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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“Implicit in every response to me on the floor of this House is the portrayal of homeowners as being ungrateful. It is in the language that Ministers use. The Minister, Deputy Browne, and his Government have said that this scheme is generous and the biggest in the history of the State, and so the public are being forced to wonder why nothing is ever enough for these people. The truth is sinister. The Government has turned asking for a safe home into an unreasonable demand and has made families feel like a burden. They should not apologise for expecting the same treatment given to others in Leinster. This is not just spin; it is actual gaslighting. The Government does not want to fix the scheme but it wants to manage the optics. It wants the headlines but not the hard truth. The Government wants to wear compassion in front of the cameras.”
“Waiting is the policy and the delay is not neutral. It is violent because the homes are collapsing around people. The mental health damage is now becoming apparent. Children are sleeping in bedrooms filled with black mould. Tonight, like every night, their health is deteriorating. Elderly people are waking in fear that the walls will cave in this winter. What is even more insulting is that the delay is spin. The Government reassures itself that it is doing enough, and not just that it is doing enough, but it is also trying to convince the country that it is doing enough. It is doing nothing. The Government wants to shape the narrative to tell the public that it is generous, that there is a scheme that is working, and that families are being supported. This is a PR curtain with a darker strategy.”
“This morning I table this motion not just in my own name but with the support of my Opposition colleagues across the Chamber. Together we speak with one voice not because this is political but because this is moral. This is constitutional and this is urgent. For years now, thousands of families have been left to live in homes that are cracking, sinking and breaking apart not due to negligence on their part but due to shortcuts and because the State failed to regulate. The response we received was one word, "Wait". Wait for legislation, wait for appeals, wait for revised standards, wait for a technical panel, and wait for permission to rebuild their lives. Let us be clear. Waiting is not a side effect of this scheme; it is the scheme. Every time the Government defers and every time it announces another review, it is choosing not to act.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — chartered engineers employed or contracted by the Housing Agency act as agents of the State, exercising statutory functions that determine the rights of homeowners, and that the Government remains legally and constitutionally accountable for their decisions, including unlawful downgrades from full to partial remediation; — appeals against such downgrades have been left unresolved for over two years, leaving families in unsafe homes, in breach of the State's duty to provide timely remedies, and that justice requires the reinstatement of the original engineer's determinations; — the appeals system is slow, opaque, and structurally flawed, with panels dominated by legal rather than technical expertise, producing procedural rather than substantive decisions on safety, and that Government cannot disclaim responsibility for a statutory process it created and funds; — families who applied under earlier versions of the scheme are now unfairly penalised, contrary to Article 40.1 of the Constitution, and must be granted retrospective access to improved supports to ensure equal treatment before the law; — presenting the scheme as a "grant" rather than 100 per cent redress imposes crippling financial burdens, excludes essential works, and forces families into debt, while families under the Leinster pyrite scheme received full redress and State-managed remediation, highlighting unlawful inequality of treatment; — households impacted by defective blocks are living in unsafe, deteriorating homes under intolerable financial and psychological stress, in breach of their rights under Articles 40 and 43 of Bunreacht na hÉireann and under the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights; — reliance on a superficial damage threshold under I.S.465:2018 is scientifically unsound, arbitrarily excluding many homes with concealed structural failure, and that Engineers Ireland has confirmed the standard is unfit for purpose; — consistency and fairness demand a coordinated approach to semi-detached and multi-unit developments, as it is illogical and unjust for one home to be demolished while an attached property sharing the same defective materials is left standing; and — the crisis extends far beyond private homes to schools, health centres, community buildings, critical infrastructure, and cemeteries, requiring urgent extension of remediation measures to safeguard public safety and essential services; further notes that: — "An Earthquake in Slow Motion: The mental health impact of the defective concrete crisis", a study conducted by Oisin Keenan and Professor Karen Kirby at Ulster University has highlighted the significant psychological effects of the crisis, including trauma, stress, and long-term mental health harm, confirming that redress must address wellbeing as well as structural safety; — families are left in damaging limbo by years of delay — waiting on appeals, technical reviews, test results, administrative processes, and the revision of I.S.465:2018 — and that this uncertainty is itself causing profound stress and harm; — affected homeowners are denied insurance, resale value, and mortgage access until full remediation is guaranteed, perpetuating economic exclusion and insecurity; — requiring homeowners to act as project managers imposes impossible