Charles Ward
Donegal · 100% RDR · Ireland
“I thank Deputy Kenny for bringing forward this motion. As a parent, I have seen the costs relating to sending children to school skyrocket over the past ten years. The situation is absolutely out of control.”
“Uniforms are supposed to represent equality, but they have become another financial burden on families who are already struggling with a cost-of-living crisis that has been going on for a very long time.”
“Those who were previously on particular school bus routes no longer have the option of using those routes. As a result, parents are forced to engage in long commutes and to cover the costs incurred in this regard. I welcome the motion.”
“She did not receive the substantial person-centred supports she desperately needed to rebuild her life. Support has to be extended beyond crisis intervention.”
“Domestic abuse is increasing and becoming more and more complex. I spoke in depth with Jessica Gallagher, who is clinical director of the Uplift Project. She works alongside women who are affected by domestic abuse, coercive control and sexual violence in Donegal. She said that demand for the service demonstrates the scale of unmet need.”
“I welcome Jennie's law. The publicly available register of judgments will be a life-saving resource, as people in relationships or considering relationships will be able to see whether people have histories of domestic violence convictions.”
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“You leave your house at 7 o'clock in the morning and sometimes it is 9 o'clock at night before you get home, when you have put the last of your clients to bed. Steps need to be taken to encourage home care providers to continue this service. More people need to be working in this sector. There are definitely ways around this. When I was training, the HSE would come in to try to recruit, but it was not flexible. I was willing to do that type of work but the issue for people like me was that we were needed on full-time contracts. A full-time contract would not have suited me because I was providing care for my four children, but I had time during the day - four hours, perhaps - when I could have provided care in the community. I definitely would have done so if flexibility had been provided for.”
“I would be grateful for anything the Minister of State could do to intervene in this. I will get back to him on that. Any further delays could push the implementation of this out to 2030, which would be another unacceptable delay. As we have heard throughout the House, we have a population that is ageing and we need to evolve with that. We need to ensure that the sector is regulated and that quality and consistency of care is raised nationally in order that we have a standard that is the pride of Europe. It is all about the standard and the pride in your work. That needs to be really looked at, especially when it comes to home care. The impression you make on that person determines their day. It is very hard to encourage people to come into this sector because it is demanding and you are on the road for 12 hours a day.”
“It varies massively due to enormous pressures put on home care workers. It is about that time element again whereby you are going in to look after and care for somebody and you are getting them ready for bed but you are also conscious that there is somebody else waiting for you and that the clock is ticking and the time is running down. According to the HSE, there are nearly 3,000 people receiving home support in Donegal and over 350 people waiting to avail of that support. Speaking of such cases, I will not mention names, but during a phone call today a cousin of mine who is in Letterkenny general hospital told me about a 93-year-old lady in the hospital who wants to go home. She is ready to go home. She has been in there for nearly a fortnight but they cannot get the home packages in place. They are close.”
“There are currently no regulations that home care providers have to adhere to in areas such as staff training and infection control, which is vital when we are dealing with people with sickness in certain elements. There are no consistent minimum standards of care that apply to home care providers universally and there are no independent oversight provisions for home care services, which is vital. Due to absence of regulation, there is a huge disparity between the level and quality of care geographically. If you are dealing with somebody in Malin Head who has to go to certain parts of Malin or into certain parts of Buncrana, they are on the road and they are on the clock, basically. In Donegal, for example, there are severe shortages of home carers for quality services.”
“I thank the Minister of State for the opportunity to speak on the Health (Amendment) (Home Support Providers) Bill 2025. It is long awaited. Initially, it was due before the House five years ago. Repeated delays in its publication have had a detrimental effect on carers and the people who require home care support. This Bill means that home support in Ireland will be independently regulated for the first time. It shows a troubling disregard for home support providers and users in this country. It is all about regulation. I look at it from my unique point of view as somebody who has worked in this sector and been a victim of a lack of regulation with regard to defective concrete. The two go hand in hand. To me, looking at this, the sectors are completely unregulated. This is going on in 2026 and it needs to be looked at seriously.”
“Now that this has been brought to the Government's attention, will the Minister intervene to stop this and review the test case or will it be allowed to continue? I want a simple "Yes" or "No".”
