Sinn Féin seek clarification on 'secretly altered' remediation applications claim

Sinn Féin have called for urgent clarification after an article claimed that Donegal County Council "secretly altered” 21 defective concrete block remediation applications.

The allegations, which were published by the Ditch website, claim that these alterations made by Donegal County Council made it seem as though independent engineers hired by defective concrete block homeowners “had made the same recommendations as Housing Agency-hired engineers, who mostly recommended cheaper repair options.”

“I have written to the Chief Executive of Donegal County Council this afternoon on behalf of the Sinn Féin group to request urgent clarification on these very serious and concerning allegations made by ‘The Ditch’,” Sinn Féin group leader on Donegal County Council, Cllr Gary Doherty said.

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“That defective block homeowners, having already faced so many delays, barriers and roadblocks in their fight for 100% redress, could have their engineers' reports altered by Donegal County Council to effectively downgrade their remediation to a cheaper option is appalling.

“The Council’s initial response that these unauthorised changes were due to “a minor technical glitch” is entirely unsatisfactory and fails to address the very real concerns being raised by homeowners and public representatives alike.

“We need answers from both Donegal County Council and the Housing Agency as to how and why this was allowed to happen, causing further undue anguish to defective concrete block homeowners who have already suffered so much."