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FAMILY AND COLLEAGUES of detective garda Jerry McCabe are gathering in Adare, Co Limerick to mark 20 years since his death at the hands of the IRA.
McCabe was killed when he was shot three times with an AK47 by a number of IRA members who were attempting to rob a post office in the town.
Another detective garda Ben O’Sullivan was injured in the hail of bullets.
This morning, 20 years on from that day, O’Sullivan joined Garda McCabe’s widow Anne McCabe as well as current and former gardaí at a memorial service at Adare Garda Station.
At a commemoration ceremony Ann McCabe, along with her daughter Stacey, laid flowers outside the station.
Members of the force performed a guard of honour and members of the Garda Band played a haunting rendition of the hymn, Abide With Me, which was sung at Det McCabe’s funeral mass.
Chief Superintendent David Sheahan, who laid a wreath, led senior members of the Limerick Garda Division, including Superintendent Derek Smart, Superintendent Tom O’Connor, and Superintendent Jim Ryan, in a minutes silence at 6.55am.
“For me, today is the same as 20 years ago on June 7th,” Ann McCabe said speaking afterwards.
Nothing ever changes, but you learn to live with it and get on with it.
Speaking publicly for the first time since that day, Ann O’Sullivan, wife of retired Detective Garda Ben O’Sullivan, said: “I found it very hard today.”
It brought back every hour of this time twenty years ago. It brought tears.
The killing of Garda McCabe provoked shock around the country 20 years ago, coming four months after the Provisional IRA called off its first ceasefire.
Ms O’Sullivan, who at the time worked as a nurse in the accident and emergency department at Limerick Regional Hospital, said:
I was off work that day and I got a phone call from a colleague of mine…she said I’ve bad news for you.I just got up from bed and went straight out to the hospital, and then I heard all the bad news, that Jerry had passed away and Ben was in Resus.
“You can imagine it was crazy… It was horrendous,” she added.
McCabe’s daughter Stacey, wept as she paid tribute to her late father.
“In the midst of sadness, we pray for thanksgiving for the inspiration and example we received in and through Dad,” she said.
We pray in thanksgiving for the love, light, and laughter he brought to our lives.
An emotional Ben O’Sullivan explained that he and Garda McCabe joined the detective branch on the same day and nearly always “worked as a team”.
“This morning’s ceremony has brought me to my knees really,” he said, adding that the shooting in 1996 was still “crystal clear in my head”.
You’re never expected to forget something like that. You’re not supposed to forget that. You’re supposed to take up the gauntlet and accept that it happened; you cannot turn the clock backwards.
He said he had “come to terms” with “the atrocity that took place this morning 20 years ago”, but “will never forget what happened”.
Four men were convicted of the manslaughter of McCabe, they are: Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O’Neill, Kevin Walsh and Pearse McAuley.
All four were subsequently released after serving their sentence with McAuley last year jailed again for 12 years following a violent assault on his wife in which she was left with 13 stab wounds.
Speaking in the Dail in 2013, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams issued an apology on behalf of the republican movement for the death of Gerry McCabe and other Irish security forces who died during the Northern Ireland conflict.
- With reporting from David Raleigh.
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420k to rebuild a house, where are we Switzerland?
@billy bound: sounds like they are all rebuilding high spec passive houses.
@billy bound: it costs about 12k just to have the house tested for mica and about 100k for it to be demolished and the rubble removed. The construction industry is milking this again which a 250k house costs about 500k to replace.
@billy bound: it must be demolished first.
@Mjhint: sure I thought they were just falling down on their own! ;-)
@Patrick Robinson: I’d love to know how you came to a figure of 100k to demolish a house
@billy bound: Best of luck to you if you think you can build a house for 420k They’re only that cheap when they build them 50 at a time. The entire industry are a akin to drug dealers.
@Patrick Robinson: 100k for demolishing a house? Call me. I’d do it for 85k.
@Patrick Robinson: nonsense re demolition costs. Strange how MICA owners are complaining about €420k freebie from state as not enough. Yet look at DAFT.IE regular detatched houses sell predominantly in range €325k – €375k. Get real, you’ve won the lotto.
