Those affected by defective concrete blocks in Leitrim need to 'speak up'

Donegal councillor Ali Farren spoke to the Leitrim Observer this week about a serious issue facing families all around the country including Leitrim. Cllr Farren is a founding member of the 100% Redress Party, which was formed to secure a "100% redress scheme for all those affected by defective concrete products."

He said: "My son-in-law lives in Leitrim with my daughter and when they were looking to buy a house, they came across three properties that showed signs of defective concrete blocks. Both of them came from living in defective houses in Donegal so they know the symptoms. And we know from talking to people that there is an issue in Leitrim."

He spoke of how he discovered his own home was built with detective concrete 14 years ago and how that impacted him. "This is a stressful thing for a lot of families and some bury their head in the sand. I saw cracks but thought they were settlement cracks which most people want to think but the problem doesn't go away it gets worse. I manage the Malin Head community centre which has a large new extension funded by Europe which has defective blocks. Within a mile of this centre, there 102 defective houses or buildings and that's a rural area."

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He stressed: "I dealt with it by speaking up and I went to the Dail where the government were voting on amendments for the Redress Scheme and the parties in power voted to fast track the bill through without any input from homeowners; then we decided if they won't support us, we'll support ourselves and formed the 100% Redress Party."

He said that while his home is substantially affected, there "are others living in far worse conditions; those with young children and black mould. Letterkenny is crumbling to the ground and we'd be afraid to guess the amount of houses affected."

Cllr Farren was speaking after a group of Defective Concrete researchers from Ulster University presented Oireachtas members with their research in Leinster House. 

Among them was Professor Paul Dunlop who spoke of how the damage to homes is caused by an internal sulfate attack due to unstable pyrrhotite and not the mica freeze-thaw process. Professor Eileen Doherty spoke about the "failures of the government to listen to the people affected before setting up a scheme that didn't work" while professor Karen Kirby talked about the mental health and wellbeing of those living in defective homes and how they are "three times more likely to commit suicide."

Cllr Farren said he was disappointed by the low number of TDs in attendance. "It just showed the lack of interest; there was very little interest from most TDs or Senators."

He said there were "symptoms of defective concrete blocks in 26 counties in Ireland and there are only The Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Schemes in Clare, Mayo, Limerick, Sligo and Donegal."

The scheme provides financial support to homeowners whose home has been damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks during its construction. 

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He continued that if those affected in counties such as Leitrim "don't speak up, it won't happen. We've depended on senators and TDs etc. for long enough and it hasn't delivered; people have to start being verbal about it. The government are not speaking up for the people or standing by us and we need to put more pressure on them to deliver a scheme that is workable for everybody. You shouldn't have to fight to get your county included in this scheme; it should be all-Ireland scheme."

Speaking of the reality of living in an affected building, Cllr Farren said that the "people in Donegal are living with a lot of stress 24/7; it's your life and it's biggest investment that you make. It's also something that nobody did wrong; anyone who builds or buys a house; they didn't do anything wrong."

He continued: "My fear in Leitrim is that people don't know enough about it and are buying houses with a few small cracks and think it's fine and it actually just gets worse. If you don't know about this problem, you can buy a house that is not fit for purpose and won't be there forever home. We need to raise awareness."

He said the party was formed "purely out of frustration; we're accidental politicians; in my opinion, for the Redress Party to progress in Leitrim, we need people to come out of the woodwork so that at the next county council elections, in three and a half years time, we will be running councillors in that area because it's going to be needed. The government really don't want us on the playing field but we're the tenth biggest party in the country with four councillors in Donegal and a TD in the Dail."

He continued that those affected in Leitrim can become members can get in contact through the party's website or social media accounts.