asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he is aware of the difficulties which confront the Corporation of Dublin in regard to the question of providing housing accommodation for (a) persons about to be married, as well as (b) newly-married couples whose housing accommodation is at present unfit for various reasons; and, if so, if he is prepared to consider the possibility of giving additional facilities to public utility societies by way of increased grants, etc., which would enable such bodies to provide accommodation for the classes referred to at rents they could afford to pay.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Housing Accommodation.
The Corporation of Dublin have been concerned mainly with the provision of dwellings for the working classes and in the clearance of insanitary dwellings and insanitary areas. I am aware that many difficulties have been met in the performance of this task and I may add successfully overcome, bearing in mind the extent of the housing problem which exists in Dublin.
I am desirous of giving effect to the widest possible measures for the provision of new housing accommodation for all classes of the population, but in so far as State assistance may be required, any review of the existing rates of subsidy for housing which are already on a very generous scale could only be considered in relation to the problem as a whole, and not in respect of the provision of houses for any particular class or classes of the population whether in respect of schemes undertaken by local bodies or by public utility societies.
I might add that Section 5 (1) (i) of the Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1932, enables grants not exceeding £150 per house to be made from State and local funds to a public utility society erecting houses in an urban area for letting to persons of the working classes.