“The Housing Agency is finding new ways to exclude people from the remediation scheme. We have already seen the system fail when pyrrhotite in concrete was ignored. The agency has now introduced a new method to refuse access, stretching IS 465 and selectively presenting facts. The approach will not withstand scrutiny and must be addressed. The decision has been independently reviewed by engineers and a legal expert, both concluding it is wrong. Reliance on an appeals process to correct such decision is reactive, costly and causes harm to homeowners. The Minister has the authority and responsibility to act proactively and treat the decisions as a test case and set a fair, consistent standard before people are affected. This matter goes beyond a single property.”
“Irish Water needs to inform residents of the current status of works and provide realistic timelines so that we know and can plan ahead. There is a huge disconnect between Uisce Éireann and the communities it serves, and it needs to be addressed. Communities have serious concerns regarding Uisce Éireann's services. It is clear there is an over-reliance on private contractors. High costs include senior salaries. There are clearly insufficient resources. The reality is that we must retain the skillsets of the workers to keep on moving. We have skillsets and workers who are being abandoned by Uisce Éireann. They are county council workers, and they deserve all the help they can get to keep the water running in County Donegal.”
“Like many other TDs, my experience of Uisce Éireann is that its communication skills are excruciatingly poor. The company cannot be contacted. People are left without water. Children are left without running water in their houses for days at a time. It is ridiculous. There is also the issue of public water supply to the islands. I am from Arranmore Island where there are issues with water. A constituent of mine on Gola Island has not had a drop of water in her house since May and she depends on people bringing water to her. This is absolutely unacceptable. Residents deserve basic services and they are not getting them. There is a total dereliction of duty, as far as I am concerned. There is no responsibility or accountability, and that is constant. The tourism season is destroyed in north Inishowen when the water is out. Nobody comes.”
“Before Christmas, a burst water main in north Inishowen and another burst water main in Dunfanaghy caused major disruption. People in the Milford-Ramelton area have been asked to conserve water for nearly two years. There is a total hosepipe in place for five months of the year. It is basically a drought. In a place where it is raining all the time, we are facing water shortages through lack of maintenance. Malin Head had water shortages lasting for days. Residents and business owners were forced to close their businesses because they could not provide running water. The long-term impact of this on tourism in Donegal has been absolutely catastrophic. Despite ongoing issues, Uisce Éireann fails every time to communicate with public representatives. We have said this from day one.”
“I thank Independent Ireland for bringing forward this motion. We have a large number of issues in Donegal with water. It is probably the biggest issue outside of defective concrete. Many areas lack waterworks and engineers. They face significant issues, such as pipe bursts and lack of proper infrastructure. We have issues and outages reported throughout Inishowen, west Donegal, Bundoran, Stranorlar, Ballybofey, Fanad, Pettigo, Ballyshannon and Letterkenny. Nearly 100,000 people are affected by this. The Slavery water treatment plant in Buncrana has consistently experienced issues over the last year, with residents left without water for days at a time. In the past three months, they have lost water for nearly a week. Water tankers had to be dispersed onto the streets.”
“The Government has to stop prioritising European demands over the needs of its own citizens and consider that we are getting absolutely nothing out of Europe. It is bleeding us dry. We need to stand up and fight and we need to say "No".”
“Rural communities will be left to carry this burden. The deal is an attack on Irish agriculture. Our rural communities have been completely undermined. We have the best food standards, animal welfare protections and climate commitments. These are going to be thrown into the rubbish when the Mercosur deal comes in. Our farmers are being punished. What is coming down the line is nothing but a travesty. Our fishing industry is also being bled dry by Europe. In Ireland, we hold 12% of EU waters and we are allocated less than 6% of the fishing quota. The new fishing quota saw us lose one third of that. This will also happen to the Irish farmer. Mark my words, when this meat comes in we are done.”
“The Mercosur deal is a great example of the Government again putting EU demands over the wants and needs of our own citizens. It is yet another example of the Government completely failing to do the right thing and then, embarrassingly, trying to save face at the last minute. The Government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing for its own citizens. The reality is that it knew this deal would go through anyway, so it voted "No". It did so to save face and it decided to do so when it was obvious the deal had been done. It was a last-minute desperate attempt to save face because it knew the public was turning. There was no attempt by the Government to make the case against the Mercosur deal in Europe or to convince other countries to vote against it or use our voice.”
