asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state whether an inquiry made in Cork, in October, 1951, by the assistant secretary of his Department and other officials resulted in any step being proposed to or taken by the Cork Corporation, with a view to accelerating the rate of building in municipal housing schemes in Cork, and if the answer to the first part of the question is in the negative, if he will indicate whether the inquiry elicited any explanation of the slow rate of building in Cork municipal housing schemes.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cork Housing Inquiry.
asked the Minister for Local Government if it is his intention to make known to the Cork Corporation the result of the inquiry made in October, 1951, by the assistant secretary of his Department and other officials with a view to accelerating the rate of building in municipal housing schemes in Cork, and if he will indicate how soon the Cork Corporation will receive the views of the Department on this very urgent matter.
With your permission, a Chinn Chomhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 74 and 75 together.
The discussion between members of the Cork Corporation and officers of my Department who attended a special meeting of the city council on the 11th October last was not in the nature of an inquiry. It was arranged at the request of the corporation with a view to enabling the views of the members to be ascertained in detail. There was also an investigation by an inspector of the Department into the labour and building industries potential available for house building in Cork and other related matters. As a result of the investigation and the discussion with the city council, my Department is in correspondence with the city manager as regards possible improvements in the arrangements for co-ordinating and directing housing activities generally.
I also expect to be soon in a position to issue recommendations to the corporation on various aspects of the planning of future schemes with a view to assisting their efforts to expedite and increase the housing output. As regards current schemes, I am glad to be able to state that the corporation's progress in house building has shown a considerable improvement on the position as reviewed by Deputies here last summer during the debate on the Estimates. The number of houses completed in Cork City during the year 1950-51 was 113. The output for the present financial year is expected to be between 250 and 300 houses. At the 31st December, 1951, 481 houses were in course of construction and a tender for development of a site for 112 houses had been approved.