There are more than 1,000 social houses in Donegal that are visibly cracked due to defective concrete blocks, including 89 council-owned homes lying empty because of the scale of the damage.
Donegal County Council believes that up to 2,000 social homes could be affected by the defective block scandal, when social houses in estates where other properties affected by cracks are included in calculations.
The council has been asking the Department of Housing for four years for funding to repair the damage done to its housing stock by defective blocks, but a scheme to State-fund the remediations has not yet been approved. The council told The Irish Times that the cost of such a scheme is expected to be “substantial”.
Donegal is one of the counties worst affected by the defective concrete block scandal, where homes built with blocks made of pyrite or mica have cracked, crumbled and disintegrated while families live inside. The homes have also been affected by mould and dampness, and the damage has been linked with creating significant physical and mental health issues for residents.
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The council’s social housing remediation team carried out a “visual survey” of its housing stock across the local authority’s five municipal districts in June. The results were included in the 2024 report on Donegal County Council by the Local Government Audit Service.
It said the survey identified 300 social houses where cracks were visible due to defective concrete blocks on more than one side of the house. “Of these 300 houses, 89 were vacant due to the damage caused by defective concrete blocks. The damage is most acute in the Letterkenny and Inishowen Municipal Districts,” the audit report said.
But in a statement, the council told The Irish Times that the same survey found there were another 748 social houses where “pattern cracking” was found on at least one elevation.
“In total there are 1,048 of Donegal County Council’s social homes exhibiting pattern cracking consistent with the presence of defective blockwork. There are an additional 1,070 units where pattern cracking is not present, but evidence of cracking is noted on other properties in the estate,” the statement said.
According to the local authority, as of November 2025 there are 3,150 households on the council’s housing waiting list.
The council first approached the Department of Housing in 2021 seeking approval to fix homes affected by defective blocks. The local authority made the same request in July 2022 and October 2023, each time looking for approval to start repairing the social homes. Although a social homes remediation scheme was included in a 2022 law designed to help those affected by defective concrete blocks, the scheme has not yet been approved by the department.
The council is now updating its survey of affected social homes every quarter, and has carried out tests on the vacant social homes that appear to be affected. The local authority said “detailed costs of the remediation scheme for social homes in Donegal cannot be estimated until testing has been completed and the remediation options identified, but the figure will be substantial”.
It said the department has confirmed that “a scheme for the remediation of social homes is imminent”. The most recent correspondence that the council received from Government was on September 5th, in which “the department confirmed that the scheme is not yet approved”.
In a statement, the department said: “The manner in which the scheme will be operationalised in practice by local authorities has been the subject of careful consideration before the scheme can be finalised.
“A draft scheme has been prepared and it is the intention of the Minister to bring proposals to Government shortly so that work can begin on remediating social homes in Co Donegal and in the other affected counties in the near future.”