“As temperatures plummet, thousands of people with disabilities face increased hardship and isolation due to the Government's poor budget decisions. People with disabilities are €1,400 worse off due to the removal of essential supports in budget 2026. I have been contacted by many constituents over the Christmas period who are struggling with these cuts. Donegal is an isolated area and we have had bad snow and ice. People with disabilities have been basically abandoned. I want the Taoiseach to think in particular about disability and people living in defective homes during this cold snap. Disabled people are at greater risk of poverty and social exclusion. Two in five people with a disability are unable to afford essentials like heating and clothing. One in five people with disabilities lives in constant poverty.”
“I ask that he ensure the works there are completed as soon as possible in order that the courthouse can reopen. Will he commit to visiting Donegal in the new year to address Elm Park and the other issues in the county requiring his attention?”
“There are many ongoing issues in Donegal, including Elm Park, that require the Minister of State's immediate attention. He needs to do far more regarding the flood relief schemes across the whole county. There is still no sign of a flood relief scheme plan for Killybegs, which came very close to being flooded again recently. Residents and businesses are still waiting anxiously, fearing what each storm may bring. Far more needs to be done to protect coastal communities from coastal erosion, especially given the increase in storms we have had over the past year. Houses in Inver face real risks of the coastal defences failing. Those defences must be progressed and fixed soon. The Minister of State has visited Donegal town courthouse.”
“I know we have been looking at this and there have been many meetings but I just do not see why it is taking so long. Will the Minister of State ensure the final decision is made before Christmas to give these people some hope so that homeowners can finally have some peace, knowing that this distressing situation can be solved?”
“This week, Storm Bram brought another weather warning to Donegal. Storms are becoming more and more frequent and these houses are becoming more and more dangerous. External walls are being damaged by the Crana River at the risk of flooding for these homes. The residents cannot go on living like this. I have asked the Minister of State for a predicted cost for installing flood defences but it is very clear that the construction of these flood defences and giving temporary rental accommodation to these residents will also cost the State. Offering them a long-term proper solution is the only way out of this and it is the only way forward. Temporary flood measures are a complete waste of money and will only temporarily slow down a flow of water and allow evacuation of these properties properly. We have seen people nearly killed in this site.”
“I have engaged with the Minister many times regarding the issue. Despite this, nothing has changed for the residents of Elm Park in Buncrana. I would be grateful if he would provide me with an update on the situation of the defective homes built on a flood plain in Elm Park. What is the predicted cost of installing flood defences and will he consider relocating the residents of Elm Park?”
“Homeowners will no longer be left in the dark or forced to guess why their application was denied. This prevents bad decision-making and ensures the process is fair, predictable, and legally robust.”
“I move amendment No. 33: In page 10, to delete lines 19 and 20 and substitute the following: “section 17A(6)(a), the relevant owner may make applications for payment of an increased grant under subsection (1), as justified by circumstances.”. Amendment No. 33 ensures that relevant owners, including the 43 homeowners left behind by the March 2024 cut-off, can apply for an increased grant when circumstances justify it. It guarantees that no eligible homeowner is left behind and that the scheme responds fairly to the needs of affected families. Amendment No. 35 ensures the right of homeowners to transparency and accountability. Any refusal must clearly set out the reasons, reference the exact statutory provisions and detail the evidence and criteria relied upon.”
“I move amendment No. 27: In page 9, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: “(14) Where a designated local authority refuses to recognise an individual as a relevant owner under subsection (4A), the individual shall be entitled to appeal such refusal under Part 5.”. No applicant can be blocked from the scheme without recourse. The amendment gives anyone who is refused to be recognised as a relevant owner a clear right to appeal, protecting families from arbitrary decisions and ensuring they get the support they are entitled to.”
“Does that mean the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, was wrong when he said what he said? Was he giving misinformation? As far as the 43 families are concerned, they were told by the housing Minister to go and get it done and they would not be left behind. That is what he said. Those were his words. People trusted this and 43 people are now excluded at a cost that would be minimal. It would be fair to pay them.”
