By Chris Ashmore
AS the country braces itself for Storm Éowyn this Friday, a Donegal councillor has made a plea for a special accommodation centre to be set up to cater for defective concrete homeowners.
Speaking at Donegal County Council’s housing meeting yesterday Cllr. Joy Beard said that with every storm, defective concrete block-affected houses are weakening.
“There should be a centre in our community to go to for safety,” she stated.
Recalling a previous severe storm, she spoke of her experience of living in a caravan through weather warnings as she had moved out of her own mica-affected home which was being demolished.
She stressed that caravans and mobile homes are not suitable to be in during severe storms.
“I know the Council is saying that it is not its remit, but this is an unprecedented crisis and it is time to step up and protect these families,” she declared.
“We need to think outside the box, we need to promote a safe place of refuge during a storm.”
A number of homeowners with defective concrete blocks have endured some very frightening experiences during storms, and there have been cases where people have been afraid to sleep and have seen considerable further crumbling to their homes.
Cllr. Beard, originally from Limavady, was elected for the 100% Redress Party on the first count at last year’s local elections.
Storm Éowyn will bring gale force southerly winds and westerly winds on Friday, with a possibility of severe, damaging and destructive gusts of up to 130km/h in parts of the country.
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