Elderly Donegal couple left in mica limbo over redress

With the eagerly anticipated Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) report on construction costs for the defective concrete block scheme announced on Thursday, Donegal Live spoke to a couple, aged 66 and 71 respectively, who feel they have been “left behind” in terms of redress.

The couple wished to remain anonymous.

Their “mica journey” began in 2007, when, after many years of looking, they found a property they had only dreamt of owning.

“It was an old wreck on a beautiful site, but had the potential to be everything we wanted. After two years of design decisions, we selected an architect, we got our drawings made and applied for planning with Donegal County Council.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple and the planner didn’t approve of many bits and pieces, so after a lot of toing and froing and compromise, about a year later, we had our plans passed.

“Next, we had to wait for our builder to be free, but finally in September 2011 we were digging foundations. In late 2013, we moved into our beautiful, bright, spacious modern home. It is an amazing home and lacked for nothing. We enjoyed living here, but unfortunately due to some health issues, we began to struggle with maintaining our gardens and decided to downsize.”

In 2020, the couple got ready to put their home on the market. However, lockdown restrictions meant they had to postpone the sale until 2021.

“Before we got a chance to put a sign up, we noticed that some very fine cracks had become more noticeable and when we did a tour of the outside we felt or maybe imagined we had new ones?

“We had heard of mica, but, I suppose like many others, we assumed it was an historical problem and hadn’t really looked into it. We had bought blocks from a local quarry and when we mentioned this to others, they said the chances were we had mica.

“We decided to look for expert advice, so we got the list of engineers from Donegal County Council and, after many phone calls, texts and emails, we finally got registered with an engineer. He did a visual inspection and felt it met the criteria for testing. Unfortunately due to the volume of properties in a similar situation, we will have to wait until later this year [2022] to be tested.

“At the moment, we are in mica limbo, but the chances are very high that the coring results and engineer's report, will tell us we have mica. At our age, the worry about how we are going to manage is unreal. Our future feels doomed. The bit of money we have in savings, is no longer there to add comfort or to treat ourselves. It’s now a prisoner, to be held as security as we will likely need every penny towards fixing our home.”

The couple said they were now stuck and could not sell the house.

“We have both worked all our lives, paid taxes on every wage packet, never looked for hand-outs. Our only mistake was to unknowingly build our dream home with defective blocks. We are simply another victim of light-touch regulations by the government. The proposed new scheme does not work for us at all.

“Firstly, I feel this should not be referred to as a 'grant'. We have done nothing wrong, we are not at fault in anyway, people are suffering, the mental torture and sleepless nights are unreal. We deserve full compensation yet we are only seeking to have our homes fixed at no cost to ourselves. We’ve paid once, why should we pay again?

“An elderly friend called with us only recently. He was upset and angry. He’d been told by his engineer that he’s wasting his money by going further with the testing, as his house physically looks almost perfect. However, it's in an estate where houses already tested have shown high indications of mica etc. He feels totally stuck and that this will never be sorted for him in his lifetime.

“I explained that my understanding was that this is due to what’s referred to in the new proposed scheme as 'the damage threshold'. We feel this will likely apply to us too, as our signs of damage are just starting to show. We also feel strongly that the testing must include foundations and include a search for all defective materials to ensure this is a one-time fix and not a

The couple said their anxiety was heightened because they feel “trapped”.

They have a beautiful property, but, as each year passes, they are finding it too difficult to manage.

“It is unsellable. It is deteriorating. We are too old to get a mortgage. We have no collateral to get a loan. Our home will possibly only have a site value.

“How will we make up the shortfall which will be needed because of the caps? We have yet to find out the details of what is to replace the sliding scale. These are all huge reasons why we can’t access this new scheme.

“Another big question is, what happens to our property if we die before this is all sorted?

“To Minister O’Brien, I would ask, how can you call this scheme 100% redress? A scheme that eliminates many families as they can’t afford the shortfalls, a scheme that ensures that families won’t even be able to access it for years while they watch and live in their homes until they reach the required state of deterioration, a scheme that gives no solutions for us pensioners, a scheme that simply ignores all the other property owners, who paid mortgages, used savings invested in the economy but are now excluded.

“How can you call this 100 % redress, Minister O'Brien?”