Hear, hear.
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
I stand today not only as a TD, but as someone who is directly affected by this. This is a Government-created situation. It happened because of a lack of checks on quarries. If this had been done properly, we would not be facing this situation. I speak with the anger of a father who has watched his home crumble. I speak with the frustration of the people who contact me every day and who cannot take one more sleepless…
As the Tánaiste knows, I am living this experience so I can tell him at first hand what is happening on the ground. There is a humanitarian crisis in Mayo and a potential humanitarian crisis in Wexford and Limerick.
Yesterday, a pyrrhotite issue emerged in Wexford. Geographically, we are at opposite ends of the country but we have the same problem. Within a mile of where I live, there are 200 houses currently affect…
I will give the Tánaiste a quick example. Solomons Court in Letterkenny has 1,400 houses and every single one of them has defective concrete. Some 15 have been remediated. With some, that involved full demolition and with others, it was partial remediation. However, the majority of people there are stuck because they are in a town and if 500 of them want to go into this scheme and get on with their lives - they have …
As we know, today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It is unbelievable that worldwide a woman is killed every ten minutes by an intimate partner or family member. Although we may think Ireland is a progressive country, femicide continues to take the lives of many women and girls across our country with no sign of any real progress. A total of 35% of women in Ireland have experienced …
Once again, the Government has waived pre-legislative scrutiny on the defective concrete Bill. On 14 June 2022, the Taoiseach said, we will get on with it. With that attitude, 205 homes have been partially built in Donegal; 579 have works ongoing and 43 homes have been completely abandoned. There are 3,000 applications, most of which are stuck, including mine. I have been stuck in this scheme for five years and canno…
I thank my colleagues Deputies Paul Murphy and Richard Boyd Barrett and their staff for bringing forward this extremely important detailed motion. I am happy to cosign and support this motion and its calls for the Government to urgently progress this Bill on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and include a ban on trade services.
There is supposedly a ceasefire in Gaza. Let us be honest: if w…
2. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether he plans to review the employment permits process, with a view to making the process faster; whether his Department has considered streamlining the process with the visa process, in conjunction with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62597/25]
I would be grateful if the Minister would let me know whether he plans to review the employment permits process during his term as Minister. The process of applying for a permit can be slow at times and I would like to know his plan to address this. Has the Department considered streamlining this process via the visa process?
I have assisted my constituents in applying and reapplying for employment permits in recent months.
We need to protect the CSDDD provisions on stakeholder engagement. The changes brought about by the omnibus proposal not only render the CSDDD ineffective by making sure that companies will fail to identify the most severe risks that take place further down their value chains, but also fail in their stated aim of simp…
I fully support this motion and its calls for the Government to stop price hikes to petrol and diesel and to end the penalty imposed on people who cannot afford to pay motor tax in one single payment and the proposed toll increase planned for January 2026. It is an extremely expensive time to be a motorist, especially in rural areas like Donegal, where we are forced to drive due to the lack of public transport and wh…
Yesterday, Engineers Ireland ran a training course for engineers on IS 465, a standard, as the Government knows, that is outdated, discredited and currently under review. I met with Damien Owens, the director general of Engineers Ireland. and spoke to engineers who did not even know the standard was being reviewed. They are being trained to use documents that Government-commissioned research from Geological Survey Ir…
With respect, no amount of reassurance, avoidance or accountability can disguise these facts. Engineers are being trained on a standard that the State's own research has proven is wrong. The Housing Agency employs these engineers. They must use this training to make decisions about people's homes and people's lives. It is not a technical issue; it is an ethical and legal one. The direct effect is families living in u…
I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this very important Bill. I fully support the Bill, which would mandate all schools to adopt a cost-conscious uniform policy. As a parent, I have seen the cost of school uniforms increase massively over the years. It used to be the case that not so long ago we would have been able to buy one or two branded items such as a school jumper or a school tie. Other items such as polo s…
It is hard not to feel completely hopeless about the fishing industry at the moment. What was once a prosperous industry is now facing complete collapse. It is utter devastation, as the Minister of State is well aware. The numbers have been outlined multiple times already, but it is important they are repeated until we get to grips with what we are facing and its potential impact. The International Council for the Ex…
When the original defective concrete blocks, DCB, scheme was in operation, apartments in multi-unit developments were eligible. Then, in 2022, eligibility was narrowed to dwelling houses, single ownerships excluding buildings with shared structural or common elements, apartments, duplexes and multi-unit blocks. These dwellings contain the same defective materials as a detached or semi-detached house. The exclusion de…
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 unr…
I wish to address the remarks of the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, about how he has got this "to where it is today". I will clarify where it is today. We have a scheme right now that has 74 houses that are completed. Another 70 have received outer-leaf remediation work only and still retain the blockwork. This amounts to approximately 140 houses, half of which will have to be redone at great expense to the E…
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 16,3…
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 i…
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 Governmen…
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 rea…
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 impac…
They just need a date.
93. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Transport whether he intends to develop or reinstate railway services in Donegal; whether any progress has been made in the north west since the publication of the all-island strategic rail review last year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52139/25]