burdens and exposes them to gouging, and that an end-to-end State-managed option must be made available to guarantee transparency, cost control, and effective delivery; — partial remediation continues despite the acknowledged need to revise I.S.465:2018, forcing families into unsafe works and exposing the State to charges of negligence, recklessness, and breach of its constitutional duty to protect citizens; — homeowners affected by defective concrete are being unjustly taxed twice, having paid Value Added Tax (VAT) on the original construction and now again on reconstruction despite being blameless for the defects; — the concrete levy imposes an additional burden on homeowners rather than the industry responsible and that a significant portion of the grant scheme is effectively returned to the exchequer through VAT receipts; — homeowners whose properties were partially constructed prior to the introduction of the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme are unjustly excluded from eligibility, despite having built in full compliance with building regulations, and that these individuals have suffered severe financial loss through no fault of their own, due to the State's failure to enforce material standards; — the profound fear, anxiety, and trauma endured by families living in structurally unsafe homes during red weather warnings and storms; — the absence of any statutory redress scheme for social and affordable housing affected by defective materials, and the need for the Government to immediately establish such a scheme to ensure full parity of protection and remediation across all housing tenures; and — the State, having failed in its duty of regulation, carries an unavoidable liability to its citizens, and that only an independent statutory authority, accountable to the Oireachtas, with full oversight of delivery, standards, funding, and contractors, can ensure justice; and calls on the Government to: — immediately cease all partial remediation until the revised I.S.465:2018 standard is published and adopted, and to ground the scheme in the best available scientific evidence on pyrrhotite, sulphate attack, and concealed structural failure; — reinstate the original determinations of engineers unlawfully downgraded by the Housing Agency, ensuring families are not trapped indefinitely in unsafe homes; — legislate to guarantee retrospective support for all families who applied under earlier versions of the scheme, securing equality before the law; — establish an independent statutory authority, accountable to the Oireachtas, with full responsibility for delivery, oversight, transparency, and enforcement; — provide an optional end-to-end State-managed remediation model to relieve families of the financial and administrative burden; — extend remediation supports to affected schools, health centres, community facilities, infrastructure, and cemeteries; — provide dedicated mental health supports for affected families, embedding psychological assistance within the remediation process; — set binding timelines for all decisions, publish a clear roadmap with deadlines for scientific and legislative updates, and guarantee that no family is left indefinitely in unsafe and deteriorating homes; — immediately bring forward proposals to reform the enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme so that affected homeowners are not taxed for rebuilding their homes; to remove or offset VAT and levy costs arising from remediation works; and to ensure that the financial responsibility of this crisis is placed on those responsible for the defects within the construction and materials industry; — urgently intervene with insurance and lenders to ensure that homeowners affected by defective concrete retain full access to insurance and mortgage protection, and that they do not bear any additional insurance costs or penalties compared with homeowners who are unaffected, as no family should face financial loss, insecurity, or incur extra costs as a result of a crisis they did not cause; — extend the scheme's eligibility to include all unfinished or uninhabitable dwellings without delay; — immediately establish an emergency support plan, including pre-approved temporary accommodation or hotel arrangements, to uphold its health and safety duty of care, protect families from harm, and prevent the physical and psychological damage caused by unsafe living conditions; — ensure that forthcoming legislative amendments to the scheme deliver full redress, retrospective equality, an independent statutory authority, and a scientifically sound replacement of I.S.465:2018, as failure to legislate comprehensively will prolong suffering and expose the State to constitutional and legal challenge; and — declare the defective concrete crisis a national emergency, mobilising the full powers of the State to vindicate the constitutional and human rights of affected citizens.”
“The average grocery bill for families there is €3,000. Ministers sit back and give each other claps on the back. It is a no-good budget for anybody and the Government has done nothing for them.”
“They are providing an absolutely fantastic service at a cost to their own families and the Government is neglecting them. I visited Donegal youth services on Monday and the service they provide to young people is inspiring. Some 18,000 people go through that but there was not a mention and nothing for them in the budget. I was delighted to see the €23 million increase in the allocation for the Irish language. However, there is a notable lack of funding for the Gaeltacht communities, which have been absolutely abandoned again, particularly in Donegal. Overall the budget does absolutely nothing for struggling families. The Irish consumer is still paying the highest costs in Europe for electricity. Since 2021 the cost of electricity has jumped by 69% while the cost of gas has more than doubled and the Government has done nothing.”
