Donegal County Council have released a statement acknowledging allegations of secretly changing applications of those seeking remediation through the defective block scheme.
Allegations were made earlier this week that a number of changes were made to applications without the knowledge of homeowners.
In the statement, Donegal County Council say that no manipulation of any applications took place to match that of the Housing Agency Decisions.
The statement outlines the process in which high-level decisions are made to determine what options are best suited to homeowners affected by defective concrete blocks, and the council claim that all records held in relation to those steps on the Council’s online portal are correct and not altered in any way.
The statement goes on to say that an error on their 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.
Donegal County Council acknowledge this online error, and says the issue is now fully resolved. They say that the error first came to light on October 1st, and was fully rectified by October 3rd.
The council have also carried out additional checks on all 380 applications received, and are confident that all applications now display correct recommendations from both the Housing Agency and Homeowner Engineers.
The statement also rejects claims that council staff worked "underhandedly" to alter applications to minimise the grant and remedial solution for homeowners.
In conclusion, Donegal County Council have apologised to homeowners and their Competent Building Professionals for any distress, confusion and frustration this issue may have caused.#
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STATEMENT IN FULL:
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:
- Applicant homeowners make a submission to Donegal County Council and this includes the homeowners engineers’ report and recommendation where applicable.
- Donegal County Council refers validated applications with a complete set of documents to the Housing Agency.
- The Housing Agency makes its decision and sends this to Donegal County Council.
- 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 4 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 3rd October 2024.
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 3rd of July 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 10th October 2024 from 9.00am to 4.00pm, to assist with any queries homeowners may have.
