Mica / Pyrite Crisis: - Some Further Perspective

Intro: By way of brief background, several parts of Ireland are in the grip of a Humanitarian Crisis, in that many quarries had high volumes of Mica or Pyrite in them, which apparently went undetected. The defective aggregates found their way into concrete products, generally speaking concrete blocks. After various lengths of time, these infected blocks began to disintegrate and now thousands of houses, commercial buildings and farm structures are quite literally falling down. Obtaining effective redress in Ireland is a problem without provision for Third Party Funding of claims, Class Actions or Assignment of Claims.

________________________

In the light of growing divisiveness, I believe that some further perspective is required. Firstly, for me the slogan “100% Redress – No Less” is of itself divisive and in many ways undermines the current campaign, however inadvertently.

Let’s be clear on what 100% Redress means: - Full rebuild / remedial works, all out of pocket expenses, alternative accommodation, no unreasonable caps and FULL COMPENSATION / DAMAGES for the stress, trauma, duress, shattered lives, mental health, extraordinary inconvenience, and years of frustration.

Full compensation as above is a basic human right for every single victim, rich or poor, old or young, dwelling or place of work, including farm buildings and septic tanks. The rights of all victims are upheld under the Constitution, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the E.U., and the E.U. Convention on Human Rights.

The truth is that most people have no idea of the cesspool that surrounds the Mica / Pyrite Crisis. Most have placed their hopes in the current talks (working group) but with the best will in the world and as currently structured, these talks have all the hallmarks of a talking shop, a classic tried and trusted tool of government in "managing crisis".

The “working group”, under government dictat has driven a coach and horses through people’s fundamental rights. As stands, there is no effective Access to Justice model for the thousands of victims (again a basic entitlement.) It is the very first thing that should be on the working group table, but it seems, is not even for discussion.

Why should victims be turned into second-class Irish / E.U. citizens, because that is exactly what has happened with the government’s ongoing approach, including the creation of the wholly inadequate “working group” (I will return to this).

Up until today, I understand that many victims believe that Micheál Martin / Fianna Fáil or Leo Varadkar T.D. / Fine Gael (or Labour Party or Eamon Ryan / Green Party Ireland or their Donegal reps, Charlie McConalogue and Joe McHugh TD - Delivering for Donegal- et all have the interest of victims at heart.

Nothing could be further from the truth (this of course has been borne out by the manifestly cruel treatment doled out by Mayo Co. Co. to Jamie-Lee Donnelly and several other Mayo pyrite victims as exposed on Newstalk Radio yesterday. The audacity of government to force these victims into borrowing €5k just for tests……

The above political entities have all contributed to the creation and protection of the mafia that is the Construction Materials Sector and I mean that quite literally. This mafia is directly responsible for the Mica / Pyrite Crisis. The above political parties have been up to their necks in creating, promoting and protecting the cement /concrete / quarry mafia. (I haven't mentioned Sinn Finn as they have never been in power, so the jury is out there, for sure.)

Government then sends in their expensive hired hands to "MANAGE" the crisis, with neither Full Redress nor Accountability on the table. What is on the table, however, is getting re-elected and holding onto power, whilst protecting those responsible and "minimising taxpayer exposure". Government is also adept at using the "chilling effect", e.g., sure we might get you 90% but 100% would be a really tall order. You couldn’t make it up. The narrative simply must change.

I don't for a moment wish to denigrate the huge efforts of victim representatives on the working group, however, I do believe there is a certain naivety / lack of experience (call it what you like) and this is only to be expected, given all these committed people have day jobs far removed from the cut and thrust of political shenanigans, corruption and/or legal corruption. The situation is being exploited by highly paid permanent, pensionable and unsackable government cronies.

The people of Donegal and Mica / Pyrite victims in general are lucky to have a hardened, seasoned warrior like Frank McBrearty in their corner and also the outspoken Paddy Divers, whose role in putting the crisis on the National and International stage has to date been phenomenal.

That said, I am not entirely convinced that having Paddy on the working group was the correct move. Perhaps continuing to deploy the “bad cop” outside the tent would have been a more effective strategy. I have no doubt but that there is a huge effort being made to dilute Paddy's approach and that FG and FF are not far from the frontline in this.

While I am not sure what the vertical structure of the various victim groups is, I would have thought that there should be a strategic committee, who would inter-alia, do briefings and debriefings with the working group reps and have Paddy Diver out there as the face (at least for Donegal). I would like to see a Paddy or Patrice Diver emerge in Mayo, Sligo, Clare and Limerick also.

Finally, a word on journalist Catherine McGinty. I am appalled that any party should threaten Ms. McGinty in this manner. This legal threat needs to be met head on and I for one, will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the right to freedom of speech is upheld. There are not too many suing Paddy Diver, instead they have chosen to target a pillar of the press.

Respect Everyone but Change the Narrative - Change the Structure - Stop believing that the State / FG / FF is your friend.

North Mayo Pyrite Group LAP - Limerick Against Pollution Clare Pyrite Action Group Limerick Pyrite Action Group