The people of Donegal are being urged to stand in solidarity with mica affected homeowners today and join a protest at Council offices in Lifford.
Lisa Hone, Chair of Mica Action Group, said it is imperative to put pressure on the Council, to make sure affected homeowners’ voices are heard.
“We are urging the Council to fight for their constituents,” she said.
She urged everyone, across Donegal to join them and stand in solidarity at the County House in Lifford today at 10 am. She said not to assume everybody else will “do the job for you”.
Speaking to the Donegal News Ms Hone said there is a “tsunami coming”, and that families living in homes affected by defective blocks are in great danger and urgently need somewhere safe to live.
“The infrastructure of temporary housing has to be a part of the infrastructure of the redress scheme,” she said.
Motion calling for evacuation fund to be raised at Council Meeting
Today the Council meets for the last time in 2022. During the meeting, Inishowen Councillor Johnny McGuinness will ask for full support for his motion asking the government to set up an evacuation fund for those worst affected by defective blocks.
Cllr McGuinness said we are experiencing a “humanitarian crisis within our own county” and that we must “rescue” the families living in these awful conditions.
“No one should have to live through another Christmas in fear,” he added.
Cllr McGuinness praised the Mica Action Group and said they have “genuine objectives”, and he hopes the Council can help them to achieve them all.
If the motion is backed it will be sent to central government, “and we can lobby them collectively” he added.
He said that he “can’t imagine” a scenario where the motion does not get the full support of the Council.
He then stressed, “The progressive change we need won’t take place in Lifford, it needs to take place in the Oireachtas.”
McGuinness is from Inishowen, what he called the epicentre of the crisis, many of his family, friends and loved ones are affected by defective blocks. He explained that this makes it very difficult for him as a member of the current government coalition.
His colleague, Donegal Fine Gael TD, Joe McHugh recently voted against the government on the Defective Concrete Block Bill and left the coalition in a minority.
The Councillor said that the Deputy “didn’t have a choice” and that “politically it might not have been the best thing to do, but he did his best for the people of Donegal”.
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