished in 10 or 15 years.

“From 2001 to 2018 there were 20,000 residential units alone constructed or given planning approval in Donegal. Take 20,000 over that time period, if you were to go back as far as 1986, 4,000 to 7,000, which is being put out there needs to be seriously reviewed by the county council at least, if not by the Housing Agency. Between Donegal and Mayo, the number must be far greater,” said Adrian Sheridan.

Although Dublin City Council is responsible for market surveillance now, however, before this it was Donegal County Council.

Last week Shaun Hegarty and Adrian Sheridan travelled to Brussels at the invitation of Dublin MEP, Clare Daly. They were joined by Jamie-Lee Donnelly (North Mayo Pyrite Group), Paul Harkin (technical advisor), David Coleman (Legal expert) and Dr Ambrose McCloskey (consultant engineer).

“The purpose of our visit to Brussels last week was to bring awareness and see what kind of help we could get,” Mr Hegarty said.

“We met with 10 of the Irish MEPs. We had meetings over the two days. We were extremely well received. We even had cross-party talks with two of the Fine Gael and two of the Fianna Fáil MEPs.

“We raised the topic of legislation and non-implementation of legislation around the manufacture of blocks and concrete products. I have subsequently had a reply from two of the MEPs and they are really working on this at a European level. They are organising for us to go back to Brussels to meet with Commission officials.”

Mr Hegarty added that commercial businesses were also welcome to contact Coleman Legal.

“We would like to hear from anyone in retail, offices, commercial, agricultural and particularly residents in apartment blocks, of which there has been absolutely no mention. A few businesses have already come forward over the weekend.

“To answer the many queries we are getting, taking a case will not affect an individual's right to apply to the redress scheme and there will be no charge for individual property owners to join the case. We realise this problem has left many thousands of people in an appalling financial state and they simply cannot afford to take the necessary steps to vindicate their rights.

“Furthermore, if anyone taking the case has suffered an injury, psychological or physical and they have the support of their medical advisers, they may be able to seek compensation.

“On the subject of how many can join the case, the larger the numbers joining the better for all. We will be taking the case against the quarries involved, Donegal County Council, the State and various other entities depending on individual circumstances. The case will seek damages from all parties.”