Council secretly changed more than 20 mica applications

Donegal County Council secretly altered more than 20 homeowners' applications for remediation under the state mica scheme without their knowledge.

These secret alterations made it seem like independent engineers hired by homeowners – who had recommended extensive repair options – had made the same recommendations as Housing Agency-hired engineers, who mostly recommended cheaper repair options.

Homeowners and engineers have criticised the Housing Agency for using an outdated standard for assessing homes, with one engineer accusing the agency of knowingly using an inappropriate standard, as reported by The Ditch. The Ditch has seen several appeals showing the agency's method of assessing affected homes has led to homeowners being denied appropriate repairs.

Now documents seen by The Ditch reveal cases where applications to the mica scheme have had their original engineering reports changed to reflect the cheaper repair works ultimately recommended by the state.

‘A minor technical glitch’

On October 1 a homeowner affected by the crisis discovered their engineer’s report in their application for remediation had been changed on Donegal County Council’s official portal. They brought it to the authority’s attention.

More than twenty other applicants soon discovered similar unauthorised alterations to their applications.

In all 21 cases examined, independent engineers had initially recommended option one – complete demolition and rebuild. But the council's portal recorded that these engineers had in fact recommended different, less expensive options.

Ten reports were changed to option two, a full demolition of external walls only, while nine cases were altered to option three, a partial demolition of outer walls.

The two others reports were changed to a mixture of options two and four – a further less extensive demolition of outer walls.

In all of these cases the council failed to notify affected homeowners. Donegal County Council has since changed all the applications back to their original states, claiming the widespread changes were due to a “minor technical glitch”.

A spokesperson for the Housing Agency told The Ditch that it wouldn’t comment on Donegal County Council’s portal, as they cannot access it.

Donegal County Council and the Housing Agency have been contacted for comment.