Ward defeated in Dáil on motion to reform Defective Concrete Redress Scheme

A motion tabled in the Dáil by Deputy Charles Ward to reform the Defective Concrete Redress Scheme was defeated by the government.

The motion was shaped by the lived experiences of homeowners from Donegal, Mayo, Clare, Limerick and beyond.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne tabled a counter-motion that was passed instead that deleted every word of Donegal Deputy Ward’s proposal, effectively erasing the voices of those who shared their trauma and truth.

Deputy Ward of the 100% Redress Party said: “When the Government deletes every word of a motion that came from the lived experience of homeowners, they’re not just deleting sentences; they’re deleting people’s truth. They are telling me, and every other affected homeowner, that what we have seen with our own eyes somehow doesn’t count.”

Ward condemned the amendment as “cruelty dressed up as governance” and said it was not policy but denial.

He added: “Minister Browne came to Donegal. He sat in rooms full of homeowners who told him their truth, and he watched them cry. Yet this amendment wipes every trace of those voices away. This is not redress; it is obstruction. Bureaucracy weaponised to delay justice until people give up or die waiting.”

Every opposition party and Independent TD stood with Deputy Ward. Housing expert Dr Rory Hearne described the moment as “one of the most important motions of this Dáil term.” 

He added: “The State failed. This Government doesn’t believe housing is a human right. Builders are getting VAT cuts while homeowners are forced into degrading grant schemes. There is no social conscience in Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.”

Opposition TDs reinforced the human cost of the Government’s approach.

Ken Flynn (Independent Ireland) said Ward “has really brought this to the forefront,” adding, “It is not generous. It is not independent. It is not fair.”

Paul Lawless (Independent Ireland) accused the Government of “leading homeowners up the garden path,” asking, “Why are the victims of Donegal, Sligo, and Leitrim treated so differently to the people of Dublin?”

Paul Murphy (People Before Profit) said: “You call it a grant scheme, not redress, but everyone sees through that.”

Pearse Doherty (Sinn Féin) said homeowners had been “abandoned by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael because we are not wealthy.”

Eoin Ó Broin (Sinn Féin) called Minister Browne “out of touch with reality” and noted the Government showed “a callous disregard for people who have done nothing wrong.”

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Féin) asked, “Who do you think you’re fooling?” adding, “This was designed to exclude as many people as possible. The language is dishonest. You’ve left people to the mercy of the market.”

Rose Conway-Walsh (Sinn Féin) called the counter-motion “disgraceful,” saying “children have had their childhoods robbed by this Government.”

Martin Kenny (Sinn Féin) said, “People are not pretending. The Government is not providing for people. This is the greatest scandal.”

Donna McGettigan (Sinn Féin) said it was “about dignity, justice, and humanity.”

Conor Sheehan (Labour) said, “There is no acknowledgement from Government of the harm this scheme is causing. The crux of the matter is that the scheme is deeply flawed. This is how we always treat victims of abuse, by making them prove they are not lying.”

Ruth Coppinger (People Before Profit) spoke of her fight for the Pyrite scheme, recalling how even her child’s play reflected the struggles, proof of “how deeply housing failure imprints on our lives and families.”

Sinead Gibney (Social Democrats) thanked Ward “for bringing this into public discourse” and described a scheme that treats “victims without respect or empathy.”

Brian Stanley (Technical Group) condemned the Government’s approach as a “failure of basic decency and justice.”

Deputy Ward’s motion proposed reinstating downgraded engineer reports, providing retrospective equality, and embedding mental health supports. He warned that the Government’s counter-motion, by deleting all of these measures, had only strengthened the legal and moral case against it.

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“You can delete words on a page, but you cannot delete the truth,” said Deputy Ward. “You can vote down motions, but you cannot vote away responsibility. The people will remember, and they will demand better, and one day soon, they will get it.”