@Patrick Robinson: I’ll bring my sledgehammer and I’ll charge just petrol money !!
@Claudia Varell: ill do it for 40k
@billy bound: is amazing that nobody read or realised its a cap.
If someone built a 4000 Sq ft house that will now be a lot more than 420k to rebuild.
Lads yed complain if there was no cap and here ye are complaining about a cap.
@Patrick Robinson:
Don’t where the figures for demolition and for the ruble to be disposed of but i was talking to 2 couples whose houses has Pyrite,.
One couplesay they would be €20,000 short, the other couple say they would be €45,000 but that did not include €20,000 for the house to be demolised and the dispoing of the ruble, here in North Mayo.
They both seemed to have a chart,showing the size of the house and how much u would be short, probably a chart the Pyrite group has produced.
@thesaltyurchin: It’s in Donegal for god’s sake.
@Claudia Varell: phone Doherty’s buddies. They’d undercut you with semtex, n maybe give u a few bob to say nothing. Shhhhhh
@RJ: show me one 4000sq ft house built in Donegal build with Mica blocks?
@John Murphy: and most of these were old and not to regs, built by family on the cheap anyway.
Mortgage free on a big new high spec home now.
Happy days..
@Adrian™: he dug it out of his ….
€420,000??? Absolutely shocking. Tax payer getting screwed again.
@Roy Dowling: I don’t get this!? Why do we the tax payer have to fork out for payment of these house’s? I know the builders have long gone with their fortunes in their pockets. But what about the insurance companies that were involved in the building of these houses. Surely they should be held accountable??? Am I way wrong????
@Brian Kelly: They should be. But this is good Ireland. Government is at fault for everyone elses failures.
@Brian Kelly: Manufacturer should be in jail.
@Brian Kelly: I think very few of these houses were built by registered builders with Homebond structural guarantee insurance. Most of them seem to have put up with direct labour (or self-build) by the house owner.
@Roy Dowling: they signed up to the EU agreement to test and make sure the blocks are safe…so yes government responsibility for government failure.
@Roy Dowling: if you bought a top of the range Dyson and your neighbour bought a run of the mill model and both were recalled due to manufacture not testing them properly and a fault was found, would you be happy to get the same model as your neighbour?
@Joe McNamara: they were ALL built by regustered builders and no fault in building was found. All fault and all responsibility is with those that signed up to directive to test the blocks – I.e. the government.
Stop making up shit and trying to blame the owners.
@Peter McGlynn: So no responsibility for the people who made the faulty bricks? No responsibility for the builders. No responsibility for the independent engineer? Go away with yourself.
@Roy Dowling: no responsibility with them because of the light touch regulation by….guess who the government at the time…the same responsibly for terrible fire safety regulations, building of houses on flood planes, etc etc – you guessed it Fianna Fáil and their buddies Fine Gael who wanted even less regulation.
@Peter McGlynn: You literally contradicted yourself. With the Dyson and run of the mill model analogy. As you say the manufacture didn’t test them properly. So Clearly the manufacturers of the materials are responsible just like the manufacturer of the electronics are responsible?????
@Peter McGlynn: What government department tests Bricks? You telling me if i rewire a house and I do a substandard job it’s the governments fault because they didn’t come in and inspect my work? Give over will you. All blame would be on me and that’s why I do my work to high standard. The quarry who made the materials are at fault and no amount of blaming the government will change that.
@Roy Dowling: nearly €100k will be vat!!
@Brian Kelly: unfortunately Brian, that would be in the real world. Here, the bigger the cowboy you are the easier it is to get away with stuff like this. Suppliers, quarries &, insurance companies should be pursued and made pay
@Roy Dowling: the whole point is that the government were responsible for “testing bricks” but let the industry self regulate and now here we are. Same story with apartment blocks not meeting Fire safety standards, planning approved for building on flood plains etc…. there are laws and regulations put in place by the government and it is their responsibility to enforce and monitor them.
@Shane Carroll: Any company placing construction products on the market has specific legal responsibilities which state they will not put a product on the market unless it has characteristics that satisfy requirements under regulations, such as Ireland’s Building Control Regulations.
