Mica politician: My home’s on sale WITHOUT defects!

A newly elected councillor who claimed he was told his home was ‘riddled with mica’ and joined a legal class action on the issue has placed his house on the market – saying he has now learned it does not contain any defective materials.

Independent councillor Declan Meehan canvassed extensively in his constituency to fight for an enhanced redress scheme for any affected homeowners.

However, he has denied a suggestion that he was seeking to make political advantage out of a miserable situation for others and insists the new test results on his home are a ‘real stroke of luck’.

Senior Government sources on Tuesday night told the Irish Daily Mail that cases such as Mr Meehan’s highlighted the need to ensure ‘sufficient checks and balances are in place for the scheme before funds are paid out. The group legal action for alleged defects was lodged against a number of building companies as well as Donegal County Council.

Mr Meehan, who had repeatedly described himself as an ‘affected homeowner’ on his campaign pages right up to the local election, said: ‘We joined the class action case and we were very involved in various protesting campaigns of the mica action group 100% Redress.’

Soon after topping the poll in the Milford electoral area in Co. Donegal in June, Mr Meehan admitted his property has passed a full suite of defective blocks tests.

The five-bed detached home, Heron Hill House, is now up for sale in Drumherrive, Ramelton, Co. Donegal, for €395,000, and its sales listing states: ‘The home has passed the full suite of defective blocks testing including mica, pyrite, pyrrhotite and block strength.’

Senior Government sources last night told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘When you commit more than €2.4billion in taxpayers’ money, you have to be able to say to the Public Accounts Committee of Comptroller & Auditor General that the right checks and balances are in place.’

Locals in Donegal are calling for him to explain in detail why he campaigned as an affected homeowner with others questioning if he deliberately misled his voters. In the local elections, Mr Meehan made history as first openly gay councillor in Donegal, receiving 1,739 first preferences on the first count, ahead of Fianna Fáil incumbent Liam Blaney.

Mr Meehan lives with his husband Dr Pádraig McGuinness, a local GP, and their cocker spaniel, Fionnuala. Last week, Mr Meehan – a local community worker – spoke on Highland Radio to address some of the questions being raised by his constituents.

However, Councillor Blaney told the Irish Daily Mail that Mr Meehan’s explanation ‘raises more questions than answers’.

Mr Blaney said he believes the newly elected councillor should give a full account to those who voted for him.

He added: ‘He campaigned heavily on this issue as an affected homeowner. I’m affected as well, but in my case I have a test to prove it. It makes a lot of people sore that he used the mica and defective blocks issue to help strengthen his campaign which is part of the reason why he’s here today [as an elected councillor].’

Speaking on Highland Radio in Donegal, Mr Meehan said before he purchased the house in 2018, the bank conducted its own test which did not uncover any abnormalities.

He said: ‘It was only when the campaign reignited in 2021 we started to look at the house and wonder are we affected.’

He said he tracked down the engineer who carried out the initial test. Mr Meehan said: ‘Off the record he sent us a text to say “the test wasn’t carried out to IS456 standard but indicated high levels of mica and would definitely not be clear of mica if it was tested for [it].

‘That was confirmation for us, our worst sort of nightmare realised in relation to our own home.

‘Fast forward to November of the same year and we had one of the best-known engineers in this area to come down and do a visual inspection of the house. His assessment of that day was exactly the same.

‘He said: “You won’t know until you actually do a test, but I would say that this house is riddled with mica and that the house would have to be demolished in time.”’

Mr Meehan added that a lot of homeowners believe their property is affected based on similar visual inspections from professionals or others who are impacted by defective blocks. He said that as a result, he decided to sell the house at a reduced price and with the ‘full disclosure that it had defective blocks’.

The councillor decided to get an official test done in April.

Mr Meehan said the results, which he didn’t receive until shortly after the election, showed it had no defective blocks.

In June 2023, a class action-type set of proceedings on behalf of people in Donegal seeking compensation for the use of defective building products was lodged and involves some 2,260 plaintiffs.

Mr Meehan added that what was once believed to be Mica turned out to be the results of a bad plastering job on a gabled wall, along with a number of innocuous settled cracks.

The Irish Daily Mail contacted Mr Meehan, put numerous questions to him on this issue and no response was received last night, other than to say that he believed he had addressed all issues on local radio and would be making no further comment.

With additional reporting from Craig Hughes