“I will give the Minister the figure. Forty-three families were left behind. Deputy Mac Lochlainn and I have dealt with these families. We have had meetings with them where they have come to us and said they did nothing wrong. They moved and were told to do this and this is what they did. They ask why they cannot get their money. There is a difference of a month between them and their neighbours who will get their 10%. It is a multibillion euro scheme and for under €1 million, 43 families, if they were at the top, at the €40,000, would get that amount of money. It would be under €1 million, but they did what was asked, moved forward and have been abandoned. I ask the Minister to look at this because he has the power to change this. Those families were given that word by the previous housing Minister.”
“22 puts fairness and common sense first and guarantees that families are treated with dignity and not rushed out of the scheme designed to protect them. Amendment 46 provides protections for ensuring people cannot be removed from the scheme hastily. It guarantees fair process and gives applicants ample time to respond to requests before withdrawals occur, reinforcing timelines that work for homeowners and that are not against them.”
“I move amendment No. 22: In page 7, line 37, after “withdrawn” to insert the following: "if the applicant fails to comply within 30 days of a written request, and only after a further reminder has been issued and a period of 14 additional days has elapsed". Amendment 22 is vital to protect homeowners who have been unfairly penalised by rigid timelines. It ensures no one can be removed from the scheme without first receiving a clear written request and a full 30-day response period, followed by an additional 14-day grace period after a reminder. Homeowners already face enormous stress and disruption. Under the current arrangements, all pressure falls on them, while the local and national authorities face no accountability regarding delays and administrative failures. Amendment No.”
“I hope the Minister of State will come up to Donegal. All he will see is houses split in half and tarpaulins bolted in with timbers and in behind that are children. They are going to school every day with rodents in the house because they can get in.”
“Semi-detached homes are most commonly built sharing the same chimney breast. Unfortunately, I have had to go in with a teleporter to a house that was demolished, seal up the house and basically brick up the house where there was no chimney any more because it had to be taken down. We also had to put in a flue liner for a family friend all before 3 p.m. when the kids got home. The night before, they had to stay in their granny's because the house got tumbled and their room was left exposed. Then, the rodents - the mice - all came in. This is a constant. They are abandoned because they do not have the financial resources. It is being done in the worst way because the majority of semi-detached houses have a shared chimney breast. When you take one away, you expose the house to all the elements and people cannot afford it.”
“Therefore we are doing it in the most expensive way for the Exchequer and we are leaving a family behind. If we did everything together, up and down, with house contractors in, we could do it at an economically valued rate and it would not be costing the Exchequer. The way we are doing every one of these houses is the worst way. As a builder, I would never touch them. I would never go near them because it does not work. A semi-detached house cannot be split, but we did it. Three years ago, the Minister of State, then Minister, Deputy McConalogue, was going around saying that the house that was split in half in Buncrana was an unfortunate error but here we are with 100 unfortunate errors coming down the road. We have to get a common-sense grip of this. The way we are doing this is ridiculous.”
“There is no weather hitting it but inside that wall that is not cracked is dust, absolute dust. This is what is going to happen. It will become common. Another aspect of it arises when we are building these houses and we are going in and separating them. For example, it costs €310,000 to rebuild a semi-detached house now. With that €310,000, you have separated it out. Another foundation has to be put in. They have had to remove the foundation because they cannot build on sand and they are separated out from the house. The houses of the people who cannot afford to get on the scheme are crumbling down around them and they are left traumatised while these people are trying to move on with their life. What happens with that is there is one house that has been ebuilt for €310,000. The market value is €230,000.”
“I will give the Minister a quick example. I am from a small island off the coast of Ireland, Arranmore Island, and I live in a section of it. Within five minutes of my house was one of my neighbours. He moved to Letterkenny and I moved to the Finn Valley and the two of us had houses. I built my own house; he bought his. His house is semi-detached. He has children trying to go to college. His neighbour has knocked down his house. He is not in a position to get it and he would not meet the damage threshold. I have been up at his house. I put my fist through the wall and it is like an eggshell. When I did that, his wife realised how serious the issue is with them. The damage threshold does not work. Given the orientation of the house, it is protected with walls and trees.”
