Government accused of ‘blatant discrimination’ over apartments redress

The Government has been accused of “blatant discrimination” after the Cabinet approved a fully-funded redress scheme for up to 100,000 apartments built during the Celtic Tiger era.

The scheme to remediate defects in apartments and duplexes, which was approved on Wednesday morning by the Cabinet, will cover remediation work already completed and underway.

Apartments and duplexes with defects built between 1991 and 2013 are to be covered by the scheme which is uncapped and could cost up to €2.5billion. The Government has said the amount of funding will depend on the nature and extent of the defects to be remediated. 

It has been suggested that the new building defects redress scheme will not be subject to a cap because the cost of repairing defective apartments is typically much less than the cost of the demolition and rebuilding of houses. The average cost is expected to be around €25,000 per apartment. The redress scheme for defective concrete blocks has been capped at €420,000 per home.

Mica campaigners who negotiated for months with department officials for an enhanced defective concrete blocks scheme, which fell short of 100% redress have reacted angrily to the scheme, which they say shows “discrimination” to around 6,600 homeowners in  Donegal, Mayo, Clare and Limerick. They say elements that they wanted in the enhanced scheme, but were told were not possible, have been included in the scheme for apartment owners. These include retrospective costs for remediation work and the administration of the scheme by the Housing Agency.

Chair of the Mica Action Group, Lisa Hone, said defective concrete blocks homeowners will feel “absolutely infuriated” by the scheme as it shows “blatant discrimination”.

The difference between the two schemes is “chalk and cheese”, she said.

“A lot of the detail of this [the defective apartments scheme] really relates specifically to things we know we needed to fully restore our homes and we were refused point blank or were given a very half-hearted version.”

Difference in legislation for defective apartments redress ‘is deplorable’

A former member of the Government’s working group on the defective blocks scheme has hit out at proposed legislation for redress for Celtic Tiger apartments

The reason people are living in defective homes anywhere in the country is the same, and everyone should be treated the same, she said.

“We are all in this situation because the governance and the regulations did not protect us. It does not matter if you are in an apartment in Dublin that suffers from a lack of fire safety regulations, or you are sitting in a home in Donegal where you have defective concrete blocks. The reason we are all sitting in these defective homes is because we were let down. We were sold an unfit product and the regulatory system that should have been there to protect people did not work.”

Donegal Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said mica campaigners in all the affected counties “have every right to be angry”.

“As a Donegal man, I am livid that my people are treated like second-class citizens by this Government.”  

He said the homeowner members of the Government’s working group on the enhanced redress scheme “were put through hoops and hoops and hoops looking for everything they were fighting for”.

The involvement of the Housing Agency in overseeing the apartments redress scheme is “a huge” difference because “really deeply traumatised families” in Donegal are left to project-manage the rebuilding of their homes themselves, he said.

“The Housing Agency will oversee this scheme, and that is one of the most offensive things of all. In other words in Donegal, you are on your own in terms of getting builders, trying to find money,  trying to find alternative accommodation.”

He said there was no ill will to the owners of defective apartments.

“We all support 100% redress for everybody. Fair play to them. But this is a message to the Government - you cannot treat people in Donegal like second-class citizens. It is brazen.”