On February 9th, we hosted our first webinar of the year on ‘Earthquake in Slow Motion: The Psychosocial and Mental Health Impact of Ireland’s Defective Concrete Crisis,’ where Oisin Keenan (PhD researcher, Ulster University) and Professor Karen Kirby (Professor of Psychology, Ulster University) presented their initial findings on the psychological and family impacts of Ireland’s defective concrete crisis. Several campaigners and individuals with experience of living through the crisis in affected homes also shared their testimony during the discussion.
The seminar highlighted the way in which the defective concrete crisis is essentially an eco-social policy issue in the way it bridges environmental and social issues and has important social justice implications. The presentation was part of a wider network interdisciplinary research activity by researchers at the University of Ulster on the origins, impacts and policy implications of the defective concrete crisis. This was previously referred to as the ‘Mica crisis’, understood as an issue with the excessive presence of the mineral mica in concrete blocks used for construction.
Research by Professor Paul Dunlop and colleagues at the University of Ulster has demonstrated the wider sources of the problem stemming from iron sulfides, mainly in the form of pyrrhotite, hence the more recent reference to the crisis as the defective concrete crisis. Extensive concrete damage has led to cracking and crumbling buildings, ultimately rendering them uninhabitable over time. Information provided at the seminar suggested that this is affecting at least 10,000 homes, principally in Donegal but also in other counties in the Republic including Mayo, Sligo, Galway and Limerick. The full extent of affected buildings is still unknown and also likely includes public buildings, and homes built in Northern Ireland.
The seminar concentrated on findings of mental health-based research with families affected by the crisis. It demonstrated and quantified the strain of living through the crisis not just because of unsafe and continuously deteriorating housing conditions, but because of the financial strain it entails, and the uncertainty it creates for the future and the feeling of entrapment and not knowing whether there is any way out. The presentation included data from two studies. The first documents the mental impacts on the adults affected which present as high levels of complex post-traumatic stress disorder compared to the Irish general population which stems from their exposure to a chronic long-term stressor. The second study documents the impact on children and finds elevated rates of mental health problems including emotional problems, social withdrawal and learning difficulties.
The wider issues from an eco-social policy perspective include not only the health issues the seminar raised but the implications it has for poverty, including housing poverty and energy poverty. The effects on children and the high risk of child poverty were also highlighted at the seminar, including the ripple effects on children’s education and their future wellbeing. These issues remain un-researched.
After years of campaigning a redress scheme was introduced which provided successful applicants in designated counties (initially Donegal and Mayo) 90% of the costs of subject to a cap. Following further campaigning about the limitations of that scheme, an ‘Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme’ was introduced in 2023. It has extended the designated county list and provides 100% of the costs, again subject to a cap. A key policy issue is the fact that the current redress scheme is still not fit for purpose, particularly for low-income families. It has as significant affordability drawbacks because applicants need to invest a substantial amount of money up-front before they receive redress. Low-income families therefore face huge obstacles in accessing the scheme. They need to have the ability to save a sizeable lump sum to meet the initial stage costs of the work required on repairing or rebuilding their houses before grants are paid on a reimbursable basis.
Other costs also pose a significant burden, as they continue to pay mortgages and pay for rental accommodation and other costs such as storage, if they need to move out of their house while it is being repaired or rebuilt. The grant scheme recognises other costs, again subject to a cap and on a reimbursable basis. As the seminar heard, these issues prolong the trauma and the poverty effects of the defective concrete crisis. The redress scheme needs to be redesigned to proof its accessibility for low-income applicants ensuring that all household affected can actually afford to apply for the scheme.
On a wider scale similar issues with the affordability of energy retrofitting grants have recently led to changes to how SEAI grants can be accessed under the 2026 National Residential Retrofit Plan to minimise up-front costs. A similar approach could be taken to resolve the defective concrete crisis.
All-Island Social Security Network 