Minister McConalogue asks Donegal County Council Mica Committee to meet and seeks urgency in Mica Scheme approvals

The Inishowe-based Minister for Agriculture said: “I strongly believe that the new Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme is a very strong one and will serve home owners well if they can be transitioned on to it promptly.

“The new scheme has been in place since the start of July but the approval process for transitioning homeowners onto the new scheme has simply been too slow. We urgently need to see approvals given to those homeowners who have returned their approval requests to Donegal County Council so that they can get on with the work of remediating their homes and getting their lives back.

"I have requested a Donegal County Council Mica Committee meeting so that committee members can work closely with the County Council Executive to ensure that the necessary steps are taken to expedite all returned applications.

“Many home owners have builders waiting to start work and unfortunately some homeowners have had worked stalled due to the fact that they are still awaiting confirmation of their transition on to the new scheme.

“Donegal County Council have around 850 applications on hand for whom they have already given a remediation approval and are charged with transitioning on to the new scheme and seeing through to completion. These homes represent the worst affected and most immediate priorities for remediation.

The Minister continued: “I believe it would be very beneficial for the Donegal County Council Mica Committee to assess the reasons why more applicants have not yet had their approvals for transition on to the new scheme processed and to work in support of the County Council Executive and staff in ensuring that all necessary steps are taken for homeowners to receive urgent approval.

“I have also asked that this meeting of the County Council Mica Committee consider the organisation of public meetings or seminars to fully inform the 850 homeowners that they will be administering under the new scheme on how it works and to answer questions homeowners have on the scheme. I know from talking to many homeowners that they would welcome this.

“The new scheme received much consideration in advance of the finalisation of its regulations to ensure that it would be as workable as possible for homeowners and would empower them to action the work involved in remediating their homes. The new scheme crucially adjusts annually to reflect the up to date real costs of construction. Much time and effort was put in to make sure that it addresses the flaws that blighted the old scheme and that made it so unworkable and inadequate for home owners.

“It is crucial now that we see homeowners complete their transition on to the new scheme and be able to get on with the work of fixing homes in our county as quickly as possible.

Too many steps in delivering the new scheme took longer than it should have. However we now have a very strong statutory scheme in place that I believe strongly delivers the support and funding that homeowners need and removes so much of the red tape and flaws that defined the previous scheme. We now need to see homeowners get to benefit from the new scheme and be transioned on to it.

“I look forward to councillors on a cross party basis coming together through the Donegal County Council Mica Committee to ensure that the necessary steps are actioned by the County Council so that all homeowners awaiting approval are urgently transitioned to the new scheme” concluded Minister McConalogue.