There is a severe mental health crisis in Donegal which only continues to get worse as the defective concrete crisis continues to impact families across our county. New scientific mental health research conducted by the University of Ulster surveyed 393 families living in defective concrete homes across Ireland. The findings were devastating but not surprising. The research found that more than a third of individuals have experienced thoughts of suicide after being affected by defective concrete. A total of 15.5% o…

Will the OPW ensure that buildings it is responsible for in construction projects in County Donegal are using blocks that are free from the deleterious materials, and has it checked existing buildings for the presence of these same materials?

There are buildings with this in Donegal. I am asking exactly what testing procedures are being carried out. There are buildings affected throughout Donegal. There are leisure centres, creches and public buildings affected with this defective concrete. I ask the Minister of State to look into this and come to the realisation that 40% of creches in Donegal are affected. There are public buildings throughout the county, and it is going into other counties too.

Does the OPW have a plan in place if a building is identified? What will it do to protect people using these buildings? In Letterkenny, for example, there is a leisure centre that serves thousands of people. If that building is identified, what action will it take to address this?

I will come back to the Minister of State.

Will the Minister engage with the Department of housing, the OPW and Donegal County Council to explore viable alternative solutions for the affected homeowners of Elm Park in Buncrana including the option of providing grant funding for the purchase of alternative homes rather than rebuilding on a floodplain? Will he make a statement on the matter?

Will the Minister of State come back to me on it?

I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion on housing, which I will support. I am disappointed, however, that there is no mention of homes affected by defective concrete. Once again, County Donegal is forgotten. The defective concrete crisis affects thousands of people throughout this island. It is a crisis that will continue to get worse, and we do not yet even know the full extent of it. Many more homes across more counties will discover in the years to come that they too are impacted. Many of the …

After 27 years of the Donegal Education Centre being located in Donegal town, all staff members are being forced to relocate to Letterkenny, which is more than an hour and a half away. This is a completely unnecessary decision, which has never been discussed or brought to a general meeting, nor has anybody consulted with the voting members of Donegal Education Centre. The manner in which six members of staff have been treated by the management committee of this centre over the past year, since they first heard the …

I welcome the programme for Government commitment to establishing a building standard regulatory authority to undertake a planned review of the defective concrete blocks scheme and to expand the scheme to other counties. However, the programme for Government does not go far enough in committing to a full 100% redress scheme for the families affected by the defective concrete crisis. I am extremely disappointed that the new programme for Government completely missed the opportunity to include genuine science-based f…

Donegal continues to be devastated by Storm Éowyn. Thousands have been left without electricity and water over the last week, many of whom are elderly, vulnerable and living in defective concrete homes. Over the next few weeks, I want the Government and this Chamber to realise the devastation that has happened in Donegal. Affected homeowners face huge safety risks living in homes that are defective. The red wind warning came too late. The Government needs to address health and safety as soon as possible to treat th…

I fully support the motion and its call to progress the occupied territories Bill and ban all trade with Israelis' illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Bill has been blocked for nearly seven years. In that time, tens of thousands of Palestinian lives have been lost. More than 2 million people have been forcibly displaced. Many Palestinians face life-changing injuries. Thousands of Palestinian children have been murdered and have died due to hunger, lack of shelter, medication and hospita…

I congratulate the Taoiseach and his family on his appointment. For far too long, Donegal has been left behind. The waiting times in Letterkenny General Hospital this week are, on average, 24 hours. When going into Letterkenny by the Polestar roundabout, the emergency services cannot even enter because they get stuck. What used to be a five-minute journey now takes 45 minutes. The boats in Killybegs are tied up and the fish factories are silent. This never used to be the case but it is what is going on now. The Cre…

The people of County Donegal sent me here with a mandate to fight for 100% redress. We demand action. We need to hold those responsible to account. I will not rest until this is achieved. The time for half-measures is over. The Government must deliver a true redress scheme - not a grant but a scheme that is led by science. There are 10,000 families in County Donegal that are currently affected by this. I am an affected homeowner. My children sleep in damp, mouldy rooms every single day, as do tens of thousands of o…