YOU GO TO BED JUST HOPING THE ROOF WILL STAY ON UNTIL THE MORNING
TEENAGERS growing up in crumbling homes in Donegal have told the Irish Daily Mail they go to bed worrying for their safety.
Manus Doherty, 16, said: ‘You’re staying in a home you’re not sure will hold up until the morning. I have friends who have moved out for two years. I know my house won’t last until Christmas. You go to bed just hoping the roof will stay up until the morning.’
He added: ‘Home is meant to be a safe place but you are walking home sometimes and the wall could literally collapse on top of you. It’s tough on your parents too, you’re watching their dreams being shattered, your dream home crumbling around you. I have lived in that house my whole life.’
‘With the [mica remediation] scheme financially, we are questioning whether we will actually be able to go to college. It would have been fine originally but now it’s tougher.’
The Donegal youth said he doesn’t see the scheme working unless there are ‘significant changes’ to it.
He said he and other young people living in mica homes are disillusioned with politicians’ promises.
The teenager said: ‘You have a generation growing up here that won’t be relying on these parties at all.’
Julia Grant, 17, said she has friends whose houses have ‘completely fallen down’, forcing them to move.
She said mica is breaking up communities, with her friends having to move ‘far away from school’ and some unable to afford longer bus journeys.
Teenager Ava Gill, who also lives in Donegal, said: ‘We want to show that we’re not backing down without a fight. Nothing will make up for what they have put us through.
‘It is going to be a big fight to get what we need.’