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Call for a criminal investigation into the purchase of mica houses
The Donegal County Council may have concealed important information about the five social housing properties it purchased in Inishowen from its lawyers.
An Crannla house in Buncrana was purchased from developer Ronald McGrory for 600,000 euros in early 2021.
The information received as a result of the request for freedom of information about the purchase prompted independent Congressman Frank McBretti to call for public and criminal investigations of possible misuse of taxpayer funds during the purchase process.
Cllr McBrearty said: "The local government is very lack of accountability and transparency. There are many problems in this scandal, involving suspected corruption and misuse/waste of taxpayers' money."
Donegal Live previously reported that the Donegal County Council hired Fastnet Analytical Limited to conduct a petrographic evaluation [microstructure inspection] of representative block samples taken from two of the five houses.
On November 9, 2019, the results of An Crannla's test suite A on No. 4 emphasized that there may be a fine for free mica. If it is saturated, there is a related freeze-thaw risk, which is a potential risk.
On November 10, 2019, the results of An Crannla 5's test suite A emphasized that there may be a fine for free mica. If it is saturated, there is a related freeze-thaw risk, which is a potential risk. In addition, the test suite B of the house: X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the tested blocks contained harmful substances, 18.4% muscovite and 0.6% pyrite.
The Donegal County Council knew in early November 2019 that the An Cranla property contained mica. However, this fact was not communicated to the Ministry of Housing and it is not clear whether it was communicated to the lawyers of the City Council.
In a letter dated November 3, 2020, the vice president of Mullin Law Firm, representing the Donegal County Council, mentioned five points that need to be clarified before exchanging sales contracts.
This letter is included in the An Crannla purchase document received by Cllr McBrearty in accordance with the Freedom of Information request.
The third point in the Vice President Mullin’s letter said: “A detailed structural survey. If you have not done so, you should also arrange for your engineer to conduct a detailed structural survey of the property (inspect any defective blocks), Invasive plant species (such as Japanese knotweed) and check that the heating, plumbing, electrical or other systems of the property are in good working order."
On Wednesday, November 4, 2020, an email from within the Donegal County Council notified an engineer that a sales contract and "additional" pre-signed contract inquiries had been received.
The engineer was asked to answer questions and respond by Friday, November 6.
The email states: "Please note that we are processing a response to query number 3 [detailed structure survey], so you can ignore it."
When replying to this email on November 9, 2020, the engineer stated with query number 3: "These properties contain mica and require a lot of remedial work. This matter was resolved before I was appointed as a regional housing engineer. Therefore, I will not comment further."
An email from Donegal County Council to two staff of VP Mullin Solicitors on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 stated: "Please see below the response to the enquiry attached to November 3, 2020."
Refer to query number 3 for a detailed structural survey. The email did not mention the fact that the property mentioned by the regional housing engineer contains mica.
It said: “Before the completion of the acquisition form submitted on February 4, 2020, the commission’s engineers had conducted a visual assessment of the property.
"The engineer also asked the supplier to test the building blocks, and Fastnet Analytical Limited tested the building blocks.
The report pointed out that although the sample block looked good visually, a certain degree of cracking was also noticed, and there was a potential risk of further degradation by freezing/thawing. It is also noted that the sample block has not deteriorated significantly.
"The commission’s engineers recently conducted a further visual assessment of the property and found that the location remained unchanged
“If the housing engineer discovers any problems related to the mechanical and electrical systems of the property, the engineer will provide budget allocations for any improvement works/maintenances performed by the council to ensure that the property meets the required standard for rental in advance.”
The email from the Regional Housing Engineer on Monday, November 9, 2020 is also attached to this email and sent to VP Mullin Solicitors.
The attachment is the same as the original [above], except that the response of the regional housing engineer to the query number 3 is omitted and the above response is inserted.
Donegal Live understands that this response was not written by the regional housing engineer who wrote the original email.
Prior to this purchase, the Buncrana Town Council leased these properties from Mr. McGrory in accordance with the Social Housing Rental Program from January 2010. According to a report issued to Donegal County Councillors on July 16, 2021, lease payments were slightly more than 307,000 Euros.
In August 2021, the Ministry of Housing refused to confirm whether the five houses were known to contain mica at the time of purchase.
It also refused to confirm whether only one of the five houses has been tested for mica, or whether it is satisfied that the structural integrity of the five houses has not been affected by the presence of excessive mica.
The Department did not comment on whether the safety of the residents of the five houses was threatened; the Donegal County Council signed the person who purchased the house; or whether it was a committee engineer or an external engineer who did so.
However, in a statement to Donegal Live this week, when asked if it knew the An Crannla house contained mica at the time of purchase, the Ministry of Housing said: “This is a matter for the Donegal County Council. All local authorities are in Obtain authorization when purchasing second-hand real estate for social housing.
"They are responsible for determining the suitability of housing and compliance with laws and regulations.
“The local authorities will not seek prior approval from the department because doing so will cause serious bureaucracy in the acquisition. As far as the An Crannla house in Bancrana is concerned, the Donegal County Council did not negotiate with the department in advance. "
The house purchase form related to the purchase of An Cranla Houses (February 4, 2020) confirmed that the internal roads and services in the estate are not the responsibility of the council. However, it has not confirmed whether the council is satisfied with the service standards in the estates.
The form also pointed out that upon visual inspection, the property was in structural and overall good condition, and the acquisition was worthwhile.
On October 9, 2020, the Social Housing Capital Investment Unit (SHCIU) wrote to the Donegal County Council. The letter stated: “The construction and quantity surveyor consultants of the department have evaluated the submitted materials. According to their recommendations, SHCIU West has no objection to purchasing these properties. The proposed budget is 680,650 euros for the purchase price, expenses and improvement works.
"However, the conditions for this approval are as follows: [Council] conducts due diligence and meets the conditions of each residence, and the budget for the renovation works is sufficient to cover the cost of all remedial works."
In the report provided to Donegal County Councillors on July 16, 2021, the Donegal County Council stated: “There is now evidence that the property is cracked, but the property is not significantly degraded. These properties will be added to our In the maintenance plan planned for Inishowen."
Commenting on this situation, Cllr McBrearty said: "Why didn't the attorneys of the Department of Housing and Donegal County Council inform An Crannla that five houses were defective due to mica?
"Did the former chief executive of the Donegal County Council realize that these houses contain mica on November 26, 2019? If he is, then Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fáil) must reconsider his independence on the issue of defective housing Appointment of the chairperson of the working group.
"The Donegal County Council also denied my documents regarding the political presentation of these five homes. It must now hand over this important information. I will ask the Donegal County Council to cooperate with the relevant authorities to investigate the sale of An Cranla. Everything about the five houses."
Donegal Live has asked the Donegal County Council to comment, but as of press time, no one is willing to comment.
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