The 2017 report stated that during the period under consideration, building control authorities did not have the technical resources in-house to test construction products which may have been non-compliant with the requirements of the Construction Products Directive. All enforcement activity was performed within existing local authority budgets.
@Shane Carroll: What government department Tests brick’s?. The manufacturer is responsible for testing them.
@Roy Dowling: why didn’t the manufacturer test them? Why is that being overlooked. Are you telling me that just because the government didn’t go in the manufacturer doesn’t have to do there duty?. They either didn’t test the blocks or the knew they were faulty and still sent them out anyway. How is that not there fault???
@Peter McGlynn: the Govt didn’t sign up to test anything. It’s the MANUFACTURERS who have to test them, not the Govt.
@Roy Dowling: it’s not the governments money though. It’s yours and mine
Total abuse of taxpayers money.
@sean de paore:
The following is a quote from the Mica Homeowners legal representative:
“We’re not going to issue any proceedings against anyone until we see what the State is going to do with the grant”
This was printed in an Irish Examiner article last week and proves that, even though they believe the manufacturer is liable, they deliberately chose to go after the taxpayer first.
This is outrageous and cannot possibly be justified by anyone involved in the campaign.
@White Chapel: The Whinge Brigade will always seek justification.
What was the average value that the owners of houses in Mayo and Donegal put on their houses for the last Property Tax assessments.
I would love to know. My guess is €190.000…
What do the rest of you reckon ?
@JG: At least then we will shortly know the value of rural one offs in Co.Donegal for LPT purposes. Big rise in tax take coming up.!
@JG: capped based on 2013 LPT validation with generous allowance for inflation. Genius ;)
@JG: they were exempt from the tax due to this issue. So they could have put any inflated figure down.
@JG: if they have Mica they have no value.
@Jim Doherty: I think you miss the point on purpose lads. They should have returned the value of the house at that time. They most certainly were not all exempt back then so the price they recorded is what it would have cost them at that stage. Allow for inflation and then give them that amount. You should not be allowed to evade tax and then claim money from the people who are tax compliant.
@JG: I just viewed a house in Donegal 3 weeks ago. On the market for 140k, with the highest offer of 110k. A really nice one, but clearly affected by the Mica issue.
So if I’d buy that now, for let’s say 130k, I can rebuild it for up to 420k? … sounds like a good deal to me :D
@JG: ah now, don’t be asking awkward questions that might need an honest answer. All these big gaffs, few kids, and just barely enough space for the SUVs and the patio and the gazebo etc…..
There was a fella jumping up and down from Donegal yesterday on drive time telling Sarah mcinerney that 420k was a disgrace and dublin city will be brought to a halt in protest.
I wanted to pull him through the car radio.
Not many mica houses in Northern Ireland. You’d nearly think they have proper regulations.
@John Walsh: You’d nearly think they have proper block manufacturers. Regulation is not a guarantee.
@John Walsh: They have proper regulations and inspections to ensure compliance.
What we now have in the south is a system (BCMS) to ensure liability rather than compliance and furthermore the liability is with the private sector rather than with the state.
Most Councils are teaming with architects, engineers and technicians but yet they always hire outside consultants to run projects to ensure that the buck stops with somebody other than them.
@Stanley Marsh: Stanley u ae utterly and totally wrong . The planning legislation PLANNING LEGISLATION and BUILDING CONTROL LEGISLATION and REGULATIONS THEREUNDER set out in detail standard to be met and in particular that the foundation infill will support the building etc and the LOCAL COUNTY COUNCIL wll be the state agency to enforce these regulations BUT they cant close site down. Also under legislation BUILDERS SELF CERTIFY so when them purchaser and purchaser like me parted with the LOAN CHEQUE FROM THE BANK and handed it to the Developer Solicitors we got declaration of compliance from the builders architec with building regulsation and planning acts . We also got and any purchaser got letter from the council addressed to the developer solicitors confirming that the developer had complied with the financal conditons of the planning permission and they are DEAR DEAR AND DEAR as well as that the developer had lodged a BOND with them .. to be cashed by the council if this type of thing happened .. release teh cash to do work not done by builder. No sign of bond being cashed by council to do work neccessaarty to complet these estate as the banks see the value of the asset they lent on crumble whle homeowner in donegal still liable for the mortgage to theri bank and like alls of us paying for the debt the developer got into with the his bank that brought them all down . I am a firm beleive that county council if they had the power cld have protect the public purse from the damage we are now paying for and number one the power to CLOSE A SITE DOWN if a brick is test positive to be contrary to the regs. They dont have that appafrently at moment.
