Failure to reimburse Donegal mica homeowners

The owners of mica-affected homes in Donegal have been left severely out of pocket this Christmas, unlike their Mayo counterparts.

Not one family in Donegal has been reimbursed the costs associated with their engineers' reports, according to the Mica Action Group (MAG), established in 2014 to demand a redress scheme, following the defective concrete blocks scandal.

By comparison, Mayo County Council has reimbursed 10 of the 16 applicants approved under its Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme (DCBGS).

A spokesperson for MAG told Donegal Live: “The disparity between Donegal and Mayo is inexplicable given the DCBGS guidelines which clearly state, 'The relevant local authority may facilitate a payment to the eligible applicant for 90% of the fees connected with the provision of the engineer's report set out in the invoice submitted to the relevant local authority, subject to a maximum amount payable of €6,300.'

“Donegal County Council has not refunded any of the initial applicants, who have been waiting four weeks. There are perhaps 25 that have received approval, with an estimated cost of €6,300 each, that amounts to €157,500 which has not been refunded.”

Inish Times understands the hold up is due to the fact Donegal County Council has not yet put the administrative system in place to reimburse DCBGS applicants.

The MAG spokesperson said: “As yet, MAG is unclear when or even how Donegal County Council will be in a position to reimburse DCBGS applicants here.

“Mayo County Council is using a hard copy, manual application system, whereas applications to Donegal County Council have to be made online. This means a council official in Mayo can check, in person, if all the relevant documentation has been submitted and can request any information that is not present. By comparison, some homeowners in Donegal are on their fourth application.

“Once the owners of mica-affected homes in Mayo are approved as eligible for the DCBGS, the Council requests their bank account details and the payment is authorised. To date Mayo County Council has reimbursed 10 of its first 16 approved applicants.

“Naturally, the owners of mica-affected homes in Donegal expected to get paid by now. They all provided their bank details as part of their application documentation. Several people who have not received an explanation or reimbursement from Donegal County Council, have contacted MAG about the payment lag. MAG would, naturally, be concerned that Donegal County Council might also delay the staged payments due to homeowners once they begin their remediation work,” said the MAG spokesperson.

The MAG spokesperson said Donegal County Council has had a year to get a payment system in place.

They added: “This situation of families still being out of pocket in the mouth of Christmas could have been avoided. If the Council cannot pay out this smaller amount, is there a problem? Why is there a problem? Will it be able to pay out larger staged payments in the future?

“MAG has found, people in Donegal are on application number four and still have not been approved, for any amount or reasons. Donegal County Council has also had the invoices for applicants who were approved a month ago and have been in the system, maybe, since June or July.

“The county Council have had 4 or five months to process the invoices but the system is not up and running. All engineers have been paid by hard-pressed Donegal families, who are waiting on reimbursement. It is an unfair situation in Donegal compared to Mayo,” said the MAG spokesperson.

At the time of going to press, Donegal Live had not received the requested comment from Donegal County Council on the DCBGS's reimbursement procedures.