As an instalment of the housing policy of the Government I have no particular objection to the proposed Bill, but I do think that, seeing the urgent nature of the problem of housing, the Bill is not at all adequate to the situation. We have had recently here, and in fact we have had for several years, frequent discussions on this question of housing. I have taken part in a number of them, and I have always emphasised that, with the possible exception of the question of unemployment, the housing question is the most urgent problem that faces the Government in this House. I think that it is realised on all sides of the House that the question of the provision of proper houses, particularly for the poorer classes, is a grave, urgent and pressing problem. While I think that is realised on every side and every Party has done its best to impress on the Government the urgency of the problem, the Government does not seem to have realised how necessary it is to do more than is being done to solve this problem, that is to do more than is being done by the provisions of this Bill, which proposes to provide a sum of £200,000 to help the housing situation here in the coming twelve months. I do not like to have to go back over the old story and to have to talk in what would seem an exaggerated way on this problem, but I think it is necessary to hammer at it, and to keep hammering at it if anything is to be done and if we are to do anything to induce the Government to realise the seriousness of the problem and to face it in the fashion in which it must be faced if it is to be solved within a reasonable time.
Not long ago I read in the "Irish Independent," dated 30th October, 1929, an article. I have no idea what could induce that newspaper to interest itself in the subject of the Dublin tenements. The article is headed "Dublin Tenements.""The Word Inhuman Not Too Strong — Some Appalling Facts." I will not read it all. It says here in the course of this alarming article: "An ‘Irish Independent' representative who visited the Gardiner Street district saw for himself the conditions under which the people housed here have to live. A few minutes' walk from O'Connell Street, the principal thoroughfare of the City, and one is face to face with the appalling poverty of housing accommodation that the tenement system entails. Here every house, with its average of twelve rooms, shelters its ten families, many of them five and six in number, and the hall-doors, open day and night, give the occupants but little privacy," and so on.
That is a condition of things that is known to the members of the Government, and probably ought to be particularly well known to the Minister who proposed this Bill. In that article — and I did not read much of it for you — strong language is used in describing the conditions. But that language or any language that any journalist sent by the "Independent" newspaper or any newspaper into that area could not exaggerate in describing the horrible conditions under which the people live in the constituency represented by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health amongst others. Nothing that has been done by this House since it was called into existence has in any way helped to eradicate the evil that exists in that part of the City, without talking at all of the conditions that exist in other quarters of the City as well. As a matter of fact, these conditions have worsened in the last twenty years, and Bills of this kind, however useful they are or however necessary they are as a palliative, are not going to help to get rid of these abominable housing conditions in the City of Dublin.
The policy of the Government, the Minister told us recently, is enshrined in their Housing Bills. In the Housing Bills proposed by them here and adopted in the last six, seven or eight years their policy, he said, is enshrined. If that be so, God help the slum-dweller. God help the poor in the tenements in the City of Dublin and those in the insanitary dwellings in almost every urban area in the Free State. I say God help them, for there is no hope for them. This Bill and the other Bills introduced here and the Acts passed have not faced up to the question. The Minister gave us figures as to the number of houses that have been built. A considerable number of houses — nearly 19,000 houses — have been built. In the City of Dublin alone fifteen years ago a great deal more than that number were required in order to house the poor of the City of Dublin. In 1919 as many as 29,000 houses were required, and no attempt has been made to meet that situation adequately. I think the figure then given was 29,500. That was, I think, the exact figure taken from the report of Mr. Cowan, the inspector of the Local Government Board at that time. He said that 29,500 houses were absolutely necessary and urgently required in 1918.
If that were so in the old City of Dublin twelve years ago, what must be the conditions now, even taking into account the number of new houses that have been built in the meantime? There have been houses built that have been urgently required for people improperly housed, people with large families. But whatever has been done has not touched the sore spot in the City of Dublin, which is the slum problem. Houses for the real poor have not been built. The Government has subsidised the building of houses in many cases for people who could well afford to build houses for themselves. But the poor are left, and they are left in conditions which are going from bad to worse. I do not know what the prospect is. The prospects are black anyhow for the slum-dwellers of the City of Dublin.
