Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The protest that took place outside the convention centre today was the largest protest seen anywhere in the State since the onset of the pandemic. I stood with the people of Donegal and the north west and I listened to their stories. I listened to the speeches. The loudest cheer was for a speaker who congratulated people for their organisation, discipline and politeness but made the point that if they were forced to return, they might not be so polite the next time. That got the loudest cheer of the day. It is significant that the first major protest to have taken place outside a sitting of the Dáil in 15 months has been on the issue of housing. I suspect it is the first of many protests we will see in the months and years ahead on the housing crisis.

When Paul Brady sang:

For there's no place on earth just like

The homes of Donegal

he was referring to the famous warmth and welcome offered by the people of Donegal. He was not to know about the infamous mica and what it would do to destroy so many of the homes in Donegal. Of course, it is not just mica. It is a system that puts profit first and before people. It is profits for the manufacturers of the concrete blocks, profits for the builders and profits for the insurance industry. It is also about right-wing Governments. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments down through the years have championed light-touch regulation and the type of building regulation one would not see in the wild west. To be frank, they opened the door to this type of scandal taking place.

In one report this morning, I read that there should not be more than 1% of mica in a block. What was in some of the blocks in the homes of Donegal? Was it 1.25%, 1.5% or 2%? No. In some cases it was 17%. It is an absolute scandal. The result is that people's homes are crumbling around them. It is typical of capitalism. We save money in the short term but it ends up costing a whole lot more in the end.

The Government is under real pressure on this issue and is supporting the motion. I say to the people who travelled from Donegal today to put no trust in the Government. They should not let up the pressure until they have it in writing, signed, sealed and delivered, that 100% redress plus ancillary costs will be covered, which is the same as with the case of pyrite. If the Government states that others should be forced to pay, it should not be the people of Donegal. They should get 100% redress. If the Government goes after the building industry with a serious tax to help pay for this, it will have support from us. The people in Donegal must get 100% redress and not one cent less.

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