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The Defective Block Schemes have left many homeowners, particularly in Donegal, facing significant challenges and frustrations.
Despite years of lobbying and adjustments to the scheme, it remains a maze of bureaucracy, financial shortfalls, and logistical hurdles for affected families. Here’s a breakdown of the key issues and the current state of the scheme:
The Timeline and Background
- 2017: The defective blocks issue was raised in the Dáil, seeking government action to address homes crumbling due to defective mica-laden concrete blocks.
- 2020: Initial Defective Block Scheme launched, offering five remediation options with a 90/10 cost-sharing model but effectively covering only 60% of actual costs.
- 2021: The “Enhanced or Revised Scheme” promised “100% coverage” up to €420,000, with additional grants for accommodation (€15,000) and storage (€5,000). However, caps and outdated construction costs meant homeowners still faced substantial out-of-pocket expenses. Homeowners who reached the maximum cap are excluded from ancillary expenses.
- 2024: The Revised or “Enhanced” Grant Scheme is administered by Donegal County Council under the Housing Agency. Despite increased caps being announced this year (up to €499,550 with SEAI grants), the process remains fraught with delays, technical barriers, and inadequate funding. The increased figure of €462,000 and over €37,000 in SEAI applicable funding is yet to be drawn down by homeowners since the announcement. It remains to be seen if those early movers completed projects can be awarded retrospective funds.
As of November 2024, DCB Grant Office Scheme’s impact remains limited:
- Applications: Of 849 transitional applications under the previous scheme, only 61 homes have been fully remediated, with 318 currently undergoing works.
The 100 % Redress Party states that 318 may not necessarily be ‘undergoing’, as there is no guarantee that people will get the capital needed to progress and equate completion.
- Grants Issued: Only 195 new applications have received offers under the Enhanced Scheme, highlighting the slow rollout and administrative backlog.
The 100 % Redress Party states 195 offers include downgrades contrary to the Science. The findings of which we have for over a year
- Completion Rates: With fewer than 10% of affected homes completed, the scheme’s pace is insufficient to address the scale of the crisis.
The 100 % Redress Party states, 10% of affected homeowners’, is not reflective of the tens of thousands affected but can’t even access the scheme for a variety of reasons including working capital, shortfall, disability, accommodation etc.
Key Barriers
- Eligibility and Application Process:
o Complexity: Homeowners must navigate an overwhelming amount of paperwork, online forms, and eligibility requirements.
o Overburdening: For some, this is unmanageable, leaving many to abandon the process despite dire need.
- Financial Gaps:
o Despite an increased cap of €462,000 (plus SEAI grants), costs like:
▪ New foundations (€15,000+)
▪ Project management and engineering fees (€17,000+)
▪ Demolition (€27,500)
o These are inadequately covered or excluded, leaving homeowners with deficits averaging €100,000+.
- Outdated Construction Cost Calculations:
o Government rates for square footage and materials lag behind market prices, forcing homeowners to either downgrade rebuilding efforts or face mounting debt.
- Slow Administration and Payment Delays: Homeowners struggle to keep the
projects moving in relation to stage payments and system delays to date.
- Planning and Scientific Challenges:
o For many, replacing foundations or redesigning homes becomes unavoidable based on scientific assessments, requiring resubmission for planning permission and additional costs.
Impacts on Homeowners
- Emotional and Mental Toll: Homeowners are left in financial and emotional limbo as they try to secure funding to rebuild their homes—their supposed safe havens.
- Financial Strain: Significant personal debt is incurred to cover shortfalls, creating a multi-generational economic burden.
- Distrust in Government: The failure to align the scheme with real-world costs and challenges erodes public confidence in both the scheme and its administrators.
Moving Forward: Calls for Reform
To address these ongoing challenges, affected communities, advocates, and political figures must push for:
- Annual Adjustments for Inflation: Immediate updates to align grant caps with actual construction costs.
- Simplification of the Application Process: Provide robust, hands-on support for vulnerable applicants through defective block hubs in addition to facilitator/s.
- Guaranteed Coverage of All Necessary Costs: Including foundations, project management fees, and demolition and rebuild like for like in terms of design & in turn key completion like the precedence set in the southern locations of Ireland such as Kildare; Pyrite Scheme.
- Increased Oversight and Accountability: Faster processing times and transparent reporting on the scheme’s performance.
- Discrimination – one cohort of homeowners can get temporary accommodation and storage allowance. However, if a homeowner with larger property meets or exceeds the cap of €420,000 then they are automatically deemed not eligible for ancillary grant.
- The Peoples Document – Broad based issues raised by the people collectively ignored to date by the current government further exacerbating the situation for those living this crisis on a daily basis.
Sample Homeowner Evidence based Issues
Jane from Finn Valley area waited months for reimbursed fees. Even after grant approval, homeowners face logistical delays and additional expenses before any remediation begins. In this instance, Jane will be approximately €50,000 in deficit without a block laid for her new build. She highlights the huge time lost in trying to collate information, seek professional services and understand elements of construction and energy upgrading.
Jane states “ I am pushing to demolish but with a heavy heart as the same size bespoke design was just not workable financially. I could not replace it for the grant amount approved”
Jane adopted a basic design that still leaves shortfall of approximately €100,000.
Martin from Letterkenny has a 4 bed home and has to demolish under the current scheme. However, to his detriment he also can’t proceed stating “to build same size house and same design, it will leave a shortfall of €160,000”.
The defective block debacle in Donegal remains a stark example of how bureaucratic inefficiencies can amplify a crisis. For families like Jane’s, the dream of rebuilding like for like seems increasingly out of reach, even with government promises. It’s imperative that policymakers bridge the gap between intent and implementation to deliver real relief to those most affected.
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