asked the Minister for Health if he is aware of any increased incidence of ill-health in high-rise dwelling flat units in the Dublin area; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin High-Rise Dwellings.
22.
I am not so aware. Neither I nor any of my predecessors has had any evidence to support such a suggestion. If, however, the Deputy wishes to submit evidence to support his viewpoint, I will arrange to have it considered.
Predecessors of the Minister have always referred to the chief medical officer of the corporation. Recently the CMO indicated that there would appear to be an increase in the incidence of certain illnesses among people living in high-rise dwellings in Dublin. Bearing this in mind why have not the Department communicated with the CMO with a view to obtaining a satisfactory and comprehensive answer?
The only specific I am aware of is the complaint about central heating but I understand that the Dublin Corporation CMO is considering having individual controls installed in high-rise dwellings.
Is the Minister not aware that this recommendation would apply only to a small number of flats built recently and that in the larger flat complexes it would be impossible to make this change?
The Deputy is giving information rather than seeking it.
This is due to the fact that in these larger complexes there is an underground central heating mechanism in operation. Having regard to the CMO informing the Minister of an increase in ill-health among people in high-rise dwellings, would he not initiate an inquiry into the matter?
The Deputy is not correct. Dublin Corporation's medical officer of health is firmly of the opinion that high-rise units in themselves do not contribute to ill-health and he is not aware of any increased incidence of illness among people living in such buildings.
It is not my intention to intervene in the medical argument but is the Minister not aware of reports of a high incidence of nervous disorders among people in high-rise complexes abroad? This evidence was one of the main reasons for high-rise development being discontinued in other places. On the basic evidence available from abroad and also from the cases related to Deputies in their constitutencies, is the Minister not aware of the apparently high incidence of alleged mental depression arising from such considerations as distance and the sense of isolation experienced in high-rise buildings? Would the Minister be prepared to initiate an inquiry with a view to ascertaining an accurate picture of the situation?
I trust that the Deputy will accept that in this matter I must be guided principally by the Dublin medical officer of health who is the medical scientific man on the spot and he does not accept that high-rise buildings of themselves are responsible for any specific level of illness. Those of us who are familiar with the area concerned are aware that for a long time it was a most unpopular area and one from which many tenants were anxious to be transferred. I am not sure that that continues to be the case.
There has been some improvement.
There has been considerable improvement in the past few years.
I am calling Question No. 23.
Would the Minister consider asking the city medical officer to initiate a study into the circumstances in high-rise flats?
I will not allow further supplementaries on this question.
Perhaps we could proceed the other way. The officer has given his opinion but if any Deputy or anybody else has additional or new evidence to support the allegations being made, he should communicate with me.
Would the Minister agree that people living in cooped-up conditions in high-rise buildings must be subject to serious nervous strain and tension?
The Minister may be misleading the House inadvertently. Is it not a fact that the department of psychology in the Eastern Health Board undertook a survey on the lines suggested by Deputy O'Leary in relation to predictions about criminality in certain parts of the city, in the high-rise flats, and that the result of this survey was so disturbing that it was not published? That was seven or eight years ago.
I do not have knowledge of that but the scientific adviser to whom I must have recourse in this situation is the Dublin city medical officer of health and he does not make any suggestion on the lines suggested by the Deputies.
Would the Minister be prepared to initiate a study into the matter?
We have had a large number of supplementaries on this question.
There is a compulsory central heating system in those high-rise dwellings. While the CMO may have indicated that high-rise dwellings of themselves do not contribute to ill-health, he has accepted that there are problems associated with the central heating aspect and informed every member of the corporation by letter to that effect in July last. His remarks were published in the newspapers.
As I have said, Dublin Corporation are considering the possibility of installing individual controls.
Would the Minister be prepared to inquire into the report I have mentioned?
Certainly.