Council blames 'system error' in defective concrete block remediation debacle

Donegal County Council has said an “error in the online system” was the reason for a discrepancy in its recommendations on 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.”

Donegal County Council's response came following calls for clarification over the claims that it had “secretly altered” 21 defective applications on its portal.

Donegal County Council refuted claims they operated in an underhand way and apologised “to homeowners and their Competent Building Professionals for any distress, confusion and frustration this issue may have caused.”

It said the system error, which they became aware of on October 1, was resolved by October 3.

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The statement in full reads: “Donegal County Council wishes to reassure homeowners on the Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme that there has been no manipulation of the Homeowners Engineers Recommendations to match that of the Housing Agency Decisions.

“Under the provisions of the Enhanced Defective Concrete Block Scheme, the full decision-making process on Determination of Damage Thresholds and Remedial Options is the responsibility of the Housing Agency.

“The high-level decision-making process for the Enhanced Defective Concrete Block Scheme is as follows:

1. Applicant homeowners make a submission to Donegal County Council and this includes the homeowners engineers’ report and recommendation where applicable.
2. Donegal County Council refers validated applications with a complete set of documents to the Housing Agency.
3. The Housing Agency makes its decision and sends this to Donegal County Council.
4. Donegal County Council uploads the Housing Agency decision onto its online portal system and also sends a text message to the applicant homeowner advising of this. The applicant can then view the Housing Agency decision and the documentation issued by the Housing Agency.

“It is confirmed that all records held in relation to the above four steps on the Council’s online portal are correct and not altered in any way.

“The Council's role is to administer the Defective Concrete Block Scheme and it does not have any role in making decisions or providing input on the remedial option to be selected. This is a role carried out by the Housing Agency.

“An error on our online system wrongly mapped the Housing Agency Decision into the display field for the Homeowner Engineer Recommendation. This resulted in the decision of the Housing Agency being displayed in the “recommendation of the homeowners engineer” data field.

“The Council acknowledges this was an error in the online system which has now been fully resolved. The Council became aware of the issue on the 1st October 2024 and immediately worked to identify the source of the problem and had the issue fully corrected by the October 3. 

“In addition, the Council has carried out a check on all 380 applications that have received a Housing Agency Decision since the commencement of the Enhanced DCB Scheme on July 3, 2023.  It is confirmed that all 380 applications now display the correct information under both the Housing Agency Decision and the separate Homeowners Engineer’s Recommendations. It is also confirmed that the integrity of the source information is unchanged and remains correct on the online portal and database.

“There has been public commentary about staff at Donegal County Council working in an underhanded way to minimise the grant and remedial solution for homeowners. This is totally rejected. The Council staff have been working long and hard within the parameters of the scheme to administer the Grant Scheme for affected homeowners. This is often being done in a very challenging environment and the Council are committed to continuing this work to support affected homeowners across the county.

“It is fully accepted that there was a error in our online system where data was displayed incorrectly with the effect of overriding other data fields. It is rejected that any data was altered or manipulated by Council staff who have acted with the greatest integrity through this process and at all times.

The Council apologises to homeowners and their Competent Building Professionals for any distress, confusion and frustration this issue may have caused.  

The Council’s Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme Office Telephone Clinics will be open on Thursday October 10 from 9.00am to 4.00pm, to assist with any queries homeowners may have.