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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 7 Mar 1963

Vol. 200 No. 6

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Kildare Cottage Repairs.

39.

asked the Minister for Local Government the number of appeals from cottage tenants in County Kildare regarding the need for repairs to their cottages which have been vested, subject to the question of appeal to him; how many appeals are now on hands (a) for three months, (b) between three and six months, (c) over six months, and (d) over 12 months.

There are 137 valid appeals under Section 18 of the Labourers Act, 1936, from tenant-purchasers in County Kildare to be decided. Twenty-two of these appeals were received within the past three months; 31 from three to six months; 26 from six to 12 months and 58 over 12 months ago.

Having regard to the fact that many of these applications have been with the Minister for periods varying from six to 12 months, could he take any steps to ensure that decisions will be given so that the local authorities will be able to proceed with the vesting of these repaired cottages and thus enable the tenants to take advantage of certain provisions under the Housing Acts?

Some four or five months ago, I held an examination into the whole question of vesting and of delays in regard to vesting, and these appeals that were contingent on vesting. I did take the steps the Deputy suggests and one of the steps in regard to County Kildare was to get on to the manager to tell him there were 93 cases, correspondence about which then rested with that local authority, and to which we did not receive replies in some cases for over 12 months. The matter is now proceeding satisfactorily and we hope to have decisions on these appeals in the near future. That is the background, that we are not getting co-operation from the Kildare County Council and many other county councils who seemed to be delaying their replies to our inquiries.

I should like to point out to the Minister, although possibly it is unnecessary, that when he refers to the county council, he does not refer to the members of the county council—he is involving the staff of the county council who are in fact the Minister's minions.

The manager and the employees of the county councils are subject to and are employed by the county council, not by the Minister or the Government. If there is any dereliction of duty there, it should have been obvious in the interest that would have been displayed by the members. Nobody was taking action until I went down about these 93 cases of a back log——

Surely the county manager is responsible for the staff and not the elected representatives?

Surely the elected members have control——

(Interruptions.)

In regard to matters such as these, every elected member, and every member here, knows that if something has slipped up and they are interested in the outcome, they would have questions down here.

Is the Minister aware that ordinary members of the council have no means of knowing when an applicant decides to vest and appeals to the Minister? Information is gathered by councillors only in a disjointed kind of way when they get complaints from individual ratepayers that they have appealed to the Minister 12 months ago and have heard nothing from the Minister or the county council. It was with a view to ascertaining how many appeals were before the Minister that I submitted this question. Now the Minister says that some of these cases were there for 12 months. I suggest he should put some official of his Department on the job and bring home responsibility to whoever is responsible for the delay.

In my answer at the outset, I pointed out that I did take action. A total of 93 cases were awaiting replies from local authorities and we got that correspondence cleared last November.

But there are still a large number in which decisions are necessary.

We cannot keep talking about Kildare all day. Question No. 40.

I am telling the Deputy that the council is not doing its job with regard to this matter, nor are many other councils.

If a manager refuses to act for the council, what can they do?

Suspend him, or propose to fire him.

Right; I will propose it——

If you have reason for it.

We have reason for it.

That is the action to take.

I think what is wanted is somebody to fire the Minister.

I have called Question No. 40.

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