@Mary Ward: That was a very difficult read but let me try to set you straight on a few things.
First of all Planning legislation has practically no relevance to Building Control as the documentation submitted at planning stage is very limited in technical detail.
Secondly, while yes the Local Authority are the state agency which are supposed to enforce Building Control I have rarely in my 26 years working in this country witnessed anyone from any council inspect a site in relation to Building Control.
How the system now works is that the Assigned Certifier submits all relevant technical information to the Council who check it and if it ticks all the boxes (literally) they approve it without ever visiting the site.
Then at the end of the project the Assigned Certifier submits an application for a Completion Cert which is another box ticking exercise which again is normally completed astonishingly without any inspection of the completed works by the Building Control Officer.
This is in stark contrast to when I worked the UK where the Council have to be notified at each stage of work so that statutory Site Inspections can be carried out.
On more than one occasion sites I worked on were shut down until the District Surveyor was happy that things were being done correctly.
Thirdly it used to be the case that Building Control relied on self-certification but in theory this changed in 2014 with the introduction of the BCMS.
HOWEVER, in reality nothing has changed because as outlined above the system still does not involve a rigorous system of on-site inspections by the Local Authority which is the only way of insuring that things are done correctly.
The reality is Councils do have the power to “protect the public purse” but what they don’t have is the manpower.
Finally, if you want people to understand you point use paragraphs, sentences, punctuation and try not to write like you’re sending a text.
@Stanley Marsh: Stanley u are only confirming my point the root of the problem lies in the building control legislation by which site inspectors do not have power, indeed duty, to report back to council results of tests that show breach of regulations who apply to the court for an order injunction stop works AND rest assured there wont be as many incidents of pyrite and mica breaking out. What is needed is CHANGES TO THE LEGISLATION giving site inspectors and council those power to close site and works down if products are tested and show breaches of the regulations. U say the problem is manpower. No point if they dont have the powers.
@Mary Ward: People have dismissed TD here . Amazing thing about this country in people minds the government is government parties . Not true,. People have overlooked completely that Minister needs LEGISLATION to ge the key to the fund he wnat for his little scheme. NOT A WHIMPER ABOUT ANY CHANGE TO THE POWER COUNCIL HAVE TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH THE REGULATIONS LONG BEFORE THE BANKS LEND THE MONEY TO JOE SOAP AND SAVE PUBLIC PURSE. No change to these power that als means LEGISLATION .
@Mary Ward: S8 of the Building Control Act give Building Control Authorities power to serve enforcement notice requiring works be discontinued if not being carried on in conformity with the regulations. Apologies it appears the council do have the power to stop these works but not doing it and this is result.
A great day for the people of Donegal. A very bad day for the people of Ireland. In one sense I am happy for the ‘Mica families’, now that they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. On the other hand I am disappointed that those responsible are yet again about to laugh all the way to the Bank. Vested interests, as usual are the real winners here and that has got to STOP. I hope that the Govt and the Mica Families are now principled enough, to exclude any purchases of any building materials from anyone who were in any way associated with the mica ‘bricks’, regardless of any guarantees given. I also hope that the Govt, regulator and Donegal Co Co have learnt from their errors and have now the mechanisms in place to prevent this ever happening again. And above all I hope that the Govt etc pursue the vested interests that caused this disaster. But I fear none of the above are going to happen, not even after it happens again and again. A Happy Christmas to the ‘Mica Families’
I was talking to a donegal builder and he said wait for all the fraudulent claims on this Mica homes redress scheme…
He said it’ll be brilliant for tradesmen in the northwest…
It was unrealistic to expect the government to pay 100% of the costs, they need to put a limit on it somewhere, even 80% would be very generous. Those affected, while emotionally stressful and difficult, will have to pay up a substantial amount themselves but it will still be cheaper than buying a new site and rebuilding without any assistance.
