In looking at the Minister's brief with its vast amount of detail and very useful information one might almost refer to it as the "Encyclopedia Hibernica." The great pity is that this is not circulated outside the House except through press reports and newspapers cannot possibly publish all of it. It would give the people a much better understanding of the problems of local government and let them know what has been done to overcome them. I know that no matter what the Minister says and how much the newspapers publish of the report we will always have people, in Dublin particularly, who will persist, when they are referring to the Dublin housing position, in stating that we have got 10,000 homeless families.
For years we have contradicted this and have pointed out that Dublin Corporation have not even got 10,000 applications for dwellings. I say to Members of the House who persist in using this untrue statement that it is being used outside the country to blacken the name of this country. All political parties in this House are tarred with this brush by the enemies of the country. They point out the terribly miserable conditions under which those 10,000 homeless families live. I would appeal to the agitators outside the House to think before they use this figure and to read the report of Dublin Corporation housing or the Minister's statements from time to time. They will then get a true picture of what is being done for housing.
This year we will spend £87 million on housing. The Minister has the unique honour in that we have now built in the last year more dwellings than were ever built before. At the same time I want to mention a few points which are important. It should not be taken that there should be any complacency regarding the housing position all over the country, but particularly here in the city. There are many factors in the housing situation which are difficult to overcome. With the progress made over the last few years in Dublin and the rest of the country, our standards of housing compare very favourably with those of other European countries. Other countries had not to clear off a backlog of slum dwellings. There are only a small proportion of the old slum dwellings left now. There is a problem of overcrowding in existing dwellings. The target of 17,000 dwellings a year is a good one. The problem of overcrowding will escalate unless we take steps to overcome the difficulties. The population is rising and people are seeking a higher standard of housing. The demand for houses will increase. We must provide more houses. Much misery is caused because families find themselves in bad housing conditions. It is bad for a young family to have to live in one room or in a private flat for which they are paying exorbitant rent. If they live with in-laws the situation may be difficult. Human nature being what it is, it it hard for old people and young married couples with children to live together in harmony.
We need more special dwellings for old people. They have special difficulties and usually do not wish to be moved away from the areas in which they have spent most of their lives. The Minister might consider providing special houses for the aged in central city areas. We should have a number of special dwellings for the old people. These dwellings should have every modern amenity needed by the old. The old people would be attracted to surrender houses which are too big for them and go to live in specially-designed chalets where they would have some supervision by a competent person like a nurse. I do not want to see old people in institutions, but they should have supervision so that they will get attention immediately if they become ill at night. Many old people live in houses on their own. These houses could accommodate a family, but the old people naturally refuse to leave. They do not want to be sent three or four miles away from their old habitat. If there were attractive modern flats locally at very reasonable rents, they might be tempted to move to them.
The Minister should examine carefully the needs of the old. There are various bodies such as the Catholic Housing Aid Society, the Methodist Church authorities, the Presbyterian Church authorities and others who are interested in this matter. The Methodists have a scheme for the old. The Presbyterian Church have also opened a scheme for old people. The Minister was present at the opening ceremony. I am sure he was impressed by the high standards provided for the aged. While each of these schemes is operated by church authorities they are not in any way sectarian. The old people must have comfort, but we should try to attract them from houses into specially-designed old people's dwellings. The Minister should take steps in regard to amenities for disabled people. It can be a great handicap to a person already disabled if he has not got easy entry to his house. I compliment the Minister on what has been done already in this regard.
There is occasionally agitation about the rents in local authority houses. In Dublin city the corporation own over 55,000 dwellings. This is a large number for any one authority to own. There is a purchase scheme which has been availed of to a great extent. The rent problem could be solved by further encouraging tenants to buy their own houses. It is good social philosophy for people to acquire some property. The corporation scheme, although it is not perfect, is working well and should be accelerated. People living in flats and houses which they do not want to buy sometimes complain about the high level of rents. The rents scheme is initially a matter for the local authority. Local authorities could help by giving greater relief to young couples with children. If a man is earning good wages he can pay rent quite easily, but a man in the lower income group, with five or six children, is badly hit. Greater allowance should be made by local authorities in cases where there are young children. This is essential in our society at present. People should not be penalised because they have large families. We should show that we appreciate the importance of all the children in our community.