“If somebody in Donegal has cancer, they have to travel for treatment which is unacceptable. We are the only county that does this. We need to stand up and say this is enough and put the proper services in place. It is unbelievably cruel that were forced to do this. The strain it puts on families is unbelievable. Again it speaks of a government completely devoid of empathy. I welcome the increase in funding for Tusla for over 5,000 foster care placements. However, this still does not address the many issues foster families face. Foster carers need increased access to therapeutic supports and an increase in aftercare allowance along with pension security in parity with everybody else. The lack of recognition that foster carers receive is disrespectful and a slight on them.”
“There are very troubling patterns with patients not being taken seriously, insufficient investigations, over-reliance on basic medications and inappropriate diagnosis where specialised care needs to be prioritised. I welcome that the budget included investment in refurbishment of community nursing units in Buncrana. However, no timeline is in place. What is it with Donegal? They give us something and never give us a timeline for implementation. Many of my constituents in Donegal rely on respite care, particularly in Buncrana. The closure of this centre has caused enormous distress and isolation for many in the community. There is inadequate funding for expanding desperately needed healthcare facilities in the north west. Many people are forced to travel for radiation treatment for cancer.”
“Somehow the idea of thousands of children without a home, robbed of their childhood, particularly in Donegal, has become normalised, in the Fianna Fáil Government. In our own county, the healthcare budget put forward is certainly not adequate for the growing population and 220 new beds are nowhere near enough to address the long waiting lists. There seems to be little investment. There are serious health conditions such as functional neurological disorder, a disorder which is common, debilitating and sometimes chronic. One of my constituents told me they have had to fight tooth and nail to get any kind of medical or financial support. The strain is immense without any national treatment plan. People who present with severe mental health difficulties and chronic pain are often not treated appropriately causing delays in diagnosis.”
“I am glad Charlie McConalogue is here in the Chamber because he is the man I want to talk to. Today across the country, particularly in Donegal, we have got a budget that is an absolute insult to working people - a nothing budget for people. What kind of message does it send out to working people when we have given them absolutely nothing? There are no measures to prevent homelessness in this budget. As we speak 16,353 people, including 5,000 children, are homeless in this country. In our own county, Donegal, potentially 25,000 homes have defective concrete. We have a scheme that has failed twice but is not being addressed and a 10% retrospective payment that the Government never did anything about. It has abandoned the people and it is absolutely ridiculous. I am glad that I can talk to you today about this.”
“That tragedy happened three years ago today and they are still waiting for answers. I ask the Government to act. The defective concrete families in Donegal have had enough, as have those in the rest of the country, in Mayo, Clare, Limerick and elsewhere. I apologise if I have excluded anybody.”
“People from across the floor have come to me about it. As we speak right now, there is not a county in Ireland that is not affected and it will grow. I have talked about this every week and nobody listens but they will listen in five or six years' time when they experience the difficulties Donegal have faced. The budget has missed the opportunity to finally do the right thing but it does not surprise me. I urge the Government to act before this crisis worsens for families on the brink and before somebody gets seriously injured or killed. Donegal bore the brunt of Storm Amy last week, a storm that sadly took a person's life. I want us to remember Tommy Connors today and send deepest sympathies to his family. Today, I will also mention the Creeslough families with whom I am working closely.”
“The Government must abolish the concrete levy for families rebuilding their homes. This is a priority. Homeowners cannot be punished because it is not their fault. The level of injustice cannot be ignored, especially when we are faced with so many examples of Government overspend. The Government has handled this crisis in a completely fiscally irresponsible way. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence, the Government persists in offering remediation when only a full demolition will do. If we go back to remediation, these houses will need to be revisited. It is not good enough. It is simply scandalous to be treated like a second-class citizen in your own country. Until there is accountability at the highest level, this vicious circle will continue. This is not just a Donegal issue. This is an issue up and down the country.”
“The Government has not only failed to properly address this through two failed schemes, victims of the defective concrete crisis are forced to pay a levy on concrete required to rebuild their homes while, at the same time, they are charged VAT on builds, despite having already paid VAT when they built their homes in the first place. There is double taxation of people who are already struggling to meet the rising cost. The Government reduced the VAT on apartments. Why can it not reduce the VAT on homeowners who are affected by defective concrete? It is a double standard and it is not good enough. Homeowners are left in dire situations through no fault of their own. It does not sound like accountability to me.”
