Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said he would do all in his power. I will give him an idea of what should happen. I have been meeting with the Central Bank for some months to discuss the matter. I have met with the banking industry more recently on the matter. The Minister should call in people from the mica group who are on its subcommittee which deals with finance and insurance. They have become experts on this. Some of those who are involved have actually had their houses demolished and are going through the scheme. The next day he should call in representatives of the Central Bank and the heads of all the banks to get their heads together to figure out how we can support these families.

The asset values of these homes are on the floor because they are riddled with mica. These properties could not be sold and yet because of these schemes and because the families themselves also have to contribute, the asset values will be restored and the banks are doing nothing. In one case where the house is demolished to rubble and the individual had to go to a credit union to get bridging finance because the grant is not there and there is also an issue with retention, the only thing the bank will do is give them a payment break where interest continues to accrue. What is going on is absolutely scandalous. Developers are now saying this is not for them. They are walking away from this. It is too complicated and they cannot be sure of their funding.

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