*Joe O’Donnell questions Minister Darragh O’Brien. Photograph: Joe Buckley
HOMEOWNERS in Clare are to protest through the town of Ennis this Saturday.
Members of the Clare Pyrite Action Group have organised the protest which will begin at Áras an Chontae in Ennis at 2pm on Saturday before marching to O’Connell monument in the heart of Ennis town centre.
All corners of the county have homes containing pyrite-defective blocks causing crumbling of their own homes. An approximate 124 homeowners are now signed up to the Clare Pyrite Action Group. Their efforts to include Clare in a redress scheme continue.
As reported by The Clare Echo last week, sharp criticism of the Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien (FF) was voiced by the Action Group’s founder, Dr Martina Cleary in an open letter.
Five months after the Minister promised to make a decision on their application for redress “within weeks,” the action group will take to the streets as they appeal for members of the public to back their cause.
“With regard to the ongoing exclusion of County Clare from any existing grant or remediation scheme, we feel that there is a definite, perpetuated and undeniable form of discrimination being meted out to the people of this county. We are at a loss to understand why reports and evidence submitted by our consultant engineer, are deemed insufficient to warrant immediate inclusion and assistance,” Dr Cleary stated.