Today, thousands of people will protest in Dublin against a construction scandal involving a mineral called mica.

The protest will be held at the Dublin Convention Centre on Tuesday.

But what exactly is mica? Why are so many people angry about this? This is everything you need to know.

Mica is a mineral that is commonly found underground. Mica, such as muscovite, phlogopite and biotite, can also usually be found in concrete blocks used in construction. In this case, mica acts as an insulator.

Muscovite has caused cracks in at least 5,000 homes in northwestern Ireland.

The reason this happens is because mica is like a sponge. It absorbs moisture from the air and the ground.

In five years, they absorbed so much water that they started to crack and shatter.

Therefore, most of the affected houses have cracks on the outdoor walls.

At first, mesh cracks appeared on the walls, bricks began to collapse, and plaster began to crack. Over time, huge cracks may appear, extending from the ground to the roof.

A 1949 law stipulated the amount of impurities (such as mica) allowed in building blocks. A building block cannot contain more than one percent of impurities.

The building blocks used in the affected houses contain an impurity level of approximately 17%.

The Ministry of Housing stated that "the main responsibility for proving that construction products meet the requirements of construction product regulations lies with the product manufacturer."

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said he and the government are "eager to find a solution."

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien said that he and the department are dealing with the “material submitted by the Mica Action Team that we received five weeks ago. We are liaising with other departments and agencies to find out how to best resolve some of the issues raised. ". .

It is estimated that solving this problem may cost about 1 billion euros.