“Families across the State, through no fault of their own, have built homes that are now crumbling around them while we just get on with life up in Donegal, where homes are destroyed and children go to bed at night not knowing if they will wake up in a house that is safe in the morning. It is scandalous. The widespread use of defective concrete across the State has devastated entire communities. It is not just in Donegal. It is all through the country. The crisis has inflicted severe mental health issues in Donegal and in other parts of the country. It needs to be recognised for what it is: a complete humanitarian crisis.”
“This very policy, which the Government is trying to implement, has caused irreparable damage to the fishing industry in Ireland and has to be called what it is. Crucially, the Government has failed to address the humanitarian crisis in Donegal. The defective concrete crisis is a crisis beyond all. It is in every single county in Ireland as we speak. From Buncrana to Elm Park, all the way to Malin Head, it is non-stop. People are suffering and it is not being addressed. Funding for this crisis was only mentioned in a sentence. It is a complete insult that there was not a proper mention. There was one sentence.”
“Our fishing industry faces losing up to €200 million. Our fishing communities across Donegal face even further economic and social decline, yet this has not been touched in the budget. It is not important enough. I come from an island community that has witnessed and been devastated by the severe decline in fishing. Our fishermen are forced to watch as countries thrive off of our fish and our waters without any punishment, while Irish boats struggle to get a minimal quota. If they go over the quota, they are treated like criminals. We are now facing even more cuts. The budget should have committed to financial assistance for the Irish fishing industry as fishing communities have suffered a huge blow. Instead of this, we see full support for the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy.”
“When the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, presented this budget, he said we were "making the best possible use of the resources available to invest in our future and to strengthen our foundations." I did not know whether to laugh or cry at that. As the House can imagine, coming from Donegal, we are living with foundations and houses that are crumbling down around us. We are totally abandoned. How can the Government invest in the future when it has left Donegal so far behind, with a defective concrete crisis and a fishing crisis? It has failed the people of Donegal completely with this short-sighted budget. It has failed to address the potential collapse of the entire fishing industry following the recommendation of a 70% cut to the mackerel quota, as well as significant cuts to blue whiting and boarfish quotas.”
“That is wrong and it is exploitation of the highest order. The carer's allowance as it stands is extremely outdated and gender-biased. The Government has the opportunity to address this in its budget next week. It has the opportunity to abolish the means test and pay carers for what they do. I am urging the Government to join us in supporting this motion and show carers they are valued. Since 2011, there has been an increase of 60% in the number of people who need care. The people looking after them are doing an average of over 80 hours a week. They are saving the State billions of euro but we cannot recognise the people who are providing this. We need to address this before people are left behind without any support. What kind of message is that sending out to carers in this day and age?”
“As you are caring in the physical sense, it is not a job for you as a family carer. You are looking after someone you love and you see the decline in your health. That love and care should not be exploited, as it has been for years. This was a burden that was never openly discussed, but always expected to be carried by women and is all too often carried by them. It is called a family issue and kept behind closed doors where women will give up everything to stay and look after a relative. It is just a ridiculous situation they find themselves in, in this day and age. They have no money because they are staying at home to look after somebody when they should be adequately rewarded for this. We fail as a State to recognise what they have given to us. This has been going on for generations and now it is expected.”
“Over 10,000 unpaid carers in Donegal are awaiting next week’s budget in the hope they will finally receive long overdue recognition for the difficult and important work they do every single day. The lack of respect for people who provide an essential service and save the State over €20 billion a year is staggering. Most of us, in our lifetime, will either become carers or be cared for. This is a reality we do not realise until we are faced with the unrelenting responsibility of becoming a carer. Nobody expects to become a family carer. Sometimes it happens overnight and sometimes it happens over time. As a family carer, your time is no longer your own and you no longer have the freedom or flexibility to go where you like when you like. Caring is not just a daily duty but an ever-present weight that is on your mind.”
“Donegal is the only county in the whole of Ireland in which the rail network was removed. We are so far behind that it will take billions of euro to get us up to date. When the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, was Minister for housing, he turned his back to us. I ask him, as Minister for Transport, not to turn his back on Donegal again.”
