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LAST UPDATE | 14 Jun 2022
CABINET HAS SIGNED off on the mica grant scheme and has extended it to include homeowners in Clare and Limerick.
The estimated cost of the scheme, which is designed to help homeowners whose houses were damaged by the presence of mica in their concrete blocks, now stands at €2.7 billion.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said the total grant amount per home will be capped at €420,000 as previously announced.
He said grant rates will be in keeping with a construction cost report prepared by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland earlier this year. This report put the average rebuild costs per square metre at between €1,561 and €1.701, depending on the size and type of property.
Campaigners had criticised the government’s previous sliding-scale, stating this would still result in costs that homeowners could meet. They had also pointed out that an assessment and report by an engineer, which was required for the initial application, was a barrier for many homeowners as it cost around €7,000.
The Department of Housing said today a revised application process will be put in place “which removes the financial barrier to scheme entry which will only require the homeowner to submit an initial ‘Building Condition Assessment’ at minimal cost recoupable on entry to the scheme”.
The scheme will include alternative accommodation and storage costs and immediate repair works to a maximum value of €25,000 within the overall grant cap. The department said the scheme will be extended to cover rented dwellings registered with the Residential Tenancies Board on or before 1 November 2021.
Minister O’Brien thanked affected homeowners for their involvement in the process over the last 12 months, stating that they had spent a significant amount of time and effort working with his department.
“I am satisfied that the enhanced scheme will represent a significant step forward in having a fit for purpose grant scheme which will help homeowners rebuild their homes and their lives,” he said.
Speaking on Morning Ireland before the Cabinet meeting, campaigner Paddy Diver said that the Government needs to get this scheme right.
“We want to move on with the scheme and get it right,” said Diver.
“We’re worried here for marriages and children and everything. We really need the government to get it right this time.”
When asked what campaigners were waiting to see from the Cabinet, Diver said that they wanted to know when the scheme would begin to be rolled out.
“It’s the rollout of the scheme, when is it actually going to get rolling out, rolling out right.”
- With reporting by Michelle Hennessy.
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Yet hundreds of thousands still waiting on a response from government on how they are going to deal with defective celtic tiger apartments.
@danny: It’s completely unfair. It should be both or neither. Anything over 2000ft should not receive any compensation. And where is the legislation to prevent this happening again?
@danny: cause there not protesting any making a massive headache and media issues of it. Plus it would cost billions more
Time to end the divvying out of 15% of property tax from the more urban counties to the rural ones. If the residents can afford to build these mcmansions they can afford to pay more property tax locally to pay for their services.
@The next small thing: What services?
@David Corrigan: roads schools any medical facility they use. Works county council do. These of top of my head. Why is my property tax in Dublin more than someone in Longford with 2/3 times the land?
@hard yaka: That’s the question. You don’t get as much value for your money others.
@The next small thing: what services no street lights no sewer no mains water no bin collection no train no dart no Lewis no regular buses no hospitals no cancer care without 10 hour round trip by your own car . Just because people build their dream home by saving and hard work and still have mortgage on a crumbling pile doesn’t mean they have the money energy or borrowing power to do it again
@Alan Wilson: A fair point. As I see it, it’s up to our government to regulate solid buildings. They quick enough to take the fees for company registrations, planning permission and add property tax to that. Yet they rubber-stamped substandard construction to the point where it’s dangerous to live near several houses. They need to fix this any guarantee that it won’t happen all over again.
@hard yaka: If you have to actually ask that question, you’re in more trouble than you think!! It begins with V…..value!!
@Simon Connolly: value to who if I have 25 years left on a mortgage of 400000 euro. Value maybe to someone who is mortgage free. The bank owns 80% of my home.
@Alan Wilson: Only the really posh homes have a Lewis in Dublin.
Bloody ridiculous I’ve to pay for someone else’s house as well as my own. With the cost of living, I might as well give up work. The companies responsible should be held accountable… Plus I think these people are being a bit selfish. How much did they pay for their houses over 10 yrs ago. The average size of a 3 bed is 2000 sqf. 4 bed 2344 sqf. Even in Dublin you’ll get a 4 bed for €420,000. Stop looking to decorate your new house too on the taxpayer.
@John Barry: your paying 3 times now Barry. Just like me. Pay for my own. Pay for the work shy and now this. Tax tax tax tax tax tax
@John Barry: okay we’ve been over this but even if the quarries could be proven to be responsible a legal case would be pointless as they don’t have €3billion to remedy defects. Mica was a known issue since the 1940s but once they stopped testing blocks then they started to be used again from the 1980s onwards. So it’s a failure of regulation as much as it’s a failure of quarries to test their own end product. And the buck stops with the Government and inevitably the taxpayer.
How come the Journal has comment’s off in the LBGTQIZWTYUIKJav®©£€¢√π××]™=πi ‘outrage’ article re live line & Joe Duffy? Wheres the balance Journal? I mean, The mentally ill preson with dysphoria only called for the term ‘woman’ to be removed from legal documentation and for people to stop using it. The woke cancer has made its way over here.
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