asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health (a) the total number of tenement houses in Dublin condemned as unfit for habitation for (i) sanitary reasons; (ii) other reasons; how many of these are Corporation property; (c) the number of families living in these houses, and (d) the average number of persons per family.
ORAL ANSWERS. - DUBLIN TENEMENT HOUSES.
It has been ascertained from the City Commissioners that tenement houses in Dublin have been graded into three classes. Of these the third class represents houses which would ordinarily be condemned as unfit or unsafe and demolished if alternative accommodation could be provided for the occupying families. The total number of houses in this class is 1,826, and of these 33 are houses structurally dangerous and the remainder houses with sanitary defects which cannot economically be remedied. Nineteen of these houses are the property of the Corporation, being situate on areas acquired by them for clearance. The number of families occupying third-class tenements in Dublin is 9,535. So far as can be ascertained, the average number of persons per family in these houses is six.
Will the Minister promise the House that he will see that something will be done to remove the insanitary conditions in which these people are forced to live as a result of the excuse of economy?
The matter is one for the Dublin Corporation, and if the Deputy will refer to the Commissioners he will find that they are very actively engaged in endeavouring to improve this state of affairs.
What does the Minister mean when he says that the matter is in the hands of the Dublin Corporation?
I mean that there are local bodies in the country—
Not in Dublin.
They have responsibilities, statutory and otherwise, and they are accustomed to shouldering their responsibilities. Certainly no matter dealing with housing has come to the notice of the Department of Local Government in which the Commissioners in Dublin are neglecting their responsibilities in that respect.
Does the Minister seriously tell the House that when his attention is drawn to the fact that 1,800 insanitary houses have been condemned by their own sanitary inspectors that is not sufficient evidence that the Commissioners are not doing their duty to the citizens of Dublin?
The Deputy appears to know nothing of the history of Dublin.