“It is shocking that in this day and age that there is still no significant investment in regional rail in the north west. People in Inishowen who travel to Letterkenny or Donegal town must travel by bus. I know an 82-year-old man who travels on a bus to Donegal town to see a relative. He is on the bus for the guts of two hours. Many of my constituents do this and are travelling long distances. It is outrageous. The lack of sufficient healthcare is not addressed. There is a lack of transport. There is a litany of neglect in Donegal. Will the Minister commit to ensure Donegal will have a rail service that connects us to the rest of the west, the capital and the North into the future, so that we can give people something to hope for?”
“In response, he assured me that the Ministers of State, Deputies Boxer Moran and O'Sullivan, would visit the residents over the following week, which they failed to do, but I understand that the meeting took place and a decision has been made on this. Will the Taoiseach inform the residents of the Minister's decision and end the miseries and uncertainties for these families?”
“It is a disgrace that we now face into October and legislation regarding retrospective payments for homeowners under the defective concrete scheme still has not been published despite the Taoiseach's housing Minister in June saying it would be. I expect the funds will be made available in the Government's budget next week, and if the Government fails to properly address this crisis yet again it will have failed impacted homeowners once again. In July, I informed the Taoiseach that the houses in Elm Park, Buncrana, face immediate dangers. These houses were built with defective concrete and built on a floodplain.”
“With the arrangements that have been made to ensure the animals in Donegal continue to receive the appropriate care needed and transport to distances that do not compromise their welfare, I have written to the Minister, Deputy Heydon, asking if he can intervene and stop this centre being closed immediately.”
“I have written to the Minister, Deputy Heydon, regarding the closure of the ISPCA's animal centre in Donegal, a devastating decision that has detrimental animal welfare effects in the north-west region. Just over a week ago in Donegal, we saw 14 dogs rescued from horrific conditions but these dogs have nowhere to go. They will travel a considerable distance to reach the nearest facility, which means longer transport times for distressed, injured and abandoned animals, raising serious questions about their welfare and the capacity of other centres to absorb the additional demand. I also raised questions about the cost it will involve, given that the Donegal centre was closed because of serious financial challenges. Surely it does not make financial sense to close a centre.”
“While substantial harm has already been caused, we need to prevent this psychological damage. We need to act now on the defective concrete Act. I urge the Minister in his role to please meet with these families and listen to them, and get this sorted out once and for all.”
“This will cause social and health issues for decades to come. We must act now. We are already seeing the devastating impact on children in my constituency of Donegal. Hundreds of children in Donegal face homelessness. Hundreds are facing living in crumbling, unsafe homes due to the defective concrete crisis. The sense of security and belonging that a home is supposed to provide has been stripped away from these children. As the walls crumble beneath them, they are forced to live in homes and try to maintain their lives when everything around them is falling apart. It is extremely psychologically damaging to the children and their parents. They lie awake every night wondering how they are going to manage the roof over their heads crumbling, constant fear, worry and anxiety.”
“As a parent, it is unimaginable that over a quarter of a million children lack a warm home, a nutritious meal or a winter coat in this day and age. It is unimaginable that over 5,000 children in this country are currently homeless. It makes me sick to my stomach to think so many children are without a bed or a home at night. The Government's lack of intervention is even more sickening. How can we sit back and allow this to continue? Homelessness has devastating long-term negative effects on children's physical and mental health. We know that children who have experienced homelessness are more likely to have health problems, poor academic performance, higher rates of depression, anxiety and behaviour disorders, and are more likely to go hungry and experience developmental delays.”
“I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion today. I fully support it, particularly its call for budget 2026 to commit €630 million towards measures to relieve child poverty and homelessness, as well as its call on the Government to introduce a total ban on evictions of children into homelessness, and the legislation to prioritise housing needs of homeless families. As a member of the children's committee, it has been devastating to hear about the rising levels of child poverty in this country. The Children's Rights Alliance has reported that over a quarter of a million children experienced enforced deprivation in Ireland in 2024, showing just how prevalent this issue of child poverty is.”
“Can the Government please put something in place to suspend this in order that these people will have a chance to get their reviews done properly and not when we are in the middle of a review of IS 465?”
“We have unethical engineering going on in this scheme. That cannot be denied. A number of people were downgraded. They were granted full demolition. An engineer came out, did their job, examined it and then it was passed over to the Housing Agency. Someone in the agency looked at that fellow engineer's work and then downgraded it. This is unethical. It is unethical engineering. What is going on has been going on for some time. We suspect that this is widespread and that it will continue. How can we have engineers determining if something is a downgrade when we are reviewing IS 465? They are still coming downgrading people, even though we do not have the review of IS 465.”
