Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-27
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Charles Ward (RDR), Donegal

I want to raise the matter of how the State is communicating life-changing decisions to people in the defective concrete blocks scheme. A constituent of mine applied in 2022. Her home was assessed by an IS 465 engineer on the Housing Agency's list. The conclusion was clear: scientific and engineering principles dictated that full demolition and rebuilding was the only safe option to restore this unsafe home. The Housing Agency did not accept that, however, and it downgraded the remediation option to option 2, which retains defective material within the structure, despite extremely low compressive strength levels and readings, and clear evidence of ongoing deterioration inside and outside the house. My constituent appealed that decision and that appeal took years. On 18 May at 9 o'clock in the morning, she received an email from the appeals board stating her appeal had been upheld, the Housing Agency's decision had been annulled and option 1, demolition and rebuild, was directed. That was presented as the outcome of her appeal. For those living in structurally unsafe homes, it is about something as simple as being able to move on. My constituent thought she could move on and that there was finally an answer. Hours later, however, she received a second email that stated the first communication was sent in error and did not reflect the decision of the board. It apologised for the confusion caused.
This is not a minor administrative correction; this is a life-changing communication issued by the State, through the body that withdrew its decision on the same day it made it known. The woman affected followed every single rule of the process and compiled everything in the right order for years, knowing her home had deteriorated and praying and hoping she would get through the process, only to have a decision made and reversed on the same day.
I am not questioning the independence of the appeals panel. That is definitely not the issue here. The issue is that those running a State-administrated scheme dealing with unsafe homes confirmed, in an official written communication, a full demolition and rebuild outcome and retracted that communication hours later. That should never happen in a system dealing with people in a vulnerable situation like those we are dealing with in Donegal and throughout the country.
My question is simple: what safeguards are in place to ensure no other person in the scheme will be told they have secured full remediation only for the decision to be withdrawn the next day as an administrative error? That level of failure is simply unacceptable. This is meant to be the biggest scheme in the history of the State but the failures are starting to show up day after day.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-27