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 co…
TDs / Charles Ward
Charles Ward
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
392
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
72,453
words spoken in the chamber
Across 233 contributions
308
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
103
topics asked about
Across 19 departments
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
What they ask about
The subject headings the Oireachtas filed their questions under.
Who they ask
The departments their questions were addressed to.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Questions asked 392 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 233 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| January 2025 | 1 | 1 |
| February 2025 | 29 | 20 |
| March 2025 | 14 | 10 |
| April 2025 | 16 | 7 |
| May 2025 | 10 | 15 |
| June 2025 | 17 | 13 |
| July 2025 | 21 | 8 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 5 | 11 |
| October 2025 | 31 | 8 |
| November 2025 | 47 | 12 |
| December 2025 | 8 | 29 |
| January 2026 | 25 | 16 |
| February 2026 | 9 | 10 |
| March 2026 | 30 | 13 |
| April 2026 | 38 | 15 |
| May 2026 | 25 | 9 |
| June 2026 | 21 | 10 |
| July 2026 | 9 | 8 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| September 2026 | 12 | 5 |
| October 2026 | 24 | 11 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 124 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Asked about similar topics
Worked out by computer from the subject headings of each TD's questions, giving more weight to headings few TDs use. It shows shared subjects, not shared views.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Donegal 29 November 2024 to now
- party 100% RDR 29 November 2024 to now
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 …
St. Francis' National School in Barnesmore, County Donegal, is currently facing a crisis due to a severe shortage of special needs assistant, SNA, support. Four children with additional needs started in the school in September but despite this, no additional SNAs have been allocated. The current allocation is inadequate and the children have complex needs. The situation has become very distressing for the families, t…
This Bill should have been an opportunity to correct a fundamentally broken system regarding everything from building control to where we are heading right now. Instead, we are laying more complexity on top of injustice and calling it progress. I have submitted 18 pages of amendments to improve this scheme, to make it fair and to make it work, yet more than half of these amendments have been thrown out, including an …
I am speaking on building control. There is building control in this.
If am not allowed to talk about building control, there are building control elements all over this. Okay, I will move on. The transitional provisions in section 32 transitional provisions are welcome because they ensure that previous applications are not invalidated, but they do not address the systemic delays. Part 3, which amends the Building Control Act 1990, links defective concrete remediation to national build…
I move amendment No. 1:
In page 5, line 22, to delete “Blocks”.
I will make the speech I was not allowed to make earlier and I will not be muzzled. I will talk about defective concrete. Today's Bill should have been an opportunity to correct the fundamentally broken system. Instead, we are laying more complexity on top of injustice and calling it progress. I have submitted 18 pages of amendments to improve this sch…
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 tha…
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…
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 wou…
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.
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 …
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…
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, e…
No.
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 dow…
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 the…
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…
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%…
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 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…
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 …
The law of the land is clear. Section 39(10)(b) of the defective concrete blocks Act 2022 sets out the powers of the appeals board.
It may direct the Housing Agency or a local authority to reconsider a decision in line with the board's directions or it may replace the decision entirely with a new determination. That is what the Oireachtas intended. That is the safeguard homeowners were told they had but in place is …
My constituents are coming into the office all the time and are contacting us. Their lives are being determined by the decisions of the Housing Agency as to whether they can rebuild their house and move on with their lives. When they request evidence behind the life-changing decisions, they receive black pages with ink all over them. It is heavily redacted. FOI was sought and refused and then overturned by the Inform…
It is disappointing but, sadly, not surprising that there is so little mention of the defective concrete crisis in the new housing plan. It is a crisis that has impacted my native County Donegal and many countries throughout the whole country, and worse, it is referred in this to as a legacy issue. This is far from a legacy issue. It is alive and present and persistent. It is happening right now, and inaction will gu…