“I move amendment No. 18: In page 6, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 8 of Principal Act 5. Section 8 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2): “(3) Nothing in this Act or any regulations established under it will affect the eligibility of a dwelling that has already been determined to be impacted under I.S. 465:2018, except in cases where fraud or clear error is proven or a non-scientific diagnosis has been given.”.”.”
“Publishing regional patterns and international comparisons helps to prevent repeated mistakes in the future, allows for early intervention, which is important, and builds trust that the Government and the scheme are operating together. Where we have pockets of pyrite, pyrrhotite and other deleterious materials, we can see it coming and react to it.”
“Homeowners are trapped in appeals that can last for years, while the Housing Agency hides behind claims of independence. We have the Housing Agency and the Appeals Board passing the buck from one to the other, while both are operating like a secret service with no timelines or transparency. Homeowners deserve to see how these decisions are made. Enough of the secrecy and delay. Families should be able to pursue their lives without stress and uncertainty. Transparency is needed so they can trust the system. Amendment No. 56 is necessary because the Minister must make public how deleterious materials are detected, where problems are occurring and what risks are emerging. Risks are emerging everywhere. We need to make people aware of this.”
“By requiring the Minister to produce an annual report on the operation of sections 23A and 23B, the Parliament and the public will finally have a clear, factual picture of how the defective concrete remediation scheme is working and functioning. Homeowners, the Oireachtas and stakeholders will know how many applications are received, validated or referred to the Housing Agency, how long decisions take, which remediation options have increased and the outcome of appeals, which is very important. No one should have to rely on redacted FOIs and ink-covered paper. This amendment would be a great help. Amendment No. 55 would ensure that every decision must be published in anonymised form within 90 days, showing the facts, reasoning and outcomes.”
“16 is essential because homeowners have no visibility of how long applications take or where delays are happening. Councils are already struggling, with ancillary grants taking months. Effectively, it is becoming very hard for local authorities to make progress due to the number of staff moving. There is a bottleneck that means families are stuck waiting. If the Minister resists this, it shows he is adding to the council’s workload. The council has been put to the pin of its collar and is not resourced enough. Amendment No. 50 seeks to introduce accountability and transparency into a system that has long been opaque.”
“I move amendment No. 16: In page 6, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: “ Amendment of section 5 of Principal Act 4. Section 5 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (5): “(5) A designated local authority shall be responsible for the performance, in its designated local authority area, of the functions assigned to it by or under this Act, and shall, within 3 months of the end of each quarter, publish on its website a summary of: (a) the number of applications received; (b) the number of decisions issued under sections 17, 18, 22, 23A and 23B; (c) average and median decision times; (d) number of appeals lodged and their outcomes; and (e) such other statistics as may be prescribed.”.”. Amendment No.”
“Right now these documents are scattered all over the place. It is hard for homeowners, engineers and councils to track all these documents. We need a single updated source that would prevent confusion and mistakes in the scheme. The scheme is already too complex and this would simplify it.”
“I move amendment No. 15: In page 6, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 3 of Principal Act 4. Section 3 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (3): “(4) The Minister shall maintain a single publicly accessible online repository containing: (a) all regulations made under this Act; (b) all ministerial orders made under this Act; (c) all circulars, letters, and guidance issued to designated local authorities or the Housing Agency for the purposes of this Act. (5) Where any such regulatory or administrative document is amended or replaced, the Minister shall update the repository within 7 days.”.”. The amendment requires the Minister to keep all regulations, orders, circulars and guidance under the Act publicly accessible online.”
“When we are talking about scrutiny we have to talk about the fact there is a lack of scrutiny. The Minister of State talks about scrutiny but with the way this has all unfolded over the last few days that is very rich. There was a lack of scrutiny.”
“If we go ahead tomorrow and 50 or 60 homeowners want to opt for the scheme and move forward, there will be nowhere for them to go. We have to think outside the box. We have to do something unique, because we have a humanitarian crisis and a housing crisis in Donegal.”
“I agree with Deputy Doherty's proposal in the amendment. We have to think differently and we have to think outside the box about what is coming ahead. Deputy Mac Lochlainn spoke about the lack of homes being built in Donegal and he referred to that period when we had the crash. We are catching up and we have a humanitarian crisis on our doorstep. We have to think outside the box. What Deputy Doherty is suggesting would work but with it we could also take a blueprint that would change housing moving forward and I think this is the start of it. It is the simple steps and it is a good move. There are 25,000 homes in Donegal that will need to be replaced. People will need to be housed but there is nowhere for them to go. As Deputy Hearne stated, there are only a few houses for rent.”
