asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health (a) if he has received any report as to the conditions of cottages recently erected in the town of Gort, County Galway; (b) if such report made any reference to the nature of the land upon which the cottages are built, and the dampness arising in the cottages because of the water-logged condition of the ground on which they are erected; (c) if it is proposed to level the ground surrounding the cottages so as to render it less dangerous to children moving about the cottages; (d) if it is proposed to enclose the cottages with a wall, and (e) if it is intended to give the occupiers of these cottages plots, and of what area it is proposed each plot should be.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Galway Cottage Conditions.
Mr. Hogan
I have received a report as to the conditions of the cottages referred to and to the nature of the sites on which they are built. It appears that portion of the site requires to be drained. Plans and specification for the development and fencing of the land attached to the cottages have been approved, and the board's engineer has been instructed to have the work carried out. It is intended to give plots of one rood each to the occupiers of the cottages.
Mr. Hogan
Will the Minister endeavour to have this matter expedited? These cottages are in a wretched condition. In some cases they are practically surrounded by water.
With regard to these two questions relating to the work of the County Galway Board of Health and Public Assistance, the Deputy is aware that that board of health is an elected body: that it has its own rights and its own powers. The Deputy asked to-day, and put the same question at other times, that the Minister should use his powers to force this body to do this, that and the other. I take it that the Deputy, as a member of the Labour Party, stands for democratic government. Therefore, it does not look well, coming from such a source, to be asking the Minister to use what would seem to be a sort of dictatorial powers towards an elected public body. I could understand such a request coming from other sources, but I do not think it comes well from a Labour Deputy.
Mr. Hogan
In view of the lecture which has just been read to me by the Minister for Local Government and which marks him definitely as a dictator in his own sphere, may I suggest to him that I have not asked him to do anything except what he has been empowered to do by legislation, and that I shall continue to do that as long as I am a member of the House without making any apology either to him or to any other Minister.
The Deputy asks in his first question: "If his Department proposes to direct the County Galway Board of Health" to do so and so. I like to give as little direction as possible.
Mr. Hogan
I agree, or suggestion.
Is the Minister aware of the competition that there was for these cottages—that in Gort, on one occasion, the board of health had to adjourn its meeting owing to the number of applicants and their friends who came there and invaded the board room? How is it that the defects in the cottages now complained of were not referred to then?
That is a separate question.
Mr. Hogan
Is it not a fact that these cottages have been erected in a quaking bog?