Utterly disgraceful that the tax payer is responsible for this. Earlier on RTE radio Pearse Doherty was saying that the average self build house in the area is just shy of 3000 sq ft. Why on earth are taxpayers living in shoeboxes having to fork out for these monstrosities.
It’s just wrong.
Just for context, this is what 365k can buy in the most expensive part of Donegal: https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/detached-house-9-glebe-crescent-ramelton-road-letterkenny-co-donegal/3636685
There’s another 6 bed for even less
https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/detached-house-lurgybrack-letterkenny-co-donegal/3636713
So glad the taxpayer can step up to fund these peoples mansions while the average young person is stuck in their parents house or in a rent trap forever.
@Rochelle: I see you are good at research. Have you done any research into the state of mental health endured by the people who are unfortunate enough to be paying a mortgage on one of these houses. Which by the way at the moment has ZERO VALUE.
@Jim Doherty: You are a liar. Affected houses are on the market and are sold to someone. Probably to some investors who will then laugh at us taxpayers.
@Rochelle: I paid 250.000 for mine in 2003 it was valued last when changing mortgage for 200.000 Add in 100.000 in payments. Just caus a house is for sale at a price doesn’t mean you could build it for that
@Alan Wilson: I buying a bed house off the plans in Wicklow for 330k. That price includes the cost of the land to build the house on it and optional extras that we wanted. There is no the price of building a house in Donegal or mayo is anyway near 420k.
@Claudia Varell: Excuse me Mica houses cannot be sold and if there is one effected house on an estate agents will not handle the sale of any house on that estate. A mortgage will not be granted for any house on that estate and the houses can’t be insured. So please get your facts right before you call people liars. But I accept your apology ignorance is bliss.
@Jim Doherty: Are any of these houses insured? My mental health is being seriously challenged by the whinging and whining of the past few months. Now I’m going to have to contribute to the wellbeing of the the whiners. Is that fair on me?
So once again it’s those who shout loudest getting what they want. I’ve already emailed the 3 government party TD’s in my constituency saying they will never get a vote from me and I would recommend anyone who is against this do the same in their area.
If we are going to have to borrow more to pay for this then the government need to tender for the work and supervise it or else you will have loads of fraudulent claims coming in.
If the government are going to pay out on claims like this then each local authority needs to start actually signing off on all building projects at the various stages and pass this cost on to the builders as they can’t be relied upon to do self certification as we have seen with this, Pyrite, Priory Hall etc.
@The next small thing: the last part of what you are saying makes sense. As for your government tds. I don’t think you need to worry them they already know the game is up.
@Jim Doherty: If they knew the game was up they wld not be passking legislation min needs to put this little scheme to work.
.
@Mary Ward: And they wont know until and unless constituents DO WRITE to local TD and tell them we never voted for money in common fund to be spent in this manner where homeowner /campaigner neg with minister on use of common fund. Who is next. This is all about DAIL holding GOVT to account on use of public funds. They will , majority of td will pass that act minister needs to fund that scheme.
Capped at €420,000?? O M F G only in this country – dunno where we’d be without that Magic Taxpayer Money Tree.
I never agreed or voted to agree to pay for this, wtf? how about an additional levy for those who want to help? I think the block manufacturers should be held responsible and pay.
@Sean Stevenson: That’s what passes for democracy in this country. Once you vote them in apparently they have carte blanche to do everything in your name until you get a chance to vote them out again in a few years time.
About time we brought ‘democracy’ into the 21th century.
@Sean Stevenson: do you normally get asked how you want to contribute to every aspect of Government funding? Bailing out banks , building a hospital, etc. Etc
@Sean Stevenson: they might have to tax their friends how sad.
Another tax payer sponsored pot of money to be used and abused.