“Will the Government use its ministerial authority to direct the Housing Agency to reinstate the engineers' original recommendations for further demolition, stop the madness of partial fixes that will fail in the future and follow the science? Finally, will there be legislation to ensure families who were early movers and were reassured they would not be disadvantaged be given the 10% retrospective payment they were meant to get and not be punished?”
“Under Irish law the Government can declare a national emergency and issue ministerial guidance and fast-track legislation to address this crisis. The legal framework is there but the will to act is missing. I need real answers and I would be grateful if the Minister would respectfully give them to me and those affected rather than running down the clock, as usually happens, with people looking over and wasting time. We need answers and we need them now. People are suffering and literally dying. This Government runs down the clock and delays things. Will the Minister and the Government use the powers under the Public Service Management Act 1997 to immediately issue ministerial guidelines to the Housing Agency to stop issuing partial fixes and ensure full remediation of affected homes?”
“Let us talk about unethical engineering decisions that are still happening. Chartered engineers, under the original scheme, made recommendations for full demolition and yet chartered engineers from the Housing Agency continue to overturn them. People are being told their homes are safe when they are not. Complaints have been made to Engineers Ireland but the Government remains silent at the cost of people's health and safety. The truth is the Government has the power to fix this crisis today. It does not need to wait for the review of IS 465. The defective concrete has been trotted out as a poor excuse for inaction for far too long. The Government wrote the legislation in full knowledge of the obstacles it would present to accessing the scheme and continues to hide behind this to this day.”
“I am not going to mince my words. The defective concrete scandal is a national emergency the Minister's Government wilfully mismanaged for over a decade. The Government has worked hard to fool the public and portray that we are being looked after, but the truth is we are now in the second failed scheme. My staff see suicidal ideation every week in our office. The uncertainty and the feeling of abandonment in this crisis has caused this. Some 40% of homeowners are living with severe depression. This is the reality and yet there is still no timeline for when IS 465 will be reviewed. Legislation for retrospective payments has still not been published since the grant amount was increased almost a year ago, despite the Minister, Deputy Browne, telling us it would be prioritised in June.”
“I call on the Government to support inclusive education in the upcoming budget, to introduce special needs co-ordinators in schools with three or more special education posts and to ensure that this role is recognised as a senior management position with a pay grade similar to that of a deputy principal. No child should be denied the opportunity to grow, thrive, learn and go to school.”
“I take this opportunity to ask the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to reconsider the proposal for redesignation of special needs schools for children who have mild general learning disabilities set out in Circular 0039/25 and actively engage with schools on the matter. The proposed reclassification of schools would result in many children being returned to mainstream education. Parents and teachers in Donegal have told me this would not be in the children's best interests. Mainstream schools do not have the resources necessary to provide the right environment for these children to thrive.”
“Shockingly, many of these children did not get an offer of an appropriate school place at all. Some received offers of places but they could not take them up due to essential building works being carried out. It is unacceptable that these building works in schools like Little Angels in Letterkenny have been delayed and that children's education has been delayed. I was delighted to see the school in question officially opened. The Minister of State had a hand in that, and well done to him. I hope no parent is obliged to endure the problem which the parents at this school had to endure.”
“September is a very exciting and important month for many children as they return to school. For some, however, the excitement has been unfairly and cruelly stripped away as their parents struggle to find appropriate school places for them in their localities. As a parent, I cannot imagine the heartbreak facing parents who are unable to secure such places for their children. The Minister for Education has declined to provide the exact number of children with additional needs awaiting school places for the academic year. This indicates that there are many parents who have sadly faced the heartbreak to which I refer this month. Over the summer, it was estimated that more than 400 children would be unable to start school properly this month. If that is the case, it is a disgrace.”
“The university should be supported in establishing a dental school to address the staff shortages and clinic closures we are seeing across the country. The HSE needs to step up its recruitment. There are dentists in County Donegal and beyond who would work and who would help. The Government needs to ensure significant investment to make sure this is addressed in this upcoming budget. Oral health has often been left behind in health budgets despite the fact that so many oral health issues are preventable. Early intervention is available to ensure issues are caught in time. However, like everything else, the Government sits on its hands and allows issues to grow and fester until we have a full-on crisis. It is time we break this vicious cycle.”