I know that the problem is a difficult one. We all know it is a difficult one. We all know that there are obstacles to be overcome, but we know that the Government have made no serious effort to tackle the obstacles in this matter. They have made no effort in the City of Dublin to tackle the problem of the slumdwellers. The Minister may say that is a local problem — a problem that ought to be dealt with by the local authorities. Well, that is so, to some extent, but the situation in Dublin City is peculiar, and if it were left solely to the ratepayers of the City of Dublin the burden would be very heavy, and it would be perhaps more than the City alone could bear without assistance. I think that will be accepted on all sides. The Minister had a peculiar opportunity of showing that the Government were serious about this problem and of showing that they intended to tackle it and to eradicate it when, in 1924, the municipal authority was abolished and the Commissioners — very efficient men, we are told — put in their stead. The Minister had an opportunity then, through his own officials, of setting a headline and showing what could be done. The best that has been done since is that about 500 houses per year on an average have been built in the City of Dublin. That is the best they could do. That is the best the Minister evidently could get his officials to do with the big subsidies that were at the disposal of the Commissioners in the City of Dublin.
It is not just to the Minister's own constituents; it is not just to Dublin, and it certainly is not just to the Free State that more has not been done. If there is anything that would bring down the dignity and credit of this State, it is to allow the conditions that have existed here so long to continue — that is, the conditions that exist in the slums of Dublin. Visitors coming to the City of Dublin have been told what a wonderful change has taken place, and they have been told about the corners we have turned, according to the President, and the wonderful prosperity that is everywhere evident in the City of Dublin. I have heard some Americans, great admirers of the President and his Party, who visited the slums of Dublin last year, speak about these slums. Who brought them to these slums I do not know. But I met one or two of these Americans, and they certainly had their eyes opened, for like conditions of poverty and general insanitary conditions they had not seen even in the worst slums of New York, and there are some bad slums there too.
[An Leas-Cheann Comhairle took the Chair.]
These things are known, or at least they ought to be known, to the Government as well as to me or the other Deputies who represent Dublin. I only wish it was from that side of the House that speeches of this kind were made so that the Government might be pushed if they are not willing to tackle in a desperate way the desperate ills that exist in these slums. It is an ill that requires a drastic remedy. Light medicine of the kind that is prescribed in this Bill will not cure that ill. I have been over this ground before, but I will go over it again. In 1926, when the census was taken, there were 46,902 families living in one-room tenements, or 140,061 persons living in one-room dwellings in the Free State area. There were 44,131 persons living in two-roomed dwellings in Dublin City alone out of a population of 316,000 odd. There were 23,655 families or 78,920 persons living in one-roomed dwellings or one-roomed tenements.
That is on the increase. If it were on the decrease, even if the decrease were slight, I would say nothing, because I know as well as others here know that the problem of housing in Dublin is not the problem of to-day or yesterday, or of the last ten years. This problem has been given to us to solve, but in eight years we have done nothing to solve it, and that is my complaint. In 1911 there were 21,133 families living in one-room dwellings, and in 1926 the number had increased to 23,655, or an increase of over 2,500 families. The fact is that 27.8 per cent. of the population of the City of Dublin now lives in one-room tenements. Over 50 per cent. of the total population of the City is now obliged to live in one or two-roomed dwellings.
That is an old problem, but instead of decreasing under the magnificent statesmanship of a Government presided over by that distinguished Dublin man, President Cosgrave, it is increasing. As a result of the rotten housing, he sees the infants of the poor of Dublin dying at an alarming rate. They are dying because of the rotten housing conditions that he and his Government permit to continue and to increase. If there is anything else that he can claim credit for in the Government of the country during the last eight years there is certainly no credit in regard to housing coming to him or to anybody in this House who has any responsibility — myself included. We all should hide our heads in shame, those of us who have the duty sometimes of visiting those areas. We should never talk of prosperity or of turning the corner as long as we cannot show, or clearly demonstrate, that we are tackling the problem and reducing the numbers of people who are obliged to live in these insanitary surroundings in our capital City. It is a disgrace to everybody. Whatever houses may be built elsewhere — and God knows they are necessary elsewhere, too — there is no place in the country, no rural or urban area, where conditions are so disgraceful, so shocking or so inhuman as in parts of Dublin City.
I have a lot of cuttings here that I took from newspapers within the last six months or so. Different local authorities report on housing conditions in their own areas, and God knows they are bad. There is one cutting here dealing with housing in Bray. It is from the "Irish Times" of the 6th November last. One of the headings reads: "383 Houses Unfit for Human Habitation," and another heading reads: "Ten Persons in One-Room Dwelling." The report states that 39 were one-room houses which were occupied by 136 persons, and one of them was occupied by ten persons, and six by six or more persons. They considered that the conditions disclosed an appalling state of affairs, and they suggested that immediate steps should be taken to remedy the insanitary and immoral conditions of the housing. The Commissioner in Bray say they should get the Minister for Local Government to take up the housing scheme for the area. Over the whole Free State area you will find similar conditions reported. These reports were probably made in answer to the request of the Local Government Department or the Minister that a survey or census should be made. As regards Sligo, at a Corporation meeting Doctors Rouse and Moran reported that 269 houses in Sligo Borough were unfit and could not be made fit for human habitation. As regards housing conditions in Dungarvan, it was reported that 250 houses at present occupied were unfit for human habitation, and Dr. McCarthy, at a meeting of the Urban District Council, said there were 500 houses in the town which will be unfit for human habitation in five or six years, and 20 houses were in danger of collapsing.