@Darren Smith: in what is now an essentially political affair relating to voting patterns in Donegal
someone tell me why we bother our 4rse having house insurance of the ‘Govt’ is going to pay for it. And why are insurers not paying it ? And more: my house has no mica: why am I paying anything towards somebody’s house that does ?
@John Moylan: There was a case at the courts recently. A woman was given 14.7 million Euro because her husband crashed their own uninsured car into the opposite traffic due to dangerous driving. He died, she’s heavily insured and brain damaged. The money was paid out of the fund for victims of uninsured drivers.
So I cancelled my car insurance now, as I’ll probably be better off, if my partner then sues for damages I caused with our uninsured family car.
@Claudia Varell: yea sure of course you did
@John Moylan: House insurance wong cover mica. But it mica if you light a match
So the government finally come to some sort of an arrangement but ignore that building costs have gone through the roof due to covid. So kids will be living in dangerous houses for many more years.
100% of costs covered for Dublin/Leinster homes but not for rural ireland.
@Peter McGlynn: what happened to the company that supplied the blocks and the builders?
@LIAMO B: it’s the government’s responsibility not the quarrie or the building supply company. They said they were tested by local government and therefore it is the Irish government that is held liable.
@LIAMO B: loose touch regulation for the same 2 parties in power now. Yet they are happy to see innocent children bare the brunt of this. If it was in Michael Martin’s or Leo Varadkar’s constituency it would be 100% redress.
Families can’t afford the down payment while they are paying a mortgage and can’t risk the building costs going beyond the guarantee.
Would you trust builders to give a fair deal when they’re all looking to get houses built at the same time? No way.
@Peter McGlynn: you do realise that the government doesn’t actually have any money? It comes from taxpayers. If there is no cap, then you can guarantee the same unscrupulous builders/suppliers who made money the first time around will make a fortune off the rebuilding
@Peter McGlynn: Govt has no legal liability here whatsoever
@Elaine Phelan: that’s why the government should manage this and build them themselves. But if they don’t then they can’t leave these innocent people at the mercy of the builders.
@Peter McGlynn: Stop using children to sell a sob story. The parents of those children should have had an independent engineer inspect and sign off on the houses before finalising the purchase. If they didn’t do that the parents are at fault and if they did the independent engineer is at fault. Literally everyone who was responsible for this washed there hands of this and blamed the government.
Also no way does it cost €420,000 to build house house and if you think it does please explain how it’s the governments fault the can’t provide affordable housing if it does indeed cost €420,000. It would be impossible to provide affordable housing if that the case wouldn’t you agree?
@Peter McGlynn: you are wrong. The government does not test building blocks. Which government department is in charge of testing building blocks???.
All walks of life have regulations and it is those who are obliged to follow the regs who are responsible. Not the tax payer.
Government is jut responsible but has a very generous offer on the table to help. 100% redress is a fantasy and in my opinion terrible policy
@Peter McGlynn: simples right?
@Peter McGlynn: Drama queen “innocent children bare the brunt of this”. Will you give over, do the government hold your hand when you are crossing the road?
@Peter McGlynn: there are kids who don’t even have a house at all and live in a hotel.
@Peter McGlynn: it’s our fault electing them. And now we are not going out to protest. who basically built these houses they should be charged and made to pay.
@LIAMO B: That company recently got the contract for suppling the materiel to build a health centre in Donegal.
@LIAMO B: it was ordered to close a few weeks ago it was on the news
@Peter McGlynn: Maybe if ye had stopped paying the mortgages, it would have being the Banks problem or the Insurance co and the taxpayer would be off the hook. I think it is about time that you started showing some kind of gratitude and empathy to your fellow taxpayers for the sacrifices that we will have to make so you can live in your extreme comfort. Your children will no longer have to ‘bear the brunt’. You have shown them that it is ok to let those responsible off the hook and instead let more vulnerable children ‘ bear the brunt’. Those living in Leo’s and MM constituencies along with the other constituencies, unlike you, will get absolutely no redress while yours will probably be 100% diamond studded
@Peter McGlynn:
Totally false and misleading to say that:
a) the supplier is not liable
b) blocks were tested by local government
c) the government is liable
This was a campaign which deliberately identified the government and the citizens as the targets of preference even though the campaign’s legal advisors recognise that the quarry operators are liable.
