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Demonstrators on O’Connell Street, Dublin Brian Lawless via PA Images

Housing shortages will increase challenges with mica redress scheme, Taoiseach says

He said some people will have to seek alternative accommodation while homes affected are being replaced and repaired.

THE TAOISEACH HAS said housing shortages will increase the challenges the Government faces with the mica redress scheme.

Micheál Martin said some people will have to seek alternative accommodation while homes affected by the mica scandal are being replaced and repaired.

Defective building blocks containing excessive deposits of the mineral mica have seen thousands of properties start to crumble across the country.

An estimated 5,000 homes in Co Donegal are affected, with thousands more understood to have faulty blocks in counties Sligo, Clare and Limerick.

In November the Government agreed that the mica redress scheme will be capped at €420,000 per home.

Homeowners will be able to receive €145 for the first 1,000 square feet, which will reduce to €110 for the second 1,000 square feet, and the remainder will be set at a rate of €100.

The Government has committed that the scheme will take inflation into account, and the per-foot rate will be reviewed every year.

It is estimated that 7,500 homes will benefit from the revised scheme.

In October, tens of thousands of people from Donegal, Mayo, Sligo and Limerick flooded Dublin to demand the Government covered all the costs for homes that were crumbling due to the defective blocks.

Martin said: “First of all there’s very substantial resources being made available through the mica scheme.

“I think a lot of work still has to be done in terms of that phasing, but there will be challenges, of that there is no doubt, because of the fact that quite a substantial number of houses will have to be refurbished or redone again and some will have to be rebuilt.

“People will have to seek alternative accommodation for a period whilst that work is underway.

“So the resources are provided for both to enable people to rent whilst the houses are rebuilt, but it will be challenging because of the overall shortage of housing in the country and that’s manifest in Donegal.

“We will work with local authorities there and those housing agencies to see what we can do in the interim.

“There’s no super solution to that, we just have to work with people and, if we can, work things through.”

Martin said he did not expect housing shortages to force people to move away from Donegal.

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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Feb 12th 2018, 10:38 PM

    I’ve read it, read it, read it….

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    Mute Trevor W
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    Feb 12th 2018, 10:47 PM

    @Ciarán Masterson: hahaha. Well done

    16
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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Feb 12th 2018, 11:55 PM

    @Trevor W:

    Thank you.

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    Mute Emilio Butler
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    Feb 12th 2018, 10:21 PM

    A truly remarkable story, and nonfiction. I find it terribly sad, how extinction is under our noses

    144
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    Mute Ron North
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    Feb 12th 2018, 11:01 PM

    I know how you feel little guy, I hope there is someone out there for both of us.

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    Mute Liberal Larry
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    Feb 12th 2018, 11:54 PM

    @Ron North: awh… (heartbreak emoji)

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    Mute Myk_Oval_Balls_nRyt
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    Feb 13th 2018, 6:18 PM

    @Ron North: Pizza will always be there for you Ron, Always**whispers**

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    Mute Paul Culligan
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    Feb 12th 2018, 11:27 PM

    Would you say that, if you put him back where you found him, he might know where the moths are hidin’. Just because we can’t find them, doesn’t mean Romeo can’t sniff them out. Mind you, he probably has Alzheimers by now.

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    Mute George Oscar Bluth
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    Feb 12th 2018, 10:35 PM

    Incredible yet the Bolivian tree lizard thrives on a diet of pigeons. It’s at the point where we need wave after wave of Chinese needle snake to prevent us from being overrun.

    18
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    Mute Arthur Pewty
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    Feb 13th 2018, 1:21 AM

    and I thought I was lonely…..get this frog a mate!!!

    12
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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Feb 12th 2018, 11:51 PM

    I’m glad it’s not the same problem in the pond in my back garden! It’s a veritable love in at the moment!

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    Mute Jim Doherty
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    Feb 12th 2018, 10:57 PM

    Darn it, never thought I’d have so much in common with a frog, know how that little guy feels

    26
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    Mute Jim Doherty
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    Feb 12th 2018, 10:58 PM

    @Jim Doherty: hmmm..that loses lot of its meaning without the emoticon attached!

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Feb 12th 2018, 10:40 PM

    Damn… Hope he gets his hole before he croaks.

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    Mute Gary Byrnes
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    Feb 13th 2018, 3:39 AM

    Is there a link

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    Mute Pauliebhoy
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    Feb 12th 2018, 10:19 PM

    I’m sure there’s a willing female pig out there

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    Mute Oretani Wildlife
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    Feb 12th 2018, 11:12 PM

    More crap editing from the Journal. The picture is probably a European Tree Frog and is nothing like the frog the story is about.

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    Mute Oretani Wildlife
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    Feb 12th 2018, 11:19 PM

    @Oretani Wildlife: Correction, it’s a Hipsiboas riojanus, endemic to Argentina. Still crap editing.

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    Mute Joe Conlon
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    Feb 12th 2018, 11:23 PM

    @Oretani Wildlife: hop along Oretani

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    Mute Red hurley
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    Feb 13th 2018, 7:48 AM

    Mmmmmmmmm frogs legs in garlic.

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    Mute Joseph Blocks
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    Feb 12th 2018, 10:55 PM

    What’s the fuss? Frogs can change sex anyway. He can impregnate himself.

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    Mute Dae Monicus
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    Feb 12th 2018, 11:42 PM

    @Joseph Blocks: Interesting fact that Joseph, if only Kermit knew that when Miss Piggy finally told him to go f@#k himself he wouldn’t be such an emotional wreck.

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