The responsibility of the Minister for Local Government in regard to this junction arises in so far as it relates to public lighting. That is the limit of the Minister's responsibility in the particular case the Deputy is anxious to raise.
Adjournment Debate. - Walkinstown Cross (Dublin) Lighting.
I could dispute that ruling, but I do not want to.
That is the extent of the Minister's responsibility.
The dangerous condition of Walkinstown Cross is something about which I am sure the Minister is aware. In column 1408 of the Dáil Debates of 23rd November last I had a question down in exactly similar terms to that of which I gave notice this morning on the Order of Business, when I indicated that I wished to have an opportunity to raise this matter with the Minister. I have drawn attention to the dangerous and unsightly condition of Walkinstown Cross. If the Chair rules that the unsightly condition is something outside the Minister's compass, I shall have to accept it, although it beats me as to how that conclusion is reached.
The question I asked last November and which I now wish to raise, is one to which I have referred on very many occasions in recent years. Walkinstown Cross is at the junction of Walkinstown Avenue, Greenhills Road and the entrance road to the purchased houses in the Greenhills Estate, of Cromwellsfort Road and of the road leading to Cromwellsfort Road. Walkinstown Cross is the spot where all these five roads converge, and it is probably correct to estimate that about one-half of the traffic to and from the Naas road, which is the main road to the south, passes via this cross. That will give an idea of how dangerous the thoroughfare is from the traffic point of view. Lighting has been referred to by the Chair: public lighting is the only matter with which the Minister may be concerned in this discussion. It is most unsatisfactory that he should be confined to discussion on only that aspect of the danger here.
I was prompted to raise this question by a letter which I received last week from Mrs. Florence Gibson, of the Greenhills Benevolent Social Cultural and Athletic Association, in which she states:
Our Committee wrote to both Dublin County Council and Garda Síochána last April requesting a pedestrian crossing or a traffic warden be placed at Walkinstown Cross. This has now been refused.
We have close on 500 children using this crossing every day, going to and from school....
She asks if anything can be done about it. I am aware of the background to this matter. The Minister in the course of his reply on 23rd November indicated that the road improvements which were proposed by the road authority had been approved by his Department in 1958. I want to ask him why these improvements have not been undertaken and why such a long period has been permitted to elapse without anything being done to eliminate the tremendous danger to life and limb which exists at this point.
Public lighting is something which enters into the whole question, of course. I urge on the Minister that adequate lighting should be provided here. It is necessary, however, that I should mention that the remedying of this problem covers a much wider field and surely the Minister for Local Government is, in the ultimate, responsible for the general condition of our thoroughfares and for seeing, in at least a supervisory fashion, to the safety of the people who live in those areas. Walkinstown Cross has, to my mind, been neglected in a remarkable way and has been allowed to become, with the increased traffic density, dangerous.
The Deputy seems to be avoiding entirely what I am allowing. The Minister has no responsibility for the repair works, which are the responsibility of the local authority. Public lighting proposals were recently submitted to him. That is why these proposals fall relatively under his control.
I should like to ask whether that ruling prevents the Minister replying to the matter if he wishes to reply to it.
The Minister will not be entitled to refer to anything to which the Deputy is not entitled to refer.
On a point of order, would the Minister not pay a substantial grant towards the cost of this work and would that not make it relevant?
It is a matter outside points of order or relevancy. Here is a matter being carried out by the local authority. There is also a sum of which the Minister has approved. I am advised that the timing and execution of the works are matters for the county council and the Minister has no responsibility for the delay in carrying them out. I am also advised that the proposals for public lighting at the Cross were submitted to the Minister for approval and these proposals are still under consideration. That matter is under the control of the Minister.
Does the Chair mean to say that the Minister has no responsibility for the condition of the Walkinstown Cross, that it is entirely a matter for Dublin County Council?
For the execution and carrying out of the work there.
Surely there is an overall obligation on the Minister to see that these works are carried out?
I have approved of them and I cannot help it if they are not carried out.
The Minister cannot help it at all?
No more than I am Deputy for the constituency as Deputy Dunne is. It was not today that I got the opportunity——
Following in the footsteps of my colleague who has just spoken, and whose effusions naturally affect us all. I was charitable enough to say that the Minister was conversant with this problem. In the light of that, I suggest he should not, in all decency, sidestep his responsibilities in this fashion.
I am not doing any sidestepping. The Chair is ruling on order, not I.
The Chair has ruled right enough, but I understand the Chair's position in this matter and that the Chair is obliged to act upon advice and so on, but surely the Minister should display an anxiety and a willingness to resolve the position regarding this eyesore?
The Deputy need not worry about that; I will do all I can.
But the Minister is making me worry about it because he says he has no responsibility for it. He is making me worry very much.