Disgrace
@LIAMO B: like most of the government pals nothing
@Peter McGlynn: you can cry all you like but if you were in this situation you’d not be waiting around for enquiries or for money from companies that just doesn’t exist.
This IS the responsibility of government – it’s the same in other countries. Blocks have to be tested by state bodies and the buck stops with them if they screw up.
Don’t blame these hard working tax paying, mortgage holders.
You’re probably just annoyed because you can’t afford a house due to the current government’s interference in the market. Well that’s not their fault in Donegal.
@Peter McGlynn: I Bought a house off the plans. Guess what the cost off build it isn’t anywhere near 420k. Are you honestly telling us on here that manufacturers can sell substandard materials if the government are not standing over their shoulders watching and testing everything?
Don’t blame the hard working tax payers paying t
You seriously need to look beyond your SF links and realise what your saying makes absolutely no sense.
Why are we the already overburdened taxpayer paying for this instead of the criminals who built this and their insurers.
@Bob Murphy: absolutely..
2.2 Billion! You could buy a hospital for that, all jokes aside though I got a little sick in my mouth when I saw 420k, absolute and utter joke. I bought my house in Dublin for half that amount 4 years ago. Only 1000sqft and needed a load of work done to it, but even still. Hopefully the extra property tax they pay on their mansions should pay back some of the 2.2 billion.
Interesting to see the property tax declarations in years to come ! <200k !!
@Martin Clancy: Donegal the most law abiding county in the country. Dublin the least law abiding. I think it’s Dublin that is more likely to fudge their figures.
https://www.highlandradio.com/2021/11/29/donegal-most-law-abiding-county-in-ireland/
Average price of a 3 bed semi in Donegal is €102,500 and yet their complaining that it’s capped at €420k.
This is a disgrace…some are looking to get compensation for 7000 sq ft houses…I imagine there are a lot of homeless people in hotels wondering what the hell is happening here….
How come the company that made the blocks doesn’t have to step up? They would have to have product liability insurance. I hear that it the son that runs the company now. That should not make any difference legally.
Sinn Féin putting in the Jack-Up boot, Doherty S.F. (Construction Technician)
Should subtract Site Cost from his populist estimates (or should I say guesstimates).
@James Keogh: Sinn Fein weren’t in government in 2000s when this criminal light touch regulation was brought in. It was Fianna Fáil. And now Fianna Fail is reaping the criticism rightly.
If the building costs are to be capped then the government need to build their homes and manage it.
@Peter McGlynn: 420k on already owned land? Yeah not sure that could cover it all… what exactly are they building? A stadium?
@Eoin Jackson:
Would be half in a country that has normal costs. That’s why you see builders driving Tesla’s, new jeeps. And builders are still unregulated, so who will be checking the rebuilds are upto standard?
@Eoin Jackson: €80/100k to remove the old house, inflated costs due to the demand, when the costs are already inflated due to covid.
That is the max btw – you really think it won’t be vouched.
You’re just – sad person. This is the fault of FF and FG.
@Peter McGlynn: 80/100k to remove the house? Really?! I must get into that business! Peter putting it bluntly, you are talking out of your hole. You have absolutely zero idea on how much it costs to build a house. Even taking your (absolutely inaccurate and frankly ridiculous) estimate of 80-100k for demolition and site clean-up, at CURRENT building costs, one could build a (roughly) 150 sq m house with the remainder. Have you seen the 234 sq m house in sale in Donegal for around the mid 300k mark? Yet you are telling me it costs in excess of 420k to replace the houses affected by mica. You are an i.diot that has no idea what hes talking about. But please do continue spouting absolute sh.it. A lot of people, me included, find it amusing.
Can you imagine how much this is going to be abused. Go to the professionals who digned them off …they have insurance up to the bollixs
@Me Darlin’ Dublin: it will be abused by the builders not the homeowners. They just want like for like but unfortunately with so little investment in housing over the last decade by FF and FG there is a shortage of builders to build these all in one go.