“Our overreliance on non-EU students at our dental schools is growing, so we need to increase the number of places available to undergraduates in the country. We need to start taking necessary steps to address this. I agree with this motion. We need to provide a significant increase in dental school places in University College Cork, UCC, and Trinity College Dublin, but we also need to expand significantly beyond Dublin and Cork. It is clear that we need to establish a new dental school, and this should be established in the north west. I do not believe we can properly address issues in the public or private dental sectors, particularly in rural areas, without establishing a dental school in the north west. The Atlantic Technological University is steadily growing. It is developing its campus. There are new courses going on all the time.”
“Many people were forced to borrow money, and some fell into debt as a result. In other cases, approval to have treatment abroad was unreasonably refused or delayed. This is completely unacceptable and it is clear that the application process needs to be far more accessible and the scheme needs to be flexible. We also need to address the severe lack of dentists. This is what is causing such a backlog. Last year, there was only one dentist per 2,500 eligible medical card patients in Ireland. One in six patients on private dental care waiting lists is waiting over three months for an elective appointment, while half of patients are being forced to wait longer than three months for specialised care. The Irish Dental Association has outlined issues regarding staffing across the sector, which is limiting capacity and patient access.”
“People must have the receipt. Some of the requirements to ensure reimbursement and some of the things people have had to do are bizarre. Many people are unaware of these requirements, believing the application and confirmation from the clinic would be enough. This is not the case, and many people are misled and some are out of pocket for significant amounts of money. The Ombudsman himself, Ger Deering, has criticised the HSE for an unreasonable, inflexible approach to administrating the scheme. It funds treatment abroad for healthcare that the State is either unable to provide or unable to provide in a timely manner in Ireland. In his report, entitled "In Sickness and in Debt", the Ombudsman found that some patients faced a fight to be reimbursed for the legitimate costs they had incurred for necessary treatment they had received abroad.”
“The HSE threshold for children and teenagers to avail of essential dental treatment like extractions or orthodontic work is far too high. Many children in Donegal are forced to go across the Border to access essential dental treatment. This is not for cosmetic procedures; this is for essential treatments. The application process can be complex and confusing, with many constituents feeling misled or unclear about the eligibility requirements. Some of the requirements to ensure reimbursement are unnecessary and, frankly, ridiculous. When people go into the North to visit a dentist, they have to purchase an item from a shop in the North so as to have a receipt to show they are actually in the county of Derry or Tyrone. That receipt would then be proof instead of the dentist actually filling in the paper. Dentists do not take that.”
“I thank my colleague, Deputy Stanley, for tabling this motion, which I fully support. Dental care is completely inaccessible, especially for people in rural areas. In Donegal, children are lucky if they have seen a dentist once by the time they are finished school. Many of them have not seen one at all. I know this from experience, as I have four children. Maybe one has seen a dentist but the rest have not, unless we go privately. The Irish Dental Association has outlined that just half of the children targeted for school dental screening were screened in 2022. Of those who are seen, many are seen late, with almost a ten-year backlog in accessing services in parts of the country. It is very common for children in Donegal to receive their first appointments when they are nearly finished primary school or well into secondary school.”
“I am sure the Taoiseach agrees where you live should not determine where you get treatment. What will he do to end health discrimination being experienced by people in Donegal?”
“I was horrified by the "Journal Investigates" report that stated just 12% of cancer patients in Letterkenny University Hospital receive treatment within the recommended 15-day timeframe. Cancer patients in Letterkenny have to wait 50% longer than those in any other hospital in the HSE West and North-West region. This is not just delay; this is life-altering. Research by the British Medical Journal has shown delays or reduced treatment options available to cancer patients cause avoidable death. Letterkenny is floundering. The hospital has been stripped of services over the years and risks being downgraded, particularly if a surgical hub is not established. We cannot allow this to happen. The people of Donegal deserve the same healthcare options as everyone else.”
“They should not have to be charged VAT twice on levies in a broken system and they should not face predatory contract practices while being abandoned by infrastructure and economic investment. They face all this while experiencing a 40% increase in weekly grocery prices alongside families across the country. This is about restoring dignity, opportunities and fairness. We need to fix the scheme, fix rents, fix rebuilds and fix Donegal’s future.”