In Thurles Dr. MacCormack, Free State Local Government Medical Officer, and an Engineer from the Department, made a detailed inspection of the town. To replace the houses which are unfit for habitation there it is stated that half the town needs to be rebuilt. As regards Drogheda, at least 850 new houses are required to solve the housing problem, and it would take from eight to ten years to complete the programme, according to a report submitted to the Drogheda Corporation by Mr. J.J. Burke, Borough Surveyor. I could say a whole lot more about the conditions in Drogheda, but I think that Drogheda is making some effort to tackle its own housing problem. Dealing with housing conditions in Ballina, the "Sunday Independent" last October reported that housing conditions in Ballina were appalling, and in other towns in Mayo they were so bad that the surveyors' reports would touch a heart of stone. That statement was quoted from the remarks of Mr. McGrath, the Chairman of the Ballina U.D. Council. He added that if the conditions continued as they were in Ballina the cemeteries would soon be filled. Another extract deals with the housing problem in Cork.
I have a whole lot of other extracts here, but the conditions of houses are better known to Deputies from these areas than they are to me. What I have said with regard to Dublin is to some extent equally true of other parts of the country. Perhaps in many areas the conditions are not quite as bad as they are in Dublin. Others may say that their areas are worse off, but I can speak for the Dublin area and I can say that the conditions here are appalling. We have also the statement of Dr. M.J. Russell, Medical Officer of Health, Dublin Corporation. He bears out my remarks that conditions in Dublin are getting worse. Speaking at a city hospital recently, he stated that notwithstanding all the houses that have been built in or around Dublin it would be news to some to learn that there are more insanitary rooms in dwellings to-day than there ever were in the history of the city. He went further to say that many of the underground kitchen dwellings, though they were condemned by his predecessor, are still inhabited.
That is the condition of the Free State with regard to housing. Useful as palliatives of this kind are, they are not going to touch more than the fringe of the problem. I would like to urge the Minister and the President, because the President, I believe, is interested in the subject and knows a great deal about it, particularly with regard to the City of Dublin, to make a serious effort to grapple with this problem. Let them get down to the root of it with the experts they have at their disposal from the Local Government Department; let them sit around a table and examine closely the number of houses that are required. Even as to the estimated number required you will find great differences of opinion. But whatever the number is, whether 40,000, 50,000 or even 60,000, let the Government get down to it and tackle the problem with a view to ending it within, say, ten years. That is not too early a date for the elimination of the slum problem in the City of Dublin, and it certainly would not be a day too soon. Even if the number of houses required properly to house the people in the Free State were 50,000 or 60,000 I believe it would be possible to have that number built in that time. People will say that there would be a difficulty in finding a sufficient number of skilled men to do the work, but in 1918 Inspector Cowan reported that to his knowledge 1,600 houses could be built annually in Dublin, and I believe that no more than 500 houses on an average have been built in the city in the last five or six years. If there were a sufficient number of bricklayers, masons, painters, carpenters, and all the other men required for house building in Dublin in 1918 to build that number of houses, there must be a considerable number of them unemployed at present, and as we have often emphasised before, by taking the course I suggest not alone would you eradicate the housing evil, but you would help to solve the unemployment problem as well. If I thought that the President and the Minister were really in earnest about the matter I would not have said anything, but if this Bill is the only evidence we have of their sincerity it certainly is not very deep and does not go very far; it will certainly not make any more impression on the problem in the next twelve months than was made in the last five years.
I know that outside of the City of Dublin, in agricultural districts, labourers' cottages are very badly needed. According to the figures that the Minister gave last night, 114 labourers' cottages were built between 1927 and March 31st, 1930 — 38 cottages per year, or one and a half cottages per year for each of the twenty-six counties. Men from agricultural areas are flocking into the cities who would be happy to remain in the country at agricultural work if they could get houses and get married, but they cannot. I know that there are financial and other difficulties to be overcome in that connection also, but my complaint is that no serious effort is being made to overcome them in the rural areas any more than in the urban. I certainly cannot congratulate the President, the Minister and the Government on the progress that has been made in house-building in the last eight years. I think that the present state of the City of Dublin is the most damning indictment of the Government that anybody who wished to get evidence to damn them could produce.