Corporation tenants now pay rates. There are special problems about young couples and old people paying rates. The Minister knows of these problems. The rates burden may play a tremendous part in causing tension and unhappiness among young couples trying to purchase new houses. They have a difficult job trying to find the deposit for a house. I know that they get part-remission of rates for ten years. The Minister should speed up the work of the inter-departmental committee on rates. He should finalise, so far as he can, the proposals or suggestions in the White Paper on local authorities. Rates, for thousands of families all over the country, cause tremendous problems. I suppose we must have some form of rating system, but it must be remembered that the committee, in their first report, stated that the present system was inequitable and should be replaced. I am sure the Minister and everyone else in the House will agree that this is true. Therefore, we must ask ourselves: how are we going to ease this rates burden? I want to mention in passing that the local authorities in Dublin Dún Laoghaire and County Dublin, and I am sure in other municipalities, have brought in a scheme for rates waiver particularly for pensioners and this is a tremendous boon. However, the point is that this is being done at the expense of other ratepayers.
I have suggested before, although it is not quite relevant to this Estimate but rather to the Health Estimate, that if the health costs could be taken off domestic ratepayers only, this would help. I know this committee which the Minister has set up will present a good report on the rates system, but the time factor is very important indeed. I would ask the Minister to try to hurry up the report in conjunction with the White Paper on Local Government. An examination of the whole system of local government is needed. While it has worked fairly well, there are obvious defects in it. In the future you may well not get men or women to go into public life on a local level unless council are given greater power than they have at the moment. Section 4 is probably the only effective weapon the local authority have, but notwithstanding a vote by the members under section 4 that the city manager or county manager should do a certain thing, it must still go to the Minister with that same city manager's or county manager's report before him. In these days when there is so much talk about involving people in government, both at national and local level, this must be borne in mind when the new legislation on local government is being drafted. In any event, there must be a speeding up of the decision on the rating problem so that we can hold out some hope to those young couples who are buying their houses, or to the old person, for example, the widow whose husband, in what he thought was his wisdom, left her a house and thought that, if he should die, she would be quite safe from want. This house has really become a burden on her now. She has to meet some frightful rates bills and, of course, should she decide to take in paying guests she may well find her valuation increased because of that. It is a vicious circle.
For the urban dweller, the Minister might take a look at the legislation which derated agricultural holdings under £20 valuation. There must be some class in the urban areas who compare with the small farmer under £20 valuation. At the time the budget was introduced I expressed the hope that the urban dweller would be given some such concession. I cannot find words adequate to stress the seriousness of the rates problem as it affects young couples and old people.
Last year I had a question down to the Minister on the progress of the Dodder Valley drainage scheme. The answer was quite consoling in that that scheme costing almost £3 million is now moving to its final stages. There is another scheme which runs from Tallaght right down to Ringsend—and Ringsend comes into my constituency —and we have there already at the Pigeon House the huge sewage treatment works which, due to the growth of the city, the corporation had to install. There is a great deal of talk today about pollution of waters and of the atmosphere, and I would like the Minister to ensure that the new treatment works at the Pigeon House will be adequate for the huge task to be carried out. I would hate to think that in a few years time somebody would say: "We thought at the time they were adequate. Now we find they are not." Then the pollution would be increased not alone in the Liffey and the other rivers in the city but in the whole of the Irish Sea. The sludge should be treated properly. It is unfair that we should dump the sludge in the Irish Sea so that when the trade winds are blowing from west to east this matter would drift over to Liverpool or to the Welsh coast. In regard to pollution no country is an island, and if the Welsh coast or the Lancashire coast is affected, then our eastern coast will also be affected. I know the corporation are preparing these plans and I am sure the Minister's engineers will ensure that they are adequate, but I mention it so that there will be an added voice to the demand to ensure that the new treatment works at the Pigeon House, which cost millions of pounds, will be adequate to serve the southern and south-western side of the city.
