CLARE’s inclusion in a pyrite redress scheme is coming under threat with the Department of Housing accused of delaying tactics.
Anger is building among members of the Clare Pyrite Action Group over the actions of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage who as of last week said they needed further information to an application submitted by Clare County Council in July to extend the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme to the county.
The Clare Echo understands that senior officials in the Council were informed by the Department that they were not satisfied with the level of detail provided in the report. Already, €80,000 has been spent by the Council trying to prove the presence of pyrite in Clare.
Hundreds of houses in Clare are believed to have pyrite, many of which will need to be demolished due to the severity of the damage.
Founder of the Action Group, Dr Martina Cleary told The Clare Echo, “there’s delaying strategies and tactics going on, they are moving the goalposts for Co Clare”. She said that no written records of the Department’s requests for additional information or explanations on what is missing from the application from the Council have been provided.
“We have been very patient and controlled but it is time to take a stand,” the Crusheen woman stated. Protests are to be organised by the Action Group with a town hall meeting to take place at Treacy’s West County Hotel at 8pm on Friday December 3rd.
She stated, “The Department are playing games and it is disgraceful. We only have to look at the Clare report from the Mother and Baby Homes to see how shamefully this Department has treated Clare people in the past”.
Department officials are content for the people of Clare to continue to live in “misery and inhumane conditions,” Dr Cleary commented. “Officials in the Department are playing with people’s lives. All the information has been put on the table, this is utter nonsense. Nobody is fooled by the ‘we’re considering it’ line anymore”.
Members of the Action Group have been encouraged to contact Coleman Legal Partners via email on defectiveblocks@colemanlegal.ie as part of a legal case which aims to include homeowners from all counties impacted by pyrite and mica. Dr Cleary urged people that know there is pyrite in their house but haven’t yet joined the Action Group to do so urgently.
