The Lone Wolf and Patrick McLaughlin (from the Parish a few miles from Buncrana)

Introduction

I spent a few hours with The Lone Wolf (Pavan) and Patrick McLaughlin at one of their morning protests, against the quarry allegedly responsible for most of the crumbling homes in Inishowen, at the top of Buncrana town back in November 2022. We also did an "update" interview over the phone a few days ago to bring things up-to-date.

Some of the things we spoke about in November 2022 included the Concrete Conference which took place in Letterkenny (2022-11-15), inconsistencies and problems with the old 90/10 and new so-called "Enchanced" scheme, is living with a Defective Concrete Block home worse than a death in the family?, the stupidity of the 40 year guarantee. I mentioned how the State tried to deny citizens their rights in the past (Vicky Phelan regarding the cervical cancer tragedy and Louise O'Keeffe who had to go to Europe to get the State to recognise it had failed children who were abused in schools). The Lone Wolf and Patrick spoke of some of the stories that they've heard about how Defective Concrete Blocks have affected other home owners. Would you build a concrete block home again? The Lone Wolf details how Defective Concrete Blocks have affected him and his family. He also tells the story of how the Lone Wolf came to be in existence.

We had a follow up interview online a few days ago which I hope I've edited to highlight new information on topics we hadn't gone into before. There is a particularly revealing piece of audio (thanks for that Patrick) of Charlie McConalogue answering the questions about the success or failures of Options 2, 3, 4 and 5 which involve leaving a home in place and messing around with the inner and/or outer leaf walls.

I hope I haven't made any mistakes. If you find something that you think is inaccurate, please let me know at grantmarch@backstory.ie so that I can fix it. Thanks very much. 🙏

Links

2022-11-08 William & Grainne Doherty

The full interview with the couple with Greg Hughes on the Highland Radio YouTube channel

https://youtu.be/mCIW3F7fPZs?t=1774

2022-01-26 Inclusion of works already carried out retrospectively in the Enhance scheme

Eoin Ó Broin, Sinn Féin and Minister Darragh O'Brien, Fianna Fáil on including works already carried out retrospectively in the Enhanced DCB scheme

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2023-01-26/speech/116/

https://youtu.be/0EvkEWDwl1I?t=6986

2022-11-5 Defective Concrete Blocks Conference

Here is a clickable index to all speakers at the Defective Concrete Blocks conference that took place in Letterkenny on the 15th December 2022

https://backstory.ie/dcb_conf_index.html

2018-02-01 SEANAD Varadkar talks about FG new politics reform incl pre-legislative scrutiny

https://youtu.be/UCR92tv3ahk?list=PLSFMt99qUvkBSEGfsilXtYFxBAHE7iTiQ&t=59

2022-12-06 Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asks National Building Control Office / Market Surveillance Office if "the quarry" had been audited

https://youtu.be/WJEJjygQvFI?t=5424

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_housing_local_government_and_heritage/2022-12-06/speech/167/

2022-11-15 Angeline Ruddy (Secondary school teacher, Moville Community College) delivers talk titled School Testimony - The impacts of defective concrete blocks on the lives of secondary school students

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXyP-xbe-20&t=12813s

2022-11-15 Joe Morgan reads a talk written by an Anonymous Affected Business Owner from Donegal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXyP-xbe-20&t=15690s

Dr Karen Kirby (Ulster University, School of Psychology) delivered a talk titled Measuring the scale of the mental health & well-being impact of affected homeowners in Ireland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXyP-xbe-20&t=14706s

2022-06-23 Engineer Aidan O'Connell saying that there are only a few bad apples in the construction industry (worth hearing again, IMHO)

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_housing_local_government_and_heritage/2022-06-23/speech/316/

TODO: Upload full video or link to current video

2023-01-26 Paul Murphy saying "This is not a few bad apples in the construction industry"

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2023-01-26/speech/189/

https://youtu.be/0EvkEWDwl1I?t=11007

2022-12-06 Fianna Fáil Senator, Mary Fitzpatrick, asking the National Building Control / Market Surveillance office how their quarry audit was able to achieve 100% compliance with regulations (Worth hearing again, IMHO)

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_housing_local_government_and_heritage/2022-12-06/speech/8/

2022-12-06 Pádraig Mac Lochlainn tries to get a simple answer as to whether or not the "quarry that was responsible for the vast majority of defective blocks used in Donegal" were tested.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_housing_local_government_and_heritage/2022-12-06/speech/171/

https://youtu.be/WJEJjygQvFI?t=5423

2022-11-15 Highland Radio John O'Connor Housing Liaison car crash interview with Greg Hughes

https://youtu.be/iU2ZvQvGreM?t=9630

This was a special broadcast on the day that the Concrete Conference was held in the Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny. There are many interviews related to the conference. To watch the show from the beginning, see

https://youtu.be/iU2ZvQvGreM

"Vicky" documentary on Vicky Phelan

Please support the film maker by watching the documentary for €7.99 online here:

https://www.ifihome.ie/film/vicky/

Louise O'Keeffe

2014 An emotional Louise O'Keeffe explains how she feels having won her school child abuse case in Europe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MleRd8r6_Iw

2015-01-16 Louise O'Keeffe explains how the Government should have accepted responsibility instead of fighting her all the way to Europe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMTjVi635qM

2014-01-30 Exchange between Mary Lou McDonald and Tánaiste Eamonn Gilmore (Labour Party) in a Government led by Enda Kenny (Fine Gael):
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2014-01-30/speech/105/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFrtiX3Tjw TODO YouTube link change from TEMPORARY LINK to long term link

The Government in 2014:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Members_of_the_31st_D%C3%A1il

2022-11-21 Cork abuse survivor: Any inquiry into abuse in schools must probe State's own accountability : Irish Examiner
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41011877.html

Dept of Housing

2021-11-30 Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme: Your Questions Answered
https://web.archive.org/web/20220114101510/https://assets.gov.ie/205870/4fa51a82-fdab-44d7-943d-038fc71dd194.pdf

2022-10-07 Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme: Your Questions Answered
https://assets.gov.ie/205870/4fa51a82-fdab-44d7-943d-038fc71dd194.pdf

2022-02-07 Terms Of Reference For SCSI Report On Construction Costs For The Defective Concrete Block Scheme

https://scsi.ie/terms-of-reference-for-scsi-report-on-construction-costs-for-the-defective-concrete-block-scheme/

SEAI Home Energy Grants Overview

https://www.seai.ie/grants/home-energy-grants/