A relevant matter in that connection is the condition of this city of ours, its untidiness and the litter problem. It may be said that the Minister is not responsible for that and I do not suggest that, but as this is a debate on the Local Government Vote, it is the only opportunity I shall get to mention it. If one looks around one sees that the streets are littered; that the ESB transformer boxes—which, with due credit to the ESB, are kept in very good condition—are covered with posters advertising anything from pop bands to protest groups. In my own area there is a huge corporation dump which must end soon. We just cannot go on reclaiming land which is in an amenity area. I wonder when this is stopped how can we dispose of the refuse. I have suggested before that the Corporation of Dublin and other corporations should be looking to the Continent where some cities have brought in massive means of disposing of rubbish by way in incineration. While these incinerators destroy a vast amount of rubbish, they are left with a one-third residue, but at least that residue is not causing pollution. This could be dumped somewhere where it would not be a source of pollution, and where it will not be an unsightly mass. We must get the co-operation of all the people in the war against litter.
The Metropole building will be knocked down soon but, in the meantime, in our main street must we have a frightful looking display of vulgar posters? Some of these posters are provided by commercial concerns who make a profit on them. It seems that without let or hindrance they can destroy the appearance of our principal street. One protest group showed some civic spirit recently. They did not paste on the bills but used staplers. If they would take them down after the protest meetings are over this would be a help. The vast majority of our citizens resent this aspect of their behaviour also. If we are to preserve Dublin as a place in which people can live, let us make sure that its appearance is not destroyed by litter louts and poster louts who have no regard for the community in which they live.
I come now to fire precautions. The Minister's statement covers every aspect of local government. We have had serious fires in this city in recent times and, indeed, last night 30 people died in a fire in the neighbouring island. Certain standards of fire precautions are laid down but the human element enters into it. Unless we are vigilant, especially where children and old people are concerned, we will have disastrous fires. I am a member of an association which sent a memorandum to the Minister and we believe that, if it is adopted, we will have a force to educate people in fire prevention. This is absolutely necessary even from an economic point of view. Apart from the human lives lost, which is the most important aspect, we must remember the vast amount of property that is destroyed, for which somebody has to pay, and the people who are thrown out of work by fires.
In Britain and most other countries they have associations like the one of which I am a member. The law can deal very effectively with industrial safety. Perhaps because of the fact that we are not an over-industrialised country we have not come to grips with the terrible catastrophies which can be caused by major fires. It takes something like what happened in the city some months ago, or something like the fire in Dorset last night, to bring home to our minds that fires maim and kill people. I hope the Minister will find time at an early date to examine the memorandum sent to this Department by my association on the question of fire prevention.
The Minister has paid great attention to road safety. It is a terrible reflection on each of us that we must face the possibility that 700 people may die on our roads this year. It may be said that our roads are not good, but I am inclined to think that, while that may be a contributory factor, it is not the complete answer as to why we should have this frightful total each year. In one European country where they have the best roads in the world, they have a very high accident rate. It comes back to the behaviour of individuals on the road, whether they drive a car, or ride a bicycle, or are pedestrians. There is much indiscriminate parking of cars which may lead to accidents; not so much in the city where it is now very hard to park a car without being at a meter. At weekends thousands of people go to the mountains to enjoy the fresh air. Despite the fact that Dublin County Council provided good car parks, people who should know better park their cars at corners. It is no wonder that we have a high accident rate because some drivers do not seem to care what they do. The best driver in the world can have an accident.
I do not want to start preaching but, apart from a legal obligation to drive with proper care, to park their cars properly, and to take every possible precaution to ensure that they will not injure their fellow men or themselves, people have a moral obligation also to remember that they may maim or kill their neighbours through carelessness. Some time ago the Minister had safety slogans erected on the roads, and very attractive they were. I often wonder are road signs a distraction. If you are driving along and you see a rather attractive slogan you look up at it quickly, and perhaps a driver coming towards you has a look at the one on his side of the road at the same time. Road signs, apart from direction signs, should be kept to a minimum.
We should also tackle the problem of what are called billboard alleys leading to cities or airports where there are frightful displays of posters advertising all kinds of goods. You would think on some of the approach roads to Dublin that you were going into a shanty-town. They are ruined by posters advertising all kinds of commodities. They are attractive only in their vulgarity. I do not know why the planning authorities give permission for the erection of these things. I think all such advertising signs should be removed from our main roads.