“Could you imagine being in this in 15 years' time? I know we are going to be here in 15 years' time. We are going to be talking about this in 15 years' time and it is not going to be €4 a block; it is going to be €8 a block. We have the opportunity, if we go end-to-end, to have the power of bulk-buying. I have been saying this for years. Bulk-buying is the only way. A builder goes in and gets ten trusses for roofs but a company can go in and get 10,000. The price differential is massive. That is the only way we can do it, save the State money and start building houses on the scale we need in Donegal.”
“If you are a blocklayer, you will be looking at €4.35 a block and think that is great, but they are not going to come up to Donegal because they can get that money in Dublin. They cannot get it in other parts of the country but they are looking, because other parts of the country are affected too. We have out-of-control building costs. At the current rate of progress, it will take 200 years to redo the houses in Donegal. We have not only to do that; we have other issues too. The fact of the matter is the population is growing in Donegal and we cannot build enough houses. We cannot live in a commencement; we can live in completions and completions are what we need. There are 300 houses going forward, but it is still not going to hit the targets. We are still not going to hit 1,000 houses a year to get us out of here in 15 years.”
“I will give a flavour of the facts on the ground. On option 1, Donegal County Council states - I just got this in - that 121 houses have been built since the scheme came in. In total, 229, 92 combinations and eight option twos. When you outlook option 1, that is 121. Anything else is a remediation option that will be coming back to visit at expense to the Exchequer. That is failure. For us to service, let us say, 10,000 houses in Donegal when we know there is a case for 25,000, if we are doing it properly, we need to be doing 700 houses for the next 15 years. Our numbers in Donegal last year were 382 homes built throughout the whole county. That means for us to do the defective concrete homes will take over 200 years. We do not have the people to rebuild the homes. We are doing it at the dearest rate possible. It is €4.35 a block.”
“As Deputy O'Donoghue was saying about building, I have built for years and years, including in Inishowen, the most affected area, in the Finn Valley and in all these areas. However, I have also poured concrete into the streets. As Deputy O'Donoghue was saying, aggregate stone is a little bit different but the same infected stone is used. We have it in the streets, in the houses, everywhere. There are nurseries in that county that are falling and the children cannot even go outside to play because the pathways are turning to dust. I keep saying it is only a matter of time. To use the word "block" is inaccurate. It is in the aggregate stone. When they quarried into the quarry and they hit the vein of pyrite, pyrrhotite or whatever it was, that was the infection. That was the core.”
“What is happening in Donegal is also happening in Mayo, Limerick, Clare and Wexford. It is everywhere. It is happening in Kerry, Cork, you name it. There is a map out there and the only place it is not happening in is Antrim, but I am expecting a phone call any day. They know when they phone me that I will be there. I am always there and I always will be there. That is what I am saying.”
“I was an ordinary working man who paid for his house. Tens of thousands of my people in Donegal, and people in Limerick, Clare and Mayo, are stuck. In the Minister's own constituency, they are stuck. It is going to be an epidemic if we do not do something about it. We have the opportunity to do it but if we do not do it, then we are going to abandon people and lives. It is bad enough that people in Donegal are treated like second class citizens, but for that to continue with their homes is unacceptable. I had a script for this speech but I am not going to stick to it. I am going to tell the Minister now that this has been going on 14 years. For 14 years, we have had failed housing Minister after failed housing Minister. It is about time that the Government took this seriously.”
“Leave them in their home and then let them move. As it is, that is not happening. We are having to move children to smaller places, with sensory overload, and even if they ever do recover, it will take them years. That is what we are here for. We are here to make sure that our citizens are treated equally but it is not happening. The proposed section 32 on transitional provisions are welcome because they ensure previous applications are not invalidated, but they do not address the symptomatic delays. The proposed Part 3, which amends the Building Control Act 1990, links defective concrete remediation to the national building standards. This is necessary for safety but we need to come in ahead. Voting down my amendment is voting against the people whom I represent. The people of Donegal have sent me up here.”