I am glad the Minister of State with responsibility for housing is present as I wish to stress the urgent need to complete the refurbishment scheme. Bray has had the misfortune of being used as an experimental ground in the past for various housing policies. An architectural experiment in the provision of large numbers of low cost housing schemes in the early seventies did not work. These were constructed to meet the housing need. This poor quality, substandard housing accounted for 30 per cent of the housing stock and it began to deteriorate almost as quickly as it was constructed. It was a disaster and it is only now that it is being put right.
For many years the residents of Oldcourt Estate had to live in the most atrocious conditions: ceilings were falling in, roofs were leaking and windows were falling out. It was to the credit of a previous Minister for the Environment, a member of the Labour Party, that the work was started. This is now nearing completion. I hope that this Labour Party Minister of State will not fall at the last fence.
One job remains to be done to make it a complete success, that is, the provision of front gardens. The quality of life of the residents of the estate has improved enormously but there is a danger they will be short changed. I am not talking here about any extras or luxuries but rather about what is the norm in any other council estate. A front garden in Oldcourt Estate, albeit a small one, would make the difference between privacy and nuisance, between harassment and peace. Because the residents do not have front gardens their privacy has been invaded by way of nuisance and noise. The Minister of State has the power to deal with this matter.
The residents responded generously to the directive issued by the Department on tenant participation. When the Department, not the council or the residents, stipulated that the residents should be consulted the residents put in a lot of hard work to come up with a proposal to meet their needs and which was feasible. It is vital that the Department does not fail them.
In relation to Hazelwood Estate, I cannot over-emphasise the need to commence a refurbishment scheme. Seventy-six houses are involved. Again, roofs are leaking, the timber panels are rotting and the infamous Conserva heaters which gave rise to liability claims in Dublin are being used. On this cold, dark, snowy night six families have no form of heating while in another 12 houses the heating systems have reached a critical point and no spare parts are available. It is vital to ensure that these people do not face another cold, harsh winter without the commencement of a refurbishment scheme.
This is the area with the highest unemployment rate in Bray and the residents do not have the resources to deal with the problem, but there is a rich community spirit. Again, they have responded to the request from the Department for tenant participation. I wish to stress that we will let them down in their drive to develop a strong community spirit if we do not show the same generosity of spirit.
The Minister of State has an opportunity to follow through on the directive on tenant participation on these two estates in Bray. I ask him to take this opportunity and respond by showing the same generosity of spirit that the tenants of those two estates have shown in relation to this desire to see co-operation and a partnership between the Department on the one hand and the tenants on the other.