It’s an unholy mess – watch as the taxpayer and the homeowners get screwed again.
I bet Robert Mugabe is shocked at how corrupt our government is, one bollix up after another,
That’s a fantastic decision fair play hope they all get sorted soon
A huge part of building houses is the land cost, they have that already.
All the services are there, ESB, water
, sewage etc.all there.
Surely the contents can be reused, kitchens, boilers, bathrooms, contents.
I’m sorry this happened, but it’s structural damage.
Correct me if I am wrong !!
We live in a country where professional fees are very high. This is because of their very high professional indemnity cover, in case they make mistakes or are negligent. The same applies to doctors, surgeons, engineers, accountants, the whole lot of them.
How come then, when ever there is a valid claim, the book seems to drop on the lap of the tax payer and not the insurance companies who have been creaming it.??? We need answers on this.
The same FFG shills shout about the SF money tree economics, yet here we are again with FFG pulling billions out of the coffers. Taxes will be ramped up to pay for all this. We still have a PMPA levy, a Quinn Insurance levy, the USC and the rest of the crap we are paying through the nose for. What a cesspit of a country. I strongly encourage anyone that can emigrate to get the fluck out of here.
@JustMeHere: it’s SF and Pearse Doherty who are calling for 100% redress. Pearse wants his voters up in Donegal happy.
Was the natural minimal in the blocks for cost reduction or to make them environmental friendly? I am just thinking aloud. Where is the next problem from improperly and untested environmental friendly solution coming from?
@Jacob:
basic cheap-skating, nothing environmental about the scam
I was told these dodgy blocks came from across the border …hence its the northwest thats effected…
@Robert Frazier: Cassidy brothers were allegedly the main suppliers
@Robert Frazier: a lot of people “being told” or “I heard”. Cassidy’s are in buncrana in Donegal which is in the Republic of Ireland. Remember Packer Bonner yep that’s the place.
I see the government trolls and deniers of justice are out in strength today.
@Jim Doherty: What exactly is a denier of justice in your opinion? The tax payer should not be footing the cost. €2.2b going to fix this breach of contract, instead of to new houses for people who need them who never entered into the contract. The government does not have money, the people pay the bill, and people who have nothing. I want justice for these people too but they had a contract and the company responsible should be held accountable.
Absolutely delighted for the home owners!
people vieW MINISTER as having last word .. once minister /cabinit decision made its all done and dusted . People completely overlook that the minister cant get the key yo yhe purse without legislation charging the fund with the cost of that scheme and that require 50 per cent plus one td voting for it . Govt TD crossing or not the lobby.
people dismiss TD and the DAIL the power of the DAIL on govt spend and what govt spend money on.
We are in a country where a homeowner is negotiating the use of the public funds with a minister for house, Who will minister be talking to next. sure in knowledge he the govt party td will give him key to fnd to implement the scheme cos they have no reason to worry for as long as voter see govt as party when in fact it is executive arm of state taoiseach and minister who have cheque book but cant use it without law made by dail agreeing to the use of the fund by the govt for an object eg this scheme . People may be more than wise to take up pen and tell TD u dont want any more scheme. U dont wnat TD bring nation policy to party political meeting they are for dail . U want plannign elgisaltion giving council and site inspectors power to CLOSE SITE DOWN if priducts found that breach the building reg and sure asa god u find a lot less incidence of pyrite criopping up and all our wallets save a few bob for other more pressing object .. eg covid etc. . .
Even below a post by a citizen like me who ar bearing the costs of thsie scheme and bank bail outs advising that he had written to govt td in his constituency complaining about the scheme (no one is happy with it) mong comments below TD was dismissed
The real problem here is lack of power to enforce compliance with regulations that are quite clear about products being able to support buildins and inspectors can be sent in to site by building control authorities to take sample and test priducts BUT CANT halt works if products found to breach the regs if they did u might find a lot less suppliers selling the stuff and a lot less banks seeing the assets they lent money on crumble and a lot less homeowner likes us and other carrying the cost of pyrte and mica cos they never had and still dont have them powers.
have your say