Before I call the Leader of the House on the Order of Business I wish to bring Members up-to-date on the repair work in the Seanad Chamber. Senators will recall that when I informed the House on the first three quarterly progress reports by the Office of Public Works on the repair work on 22 July and 30 September of last year and 20 January this year I gave an undertaking to keep Members informed of the up-to-date position as quarterly reports by the Office of Public Works come to hand. I now wish to make an announcement for the information of the House in regard to the fourth progress report by the Office of Public Works.
The Office of Public Works report that the work is proceeding satisfactorily. The strengthening works to the floor are now completed and the gable wall does not now have to be demolished as originally thought. Instead the existing stonework can be reinforced. Reinforcing the wall instead of knocking it down has a number of obvious advantages and I quote from the report:
It means the Chamber will not be exposed to the elements while the wall is being re-built. It is considered more acceptable from a conservation point of view since the original stonework will not now be disturbed. As a consequence of this the distortion in the wall will not now be corrected but this is not structurally significant. The change will also yield a small cost-saving.
In regard to the Seanad ceiling which I know has been a cause of great concern to Senators, the reports states and I quote:
We are now very hopeful that it will be possible to save the ceiling. The investigation of possible methods of doing this is still incomplete but the prognosis now is quite favourable. The areas of the ceiling which have already been lost will be faithfully restored.
The report concludes by referring to the noise factor in the work which I referred to at length on 20 January last and I quote:
The drilling involved in the new method of dealing with the gable wall is unfortunately very noisy but on the other hand has the advantage that the noisest part of the work of strengthening the wall will be concentrated into a shorter period.
We are continuing to make every effort to minimise the level of inconvenience caused to the operation of the Senate and of Leinster House generally. Towards this end we arranged to have the drilling work continued in the week after Easter which is a holiday week in the building industry.
The continued understanding and patience of the members of the Senate is very much appreciated.
The report concludes on that note and I echo these sentiments and ask for the continued co-operation of Members which I have got from day one.
Before I conclude I want to refer briefly to the ventilation problem in our temporary Chamber. As you know, this problem has been raised many times both here and also at the Committee on Procedure and Privileges for some time now.
Following extensive consultations with the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Treacy, over the Easter recess air conditioning is to be installed within a number of weeks. I hope that the installation of air conditioning will solve the problem as I am only too well aware of the discomfort felt by Members. I have before me a letter which I received from the Minister this morning, after reminding him again that I wanted it for every Member of the House. I quote:
Dear Tras,
I again refer to your recent letters regarding ventilation in the temporary Seanad Chamber.
I am advised by the Commissioners that, even with careful monitoring of the existing system and the fitting of air vents in the windows and of thermostatic valves, it has not been possible to prevent a rise in temperature while the Senate is in session. There are two main reasons for this: (i) because of the large volume of water in this old system there is a long time lag before the action of the thermostatic valves results in a temperature change in the room; and (ii) the level of attendance in such a small room is very high and thus has contributed to the rise in temperature.
It is considered that in order to overcome the problem it will be necessary to fit air conditioning units under two of the windows. The condensers for these units will be located on the flat roof over the main entrance. Work on this will commence as soon as security clearance of the proposed contractor is confirmed and should be completed within a few days with the least disruption possible to the business of the House.
I hope that this will resolve these difficulties.
Yours sincerely,
Noel Treacy, T.D., Minister of State.