Rebuilding homes grant programme needs improvements – Report

A plan to help people in old, falling apart homes needs to get better, a first version of a report said.

A group from the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee went to the Republic of Ireland to learn about the problem of bad concrete blocks used in houses.

Many houses are falling apart because they used blocks with too much mica in them. Mica soaks up water and makes the walls crack and break.

The European delegation’s report has given the government six suggestions for improving the mica redress scheme.

This means we need to make the plan happen faster and have less paperwork involved.

It also said that a problem with building blocks should never happen again in Ireland or any other EU country.

‘Serious problems’

In 2016, a group of experts was formed in Ireland to look into issues with houses damaged by mica and pyrite.

In 2019, the Irish government said yes to a plan to fix things that cost €20m (£17. 2m)

However, lots of homeowners said the plan was not suitable and asked to be fully compensated.

Under the old plan, homeowners who qualified had to pay 10% of the repairs and any money still owed on their mortgage, while the government paid for 90% of the cost.

In September, the Irish government said they would add 10% tax to concrete blocks.

In November 2021, the government made a lot of changes to the old plan.

The improved plan gives up to €420,000 (£357,500) to each household in Counties Donegal, Mayo, Clare, and Limerick to help homeowners who have been affected.

The Mica Action Group, which speaks for homeowners who are affected, said that the improved plan is still not good enough and there are still big problems.

‘Urgently addressed’

The Europe Parliament’s draft report says that the state’s grant scheme is good, but it needs to be made available to more people and be easier to get.

It also said we need to know exactly who is responsible for this and hold them accountable.

It was also discovered that the bad blocks caused very serious problems for people’s health, money, and relationships, and these problems need to be fixed right away.

The Petitions Committee will talk about the report’s results when they meet in Brussels next Tuesday.