asked the Minister for Finance if he will state (1) how many civil servants will be accommodated in Áras Mhic Dhiarmada, (2) from what buildings they will be transferred, and (3) whether such transfer will provide alternative accommodation for the uncomfortable civil servants in Dublin Castle; and, if it will, whether the rebuilding of the Castle could not be postponed until sufficient houses for the people at present living in tenements are erected.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Accommodation of Civil Servants.
(1) Approximately 850 civil servants will be accommodated in Áras Mhic Dhiarmada. (2) They have been or will be transferred from the following premises:—(i) Part of Ship Street Barracks, Dublin Castle; (ii) 13-14 Earlsfort Terrace; (iii) Áras Brugha, Upper O'Connell Street; (iv) 73 Merrion Square; (v) 14-16 Lord Edward Street; (vi) part of the Custom House premises. (3) The reply to this part of the question is in the negative. Part of the accommodation which will be available as a result of the occupation of Áras Mhic Dhiarmada by the Department of Social Welfare will be used to house a certain number of the staffs who at present occupy buildings in Dublin Castle which will have to be demolished in connection with the initial stages of the Castle reconstruction scheme. The remainder is urgently needed to relieve serious congestion which exists in a number of other Departments.
As was indicated in a reply to a previous parliamentary question, noneof the buildings in Dublin Castle can really be described as sound; they are unsuitable as permanent premises for Government Departments and maintenance is increasingly wasteful. Trial excavations have shown that overflows from the old Poddle culvert have undermined the foundations of the existing buildings in the Lower Castle Yard.
Do I understand from the Minister's reply that the various places he mentioned in the answer to part (2) of the question are being evacuated by the Department of Social Welfare? Do the transfers to which the Minister refers, refer to all the staffs in each of the places that he mentions?
It is only part of Ship Street Barracks.
Áras Brugha, for instance?
Yes, as far as I am aware. I take it it is all the civil servants in Áras Brugha who are being transferred.
Is the Minister aware that on the 25th May, 1945, at column 1103 of the Official Report, Deputy Dillon made a speech advocating the erection of a Parliament House on an imperial scale? Deputy Dillon may have forgotten that speech. Would the Minister consider sending him a copy of it?
That is a different matter.
I thought Deputy Gallagher wanted to ask a serious question. Am I to understand that it is the Revenue Commissioners from the Castle that are going into Áras Brugha now?
Probably part of the Revenue Commissioners' staffs.
Can the Minister give the numbers that have gone from Áras Brugha?
I cannot. That was not asked for in the question. If theDeputy wants further information he will have to put down a question.
I merely asked the Minister if he had got the information.
I have not got it.
Do we take it that Deputy Dillon is objecting to employing 120 people on this work at Dublin Castle? He sings one tune for the country and another for the city.
There is no question of a conflict in relation to the building of houses.
Of course, there is.
There is none. Dublin Corporation are being urged to go ahead building all the houses they can and they are going ahead.