Mica affected homeowners in Co Donegal lodge almost 500 writs to High Court

Stephen Maguire

Almost 500 writs have been lodged in the High Court in recent days by homeowners whose homes are crumbling in Co Donegal.

The applicants are worried they will be left with major financial shortfalls despite a redress scheme set up by the Government to deal with the issue of defective building blocks in thousands of homes.

A total of 485 writs have been submitted by solicitors Coleman Legal as part of a multi-party court action.

The number of High Court writs being issued is unprecedented with an average of 25 being the daily norm.

Mica redress scheme

A total of over 1,000 applicants have now signed up for the redress scheme with a figure of close to 1,500 expected by this weekend.

One of those who have now signed up to the scheme is leading mica campaigner Michael Doherty. He said: "I have been seriously looking at this after seeing how we had been treated in Dublin.......I'll be going ahead."

Mr Doherty, of the Mica Action Group (MAG) said that after weeks of consideration he had now joined the legal group action with Coleman Legal.

Those funding the legal bid, Donegal businessmen Shaun Hegarty and Adrian Sheridan, have said they may be forced to cap the overall number of individual cases to 2,000 applicants.

Those who sign up for the legal scheme have been assured they can withdraw from the scheme at any time and also that their over costs will be between €750 and €1,500.

Dave Coleman of Coleman Legal said he expected the action to be the biggest of its kind in the history of the State.