Our colleague, to whom the Deputy referred, will not let me forget about it.
I am glad to hear——
I am sure the Deputy will now talk about the lighting.
I will need all the help I can get on this matter. The odd thing about it was that when I mentioned this this morning, I made no reference to public lighting. I said that I wanted to raise the question——
I was so anxious to facilitate the Deputy that I mentioned it.
You did, indeed; you thought you would get me shot down. That was the whole object, but the Chair in his kindness did not fall for your little gimmick. I do not suppose that the Minister has more than a passing knowledge of this particular area. It is hardly likely that he has spent much time there after dark.
Once a month.
That is not the report I received from my informants in the district. However, I do not want to be uncharitable and pursue that line. By day it is a danger to children and to everybody trying to cross the road. The danger is increased at night because the lighting is so inadequate. The Minister has a responsibility in this matter and it is just not good enough to leave it to the county council to decide when they are going to do a particular job. If the Minister for Local Government has any function at all in Government, he must surely exercise an overall super-intending authority to see that moneys provided for local authorities are employed expeditiously and without undue delay for the purposes for which they are voted by this House. In practically every aspect of local authority administration and activity there is an element of State grant or subsidisation, be it great or small, and the Minister cannot evade, as he has attempted to do, his responsibility to ensure that Dublin County Council will provide public lighting and anything else that may be necessary to safeguard the people who live in the area, and particularly the children who have to cross those roads at night time.
I have often come this way at night time—coming from my multifarious visits to places in my constituency like Clondalkin, Rathcoole, Newcastle and so on, at late hours after long meetings at which I listened to the long list of complaints which nowadays one has to write down because of the existence of this Government which, through their neglect, have created a huge mass of problems for the ordinary people—and I often thought about the dangers at Walkinstown Cross, a place which might be described as no-man's-land.
Does the Deputy go home that way?
I do. It is the shortest way, but possibly the longest way around. The people living in the district have displayed a saint-like patience in not expressing themselves as they would be entitled to do in the face of the neglect and delay which they have experienced in regard to this deathtrap. This is a very serious matter, and is one which is well known to the Deputies for the area. I am glad to see that they are present, and I am particularly glad to see that Deputy Foley was informed about this on his way home that this was a matter which concerned his constituency and which might merit his attention.
I always know that when the Deputy is on his feet he is speaking about something which has to do with County Dublin.
I only regret the absence of another colleague, but he has done Trojan work from about 4.15 to 5 o'clock, reducing the House to a state of utter stupefaction. However, let me try to follow his example and be as noble and forgiving as he is. I regret that I cannot pay his compliments to the Minister; we have not yet seen him perform, but let me say that if he performs as well in the Custom House as he did in Arus Mhic Dhiarmada, we will be satisfied that he has the right approach. In this matter he has a very heavy responsibility as a Deputy for Walkinstown who no doubt induced quite a number of citizens to vote for him, if not No. 1, certainly to mark their paper some way or other in his behalf.
I am glad the Deputy put that in; he was nearly getting me a bad name.
If for no other reason, there is that very cogent, striking and, I hope, very persuasive and fundamental reason, because if it has no reference to the people who are primarily affected, what in the name of God chance has the rest of the country?
That is a good note on which to finish.
So anxious am I to have this question of the public lighting at Walkinstown Cross ventilated, I was prepared to forfeit a few minutes of my time to allow some of my other colleagues from County Dublin to air their views on it, particularly as they might have more detailed knowledge, due to their membership of the local authority which is concerned with all the matters ancillary to this problem, to which Deputy Dunne made some passing reference.
I had only 20 minutes.
I would have thrown an immense amount of light on them.
I hope to assist in throwing some more light on this Cross.
I propose to take it up in greater detail later.
I appreciate that Deputy Dunne was in some difficulty in his endeavours to adhere to the rules of order and I suppose I might as well do the same and refer only to the matter in question, that is, the public lighting at this Cross. I am glad to be able to inform Deputy Dunne that the road authority submitted proposals to my Department for improved lighting on 10th of this month. This will be dealt with as expeditiously as possible. Needless to say, I, with my personal knowledge of this area, will be very anxious to see that a big improvement is made in this regard. I know Deputy Dunne would not press me to take this out of its order of priority merely because it relates to the constituency of County Dublin, but I can assure him that these proposals for improved lighting will be dealt with as expeditiously as possible.
Would the Minister try to get a pedestrian crossing there? Would he at least do that?
Is this in order?
It is in order: the Chair did not hear. Will the Minister——
I will, yes. I shall continue my efforts in that regard.
The Safety First Association have refused to allow a warden to be appointed there because they say his life would not be safe. There are some 500 children passing over and back. It is a serious problem for the parents.
It is a very serious matter.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.30 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 28th February, 1967.