The UpSet in Concrete Podcast

Homeowners from Donegal arrived outside the Engineers Ireland headquarters by bus today. Homeowners ended up in a large meeting room. Two homeowner representatives met with Director General Damien Owens and the Head of Public Affairs Mr Cian O'Dowd. Then Mr Owens and Mr O'Dowd spoke with homeowners who were in the meeting room. Marti McElhinney explained what had taken place to the homeowners outside the building. And then I spoke with a number of homeowners, and 2 politiicians, about what had just taken place.

I walked around parts of Inishowen, County Donegal to speak with ordinary people about Defective Concrete and the recent Local elections.

At the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, there were two motions to officially change Sinn Féin's policy regarding remediation of homes affected by defective concrete. One was with regards to social housing. The other was with regards to defective concrete and also defective construction. #100percentredress

There was one significant "miscommunication" (due to langugage issues) and it seems like the EU Mission was a victim of a Department of Housing "charm offensive", but despite that, the EU Mission Petitions Report will add weight to the homeowner led EU complaint which aims to force the Irish Government (and all EU member state Governments) to properly resource their Market Surveillance Offices.
It seems that recommendations arising from the Petitions Report, might create some (non-binding) pressure on the Government to treat homeowners fairly.  
Importantly, homeowners still have the possibility to influence the Petitions committee report, as explained in the video.
#100percentredress

In a letter from the Director General of DG GROW, Ms Kerstin Jorna, Backstory.ie was informed that...
"without pre-empting any future decisions to act, the Commission stated that it would become active against the Irish authorities if it was proven that they were still not ensuring sufficiently effective control of products being placed on the Irish market."
This is fact from the Director General.
This is not hearsay.

This interview was recorded back in June 2023. The video looks at how the EU Petitions Committee came to visit Donegal, starting from when members of MAG were approached by Luke Ming Flanagan at one of the homeowner protests, followed by the homeowner petitions at the Petitions Committee, followed by the EU Workshop of defective concrete, followed by a homeowner meeting with Mr Manfred Fuchs, a representative of the European Commission, who provided advice on making a formal complaint to the European Union. There is also an analysis of the the flawed National Building Control & Market Surveillance Office in Ireland which looks at how the organisation went from "100% compliance" of all quarries in Donegal to a "National Emergency" in a matter of months.The delay in putting this episode together is entirely my fault. Apologies.  #100percentredress

A look at some sculduggery in the banking sector.

Irish Banking - Vulture Funds
Finance Committee exposes deficiencies in enforcement of banking rules and culture.
 
#100percentredress

This is just a short clip from Andrea Gilligan's interview with Minister Darragh O'Brien on her Lunchtime Live radio show on Newstalk.
The main purpose of this clip is to document what was said.
NOTE, however, there is a link to the full interview on the Newstalk website here:https://www.goloudplayer.com/episodes/darragh-obrien-thats-a-significa-NjAwMTc1NmJkNWEyYThlMzExMDVlNzI3MThmODRmM2I=

Charlie Ward and Mary Connors, owners of homes with defective blocks, talk about their experience attending Charlie McConalogue's latest meeting which took place on the 8th of May 2023.
The conversation included how Charlie McConalogue, TD demonstrates his priorities, how some senior Fianna Fáil members exhibited cronyism, how a lack of empathy was put on display, how it is necessary now to make meetings uncomfortable, how McConalogue manipulates the narrative, the short-sightedness in dealing with the testing of foundations, the dismissal of the peer reviewed paper on the causes of defective blocks in Donegal that was co-authored by Paul Dunlop and others, how someone started crying during the meeting, the belittling of campaigners who are doing their best, how a meeting with Minister Darragh O'Brien - that never took place - is often  talked about by Senator Niall Blaney, how it appears that Donegal County Council have thrown in the towel, how questions from the Mica Action Group at most recent Donegal County Council were not answered and views on Greg Hughes' announcement that Charlie McConalogue will no longer agree to interviews because "Hughes is anti-government".