Charles Ward has been selected as the first candidate for the 100% Redress Party to run in the Lifford-Stranorlar electoral area.
Ward has been a committee member in the Mica Action Group, and currently lives in Drumkeen along with his wife and his four children.
His wife, Angela Ward, is the PRO of the Mica Action Group.
The Arranmore native says that he has experienced the effects of the defective blocks crisis personally.
“I have experienced first hand the physical, psychological, and financial trauma that the people of the Finn Valley area and beyond have been subject to. When people say, ‘it’s just bricks and mortar’, it tells me they have not been impacted in any way by the crisis. It is mould, it is anxiety, it is life savings decimated, it is asthma, it is relationship breakdown, it is the denial of college education, it is depression, it is suicide, it is medication, and it is so much more than ‘just bricks and mortar’. In fact, nothing about this man-made crisis is ‘just’ and it is this lack of justice and the apathy that surrounds the need for a proper 100% redress, that needs to be challenged in both the local and national arena.”
Charles notes that “two schemes have failed. Those of you who have had your lives turned upside down by defective concrete will have witnessed the lack of support for homeowners. We are not being represented and until we gain political traction, we will continue to live in a purgatory-like situation where every day we are told to engage with a scheme that is purposely designed not to work.”
“Your vote is your voice. You can be passive and complain about the injustice of the DCB crisis and the treatment of Donegal families or you can send a clear message to those in authority that you do not accept that your neighbour, your colleague, your friend, your family member is treated with contempt and disregard. This could be any one of us. It is past time that Donegal people sent a clear message to those who backslap, self-congratulate, boast, mislead, and lie that we are not fools, that we know our worth and that we deserve respect and 100% redress.”
