Many may be affected by mica without knowing, says Mayo priest

As thousands gathered June 15 to protest for a 100% redress scheme for houses affected by mica and pyrite, a priest in Co. Mayo warned that many more may be affected.

Fr Martin Convey of Strade parish Co. Mayo said people and families facing issues with apparent defects in buildings caused by mica and pyrite are in “a terrible situation”.

Speaking of one local parishioner, Ms Anne Molloy and her family, whose house is beginning to crack due to defective building blocks, Fr Convey said he knows “they’re not the only ones”.

“Mayo and Donegal seem to have been particularly badly affected,” Fr Convey told The Irish Catholic. “I don’t know of any others in the parish affected, but you can be sure there are, and maybe there are people affected and they don’t even know it yet.”

Ms Molloy, her husband Brian and their two children joined the protest in Dublin on Tuesday and spoke to The Irish Catholic about the “terrible effects” the situation is having on them.

While they are still living in their house, they are facing “a total demolition” due to the effects of pyrite on their house and believe that anything less than a 100% redress would be “impossible” due to costs such as storage and renting.

“We heard that [our house was affected] Christmas week 2020,” she explained. “I’m only now able to talk about it… I’ve went from the shock stage to the anxiety stage and it still hits me at times. It’s the unknown – where are we going to go, where are we going to store all our stuff from our house. It’s just scary.”

She added that their house is the first in the area identified with pyrite, but now “everybody is watching their houses”.