Donegal County Council is set to write to the new Minister for Housing, James Browne, to seek a meeting on the defective concrete crisis in light of Storm Éowyn.
The arrival of the storm last Friday heightened safety fears for Donegal homeowners, who feared that their crumbling homes were in danger of collapse.
While Donegal County Council has been praised for introducing a hotel reimbursement scheme, councillors say that more forward planning is needed for future events.
Cllr Martin McDermott, Chair of Donegal County Council’s Defective Blocks Committee, praised the council for “stepping up to the mark” and giving people an avenue if they felt unsafe in their own homes.
“We all can be very quick to run things down and give out about things,” Cllr McDermott said. “But I think on this occasion, the council stepped up to the mark and gave people an avenue to go out and get other accommodation that would be reimbursed at a later stage.”
Cllr McDermott added that the power and water outages in the aftermath of the storm have highlighted the need for additional support for vulnerable people and the elderly.
Cllr Joy Beard of the 100% Redress Party said that the council’s reimbursement scheme, announced on Thursday evening, didn’t give homeowners enough time to find alternative accommodation.
“Many families were too late to avail of this sadly as the press release only came out at 5 o’clock,” Cllr Beard. “Yet, we knew this predicted storm was going to be a severe one, and it did increase in strength throughout the two days prior.”
Cllr Beard commended the council for bringing “comfort and safety” to those who did seek refuge in hotels.
“We must now plan for severe weather warnings in the future to keep these families safe and we must be proactive rather than reactive,” she said.
Cllr Martin McDermott suggested that the council should urgently request a meeting with Minister James Browne, either with the full council or the DCB committee, to discuss the issues at hand.
Donegal County Council was represented at a meeting of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group (NECG) yesterday discussing the restoration of services following Storm Éowyn.
All government departments, and response agencies, including local authorities, ESB Networks, Eirgrid, Irish Water, and emergency services were in attendance.
A key focus for the government, the NECG, and all organisations involved is to find ways to support power restoration works that will make the most impact in terms of restoring water, communications and other services. Local authorities are coordinating a local level humanitarian assistance response to the needs of people who have been significantly impacted by the storm.
A local coordination group is now in place for Donegal.
The full NECG will meet again today, and work will continue throughout the day and week to coordinate the response and recovery.
