Mullooly meets top EU Commissioner on Defective blocks scandal

Sejourne commits to visit Ireland to see issues for himself and pledges to move on
infringement proceedings against Irish Government

A Statement by Ciaran MULLOOLY MEP - 22/10/2025 Strasbourg, FRANCE

On the 27th of August last I accepted an invitation from Charles Ward TD and councillors
from the 100% Redress party on Donegal county council to visit homes in the north west still
affected by the defective blocks scandal.
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I was quite shocked by what I saw on that visit: On that day I promised dwellers living in the
most appalling of conditions in the damp and damaged houses of Letterkenny that I would
immediately pursue their concerns within the European parliament and the European
Commission.

The day after we visited Donegal, I asked the European Commission in a written question
if it could publish, for each year from 2020 to 2024, the compliance rate of Irish-
manufactured concrete blocks used in house construction under the following standards: I.S.
EN 771-3:2011+A1:2015 with national guidance S.R. 16:2016, and I.S. EN
12620:2002+A1:2008?

On October 16th the Commission responded by passing the buck back to Dublin effectively
saying that market surveillance regarding the performance of construction products based on
harmonised European standards under the framework of the Construction Products
Regulation (EU) No 305/2011[1] falls in principle under the responsibility of the national
authorities.

The Commission also said that national authorities are under an obligation of sincere
cooperation towards the EU organs and the authorities of other Member States under
Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union. They said these national authorities have the
possibility via the Commission’s Information and Communication System for Market
Surveillance to upload information on investigated products - where there was an issue but
they confirmed immediately that there has been no upload identifying any flawed products by
the Irish Government covered by the two standards in question between 2020 and 2024.

Unperturbed by that answer, on Monday September 8th I stood up in the plenary meeting of
the European parliament in Strasbourg (as promised to the people of Donegal) and put the
Commission on notice about the dangerous condition of the houses I had seen in Donegal on
August 28th, the need to proceed quickly with infringement proceedings against the Irish
state for failing to properly monitor building materials and the need to support to residents in
the trauma they were experiencing.

As I was disappointed with the lack of urgency in the responses received to my initial
representations on behalf of the people of Donegal and 20 other counties affected by
defective blocks, I decided on October 16th to seek an urgent meeting with the Executive
Vice-President for Industrial Strategy in Brussels - the European Commissioner Stéphane

Séjourné as he is the Commissioner responsible for the DG in Brussels who are taking
proceedings against Ireland .

That meeting took place yesterday October 21st, 2025 in the Commissioner’s office in
Strasbourg.

When I met the Minister I firstly told him that thousands of new homes in rural Ireland,
particularly in County Donegal but across my constituency of Midlands North West and more
than 20 other counties in Ireland, were built with concrete blocks containing excess mica.
He asked for an explanation as to how this happened (as he is new to this post) and I
explained that the defective blocks have led to major structural damage in buildings and
severe safety risks.

He asked me directly what the Irish Government as doing and what they were communicating
about their efforts to sort out this appalling situation. In response, I told him the Irish
Government established the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme. The original scheme
offered only partial grants, initially covered only 90% of costs, leaving huge shortfalls. The
scheme was enhanced in November 2021and however grants still did not cover 100% of the
cost. Many families remain concerned that any gap in compensation will leave them with
debts of tens of thousands of euro.

We then spoke at length about a somewhat similar situation in a mining district in France
and I told him about the retrospective nature of the payment of grant aid and the problems
this causes for families who simply could not get the bridging finance to repair their house -
even after getting the grants. He agreed he would get information from the French experience
to see if European Union state aid laws had been relaxed to help the Irish Government deal
with this problem.

EU involvement and Commission response

We talked at length yesterday about the infringement proceedings: Because construction
products are regulated at EU level, Ireland’s case has drawn EU scrutiny. In July 2024, the
European Commission opened an infringement procedure (INFR(2024)4003) against Ireland
under the EU Construction Products Regulation (Reg. 305/2011). The Commission’s formal
notice warned that Ireland failed to fulfil its obligations by not carrying out adequate market
surveillance of concrete products before placing them on the market. Ireland responded in
September 2024 and subsequently published a new National Market Surveillance Strategy.
I asked him directly what was the current timeline for INFR(2024)4003, and will the
Commission confirm when it expects to decide if Ireland must take further action?
The Commissioner told me he could not sure and when I pressed him he said he would work
hard to get a timeline from the DG. I urged that the proceedings should be dealt with within
weeks - not months.

Adequacy of Irish measures:
I asked Commissioner Sejourne if he considered Ireland’s National Market Surveillance
Strategy and other measures sufficient for EU compliance? I pointed out that the Commission

had already told me no flawed blocks have been uploaded to the Information and
Communication System for Market Surveillance (ICSMS) and I asked him bluntly if this
absence indicated the absence of data entries rather than the absence of product defects?

The Commissioner expressed his unhappiness with this system of voluntary disclosures and
told me he intended now to bring forward legislation at EU level to give much more teeth to
this process The ICSMS is a voluntary reporting platform; its effectiveness depends on
whether national authorities actively upload their findings and we pointed out that past
reports from the European Court of Auditors and Commission Staff Working Documents
have noted inconsistencies in Member State participation and gaps in data entry within
ICSMS.
The Commissioner committed there and then to working with my office to hone in on these
weaknesses in the drawing up of new legislation. I advised that my Office Manager John
Harkin would now work with his staff on this critical issue
Our meeting concluded with a straight forward question from me: I asked the Commissioner
would be visit Ireland to see the homes effected and some of the other key issues covered
under his brief. He immediately accepted the invitation. I suggested we focus on a timeline
for this visit for after January of next year when I will expect to see progress on the EU
commission proceedings.

Next Step
As promised when I met the 100 % Redress councillors in Donegal and their TD, I promised
to bring some of the key home owners effected by the scandal in Donegal to meet key
Commission administrators and members of the Housing Crisis committee of the Parliament.
We have suggested a date for that event to take place and await confirmation.
It is also my intention to meet with the CEO of Donegal county council to discuss this issue
and officials of the Dept of Housing in Dublin when my diary allows me to do so.

In the intervening period, I intend to keep the pressure up on all fronts to support the people
all over the country effected by this appalling problem - a problem not of their making and a
problem for which nobody has been held accountable.
I think the above account proves, I have honoured my commitments to date in working on
these issue for my constituents - and above all shows that I will categorically not give up on
this.
I wish to thank the 100 % Redress Donegal county councillors and their TDs for their co-
operation and assistance on this matter. My thanks also to my colleague Adrian Leddy -a
man well known the people of Convoy and Donegal IFA for his personal assistance and
guidance

Finally - The day I met the councillors in Letterkenny , I assured them my colleagues in the
Independent Ireland party in the Dail would not be found wanting in supporting this issue on

the floor of the Dail too - and I am pleased to note the support given to Charles Ward TD in
his motion before the Dail last week by Indendent Ireland TDS