I do not object to the fullest possible discussion on this matter. I would have wished that the time at my disposal was more considerable than it is in order that that discussion should have the fullest scope possible. I would have preferred if the contribution to which the House has listened were devoted more to the subject than to a justification of the attitude of one member of the House since he entered it. In view of the nature of that contribution, I am entitled to suspect the bona fides of the contributor.
This subject of housing in Dublin for me is a subject of painful anxiety. I do not hope to derive any particular advancement or any particular selfadvertisement from pushing forward towards its solution. I am sincerely interested in that solution, as is every person of good-will in this country, but, because I have certain responsibilities here, I must have regard to facts, and if one could dismiss facts as matters of airy fancy, solutions could be found very quickly and very numerously. Let me try to remind the House of what has happened in this connection in the period during which responsibility has fallen to me. I want to repeat that, since I first came in contact with this major and terrible problem of housing in the city, it has been a source of ever-present anxiety to me.
The lowest estimate of present requirements in Dublin, as I have already stated in reply to the question, is 20,000 houses, with a further 10,000 required for the next ten years to meet obsolete existing buildings, growing families and so on. During the period of seven years from April, 1933 to March, 1940, the Dublin Corporation provided 9,000 dwellings. If the estimate of the time required by the Dublin Corporation for the building of 20,000 houses is based on that rate of progress, it would indicate that the immediate requirements of Dublin would not be met for about 18 years, and this alarming fact made it necessary to take the readiest and most effective steps that could be devised for the purpose of shortening that period and bringing the measure of relief and succour desired for these people to them in the shortest possible period.
The steps taken in connection with this problem include the setting up of one housing authority for the City of Dublin, for the Borough of Dún Laoghaire and the County of Dublin, the appointment of a housing director and the association with that housing director of a housing consultative council, representative of the various interests in this city with specialised knowledge or means of approach to the problem. In addition, arrangements have been made to increase substantially the administrative and technical staff of the corporation and a new post of chief housing officer has been created. In other words, a separate organisation in the corporation has been set up to devote the time and the ability of the officers in that section to this one problem, and I feel that that, in itself, is a departure from any practice which has obtained hitherto and bears on the face of it evidence of and material for a much readier approach to a solution of this problem.
One of the first problems confronting the local authority in this matter was the acquisition of sites and I know that the House will be interested to learn what the present position is. At the moment, the building of about 2,600 dwellings is in progress. Sites for 700 more will shortly be in the hands of the builders, by contract and direct labour, and sites for a further 2,000 dwellings which have been developed or are capable of early development are available. Other sites required, or listed for immediate acquisition, will accommodate about 3,500 dwellings, but these sites cannot be developed for some time because of the difficulty of obtaining early drainage services. I think it is obvious from these figures that very substantial progress has been made, and it is also obvious that that progress will have to be maintained in order to meet the problem to the extent to which plans have been made to meet it. I should say also that a survey has been made by the corporation which indicates that a substantial number of sites are available in Finglas, Sarsfield Road and Dundrum.
These sites, together with those already acquired or listed for immediate acquisition, will, it is intended by the corporation, provide for 9,000 dwellings, and a further 1,500 dwellings can be provided by conversions and new buildings in central city areas. It is the intention of the corporation that the later years of the programme should be concentrated in the area to be served by the Howth main drainage scheme or in the fringe area. In other words, the housing in the area which is concerned with the Howth main drainage would have to be deferred until that work is executed, but in the meantime, in other areas, such as those I have mentioned, provision would be made for the development of sites and the provision of houses thereon, so that, by the end of that programme, the drainage work would have been completed in the Howth area and the programme of housing in that area would fit naturally into the end of the completed programme in the other areas I have mentioned.
In order that Deputies may have a ready picture of this position, I think it well to give the following figures. The corporation's proposals may be summarised: (a) to provide for 5,000 dwellings within two years on sites already available; (b) to provide an additional 9,000 dwellings in five years, including the first two years, on sites acquired or listed for acquisition; and (c) to provide 1,500 dwellings from conversion and new buildings within the central city area. This gives a total of 15,500 dwellings which is the programme for the coming five years. The corporation aim at completing a programme of 30,000 houses in 10 years. The 14,500 dwellings which must be undertaken in the second five years will be sited as follows: 3,500 in the Howth main drainage area; 7,500 in the fringe area; and 3,500 in the central city area. There is very much more information I should like to give the House if it were possible within the time available, but unfortunately it is not.
