asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware of the growing frequency and duration of public lighting outages in Dublin; if he will ascertain the reason for Dublin Corporation's permitting public lighting to remain unlit for periods of up to a fortnight; and, if having regard to the serious risks to life, limb and property caused by unlit streets, he will ensure that steps are taken to remedy the situation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Public Lighting.
5.
I understand that at last night's meeting of Dublin Corporation a detailed reply to a question by the Deputy on the same subject was given by the City Manager. I am satisfied that the corporation are taking all practicable steps to remedy the situation.
If the Minister is satisfied that every effort has been made to ensure that inspections by night and at weekends are resumed in Dublin, the City Manager gave a figure of, I think, 33,000 outages. He did not give any figure for the duration of these outages and that is what is the great problem in Dublin at the moment. Sometimes an individual light or a number of lights will be out for as long as a fortnight or three weeks because nightly and weekend inspections are not taking place.
What I am satisfied about is that, from the information supplied by the City Manager, and which, I think, has already been supplied to the Deputy at last night's meeting, and by the outline they have given me of what they intend to do, we will not have these delays and we should have a better service in the future.
Is the Minister aware that there has been a state of dispute between the City Manager and the trade unions for well over two years and would he, if necessary, intervene to ensure that peace is restored and that the inspections are carried out without further delay?
I took it from the information that I have got that we were to have daytime inspections to ensure that there will be lighting at night. I was not aware that a dispute is causing real difficulty in this regard.
I can assure the Minister that is it. It is the fact that night inspections are not taking place.