*Brid Devanney, Danny Maloney, Martina Cleary & Mary Hanley.
MEMBERS OF THE CLARE PYRITE ACTION GROUP remain “in the dark” on the detail surrounding their inclusion in a defective concrete blocks redress scheme.
Statements released since approval to include Clare and Limerick in the €2.7bn scheme was granted by the Cabinet on Tuesday has said consultation was ongoing with homeowners but impacted householders in Clare said they have not been included in such discussions.
Founder of the Clare Pyrite Action Group, Dr Martina Cleary told The Clare Echo they have not been told “a single word” regarding the eligibility and detail into the expanded scheme. “They have been releasing press statements saying they are consulting with homeowners but none of them are from Clare”.
She told The Clare Echo, “There’s been absolutely no contact with us as stakeholders on the ground with Clare Pyrite Action Group but that is part of their form, they have kept us in the dark from the start. They are now spreading misinformation saying we were consulted as homeowners, it is disgraceful behaviour that we’ve not been consulted. What are they hiding that they can’t let us see”.
While the inclusion of Clare is seen as a positive step, homeowners remain sceptical. “What kind of treatment is this, how you could trust this, this is really bad form”. She added, “there is something very wrong that the biggest grant in the history of the State appears to be going through without pre-legislative scrutiny”.
Dr Cleary remained critical of the Department of Housing, “what they’ve put us through in county is extraordinary, we met the IS465 criteria for inclusion in July but they put us through prolonged stress and hardship of making us quality for this scheme”.
Now that they’ve been included in the scheme, the focus of the Action Group will change the Crusheen woman confirmed. “We were set up on the 4th of September 2020 and I’ve been campaigning 24/7 for this for the last two years, I’ve put my life on hold and the focus of the Clare Pyrite Action Group is changing. Our immediate focus is now on pre-legislative scrutiny and then trying to put some community support in place, the next phase of research will be the physical and mental health impacts on the people living with this. The campaign that I’ve led has achieved goal of getting extension of grant, we will launch a new campaign in the immediate week before the Dáil goes into summer recess is to ensure we’ve some form of input what will impact our lives for decades to come”.
Presently, 90 people are registered with the Action Group, many of which are living in housing estates. The Action Group have calculated that 17 private housing estates are affected and 1,125 houses. “The tally stops today, we have completed our campaign to get Clare included in the grant”.
