MICA homes: Derry & Strabane Council act to establish extent of problem

Brought forward by SDLP councillor Angela Dobbins, the motion also called for council to ‘explore the need to further expand governmental compensation schemes to include residents of our city and district’.

Addressing the chamber, the Ballyarnett councillor said: “The decision by the Irish government to establish a redress scheme for private houses affected by pyrrhotite and mica was a very welcome development.

“We know since the announcement affected homeowners have been contacting Donegal County Council enquiring about the details of the proposed grant scheme but unfortunately residents in Northern Ireland have not been eligible.

“Until recently it was assumed that the Northern Ireland applications were only concerning holiday homes in the Republic but it has come to light that residential properties, and in particular my concern is those in this city and district, have been affected by substandard materials such as the pyrrhotite and mica blocks.”

Councillor Dobbins informed the chamber that Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs have said they have no role in the issue of potential redress and the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland have said that the discussions around a potential redress scheme for those affected by pyrrhotite and mica in the North would be for the future Executive Ministers to consider.

She continued: “This is a clear case of it’s nothing to do with us, it’s up to them and to who or what should be addressing the problems. So whilst governmental authorities play the blame game, residents in our council area are left with not only their homes crumbling around them and please excuse the pun, their very lives are falling apart.”

Supporting the motion, Alliance councillor Rachael Ferguson agreed it would be ‘sensible’ to quantify affected residents within the city and district.

“I’m scared that when this issue comes forward here that no government department is going to want to take any responsibility,” she said.

Colr. Ferguson said she has heard from a number of people who are dealing with the current mica research that there are concerns around sites in the North “so it’s something we need to get ahead of and there will be more houses coming up across the North.”

Sinn Féin councillor John McGowan stated his party’s position as calling for ‘100% redress across this island for all issues caused by mica’, while DUP Alderman Maurice Devenney gave his party’s support for the motion and UUP Alderman Ryan McCready called the situation ‘reprehensible’.

People Before Profit councillor Maeve O’Neill commented; “The mica scandal continues and it was only a matter of time before it reared its ugly head here in the North. We need to learn the lessons from how it’s been handled in the South which has been an absolute shambles.”

A Derry couple last month of their devastation after discovering their family home has MICA in what is believed to the first case of proven defective blocks in Northern Ireland.

Danny and Kate Rafferty first discovered what they thought were settling cracks some years ago at their Beragh Hill Road home, but after more spider cracking on the outer walls of their home tests this year confirmed the presence of high levels of MICA.

The motion passed unanimously.

Gillian Anderson

Local Democracy Reporter