MEP Walsh calls on Government to implement mica report recommendations

MEP Maria Walsh has welcomed today’s passing of a report regarding the defective block crisis.

The EU Mica Report outlines recommendations and highlights the failings of the current redress scheme.

Approved this morning by the European Parliament’s petition committee, the report included details of last year's fact-finding mission, of which MEP Walsh was a member.

The defective block scandal first made headlines in 2021 when homeowners saw blocks used to build their homes starting to crumble.

The government introduced a scheme allowing affected homeowners to apply for a maximum grant of €420,000.

A European delegation undertook a fact-finding visit to Donegal last year, after which six recommendations were made to the Government's existing redress scheme.

Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh has said that the Government must ‘urgently implement the recommendations outlined in the European Parliament’s report on the defective blocks crisis to ensure 100% redress for those affected’.

“I believe the report approved today in Brussels is an accurate reflection of what we experienced during our mission and provides a clear picture of the experiences the homeowners and families devastated by the mica and pyrite crisis have been faced with,” said the Fine Gael MEP.

Due to its insufficiency, MEP Walsh said the current scheme needs reworking, something that is reflected in this report by ‘highlighting the need to include costs of new foundations, provisional accommodation and rental costs’. 

She said: “I am happy to see the wording that the crisis has a ‘force majeure nature’ was dropped from Amendment 10, meaning that there is no reference to ‘force majeure’ in the report, as I had called for. 

“The report contains several recommendations on redress, and the onus is now on the Irish Government to implement them as a matter of urgency. The Government must acknowledge the failings of the current scheme, and provide 100% redress for the families and homeowners affected”.

MEP Walsh will now send the report to Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien, as well as An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to ‘ensure they are aware of the official position of Parliament and ask how they intend to enact the recommendations within the report’. 

“I will continue to fight on this incredibly important issue, to ensure the constituents of the Midlands North West are fully represented,” she concluded.