Today in the Dáil, Charles Ward TD raised the cases of two constituents at the end of their lives, both living with advanced Alzheimer’s, who remain trapped in cold, mould-infested and unsafe homes.
Speaking during questions on promised legislation, Deputy Ward said these individuals are “confused, frightened, and deteriorating in places that are stripping them of even the most basic dignity.”
“These are not statistics. These are people in their final days,” he said.
“If dignity in life means anything, then dignity in death must mean more. Right now, they have neither.”
Deputy Ward directly challenged the government’s repeated reliance on the Defective Concrete Blocks Remediation Scheme as the answer: “The constant fallback is to point to the scheme, but that ignores the lived reality of people who are too ill, too vulnerable, and too close to the end of their lives to navigate a complex drawn out process,” he said.
“They are told to apply, to wait, to move elsewhere, but they do not have the time, and they do not have the capacity. The system as it stands is simply not built for them.”
He warned that these cases expose a deeper failure in how the state treats its most vulnerable citizens.
“This is not just a policy gap. It is a failure of urgency, a failure of flexibility and ultimately a failure of humanity. We are leaving people to spend their final days in unsafe homes because the system will not move to protect them.”
Deputy Ward called on the Government to immediately prioritise the most vulnerable, provide dedicated support to help older people navigate the process, and establish a state-managed, end-to-end pathway to ensure rapid intervention in such cases.
“This is about responsibility,” he said.
“A scheme is not enough if it cannot respond to those who need it most, when they need it most.”