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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 25 Nov 1987

Vol. 375 No. 8

Adjournment Debate. - Methane Gas Leakage.

Deputy Cosgrave has been given permission to raise on the Adjournment the question of the escape of methane gas from a flat complex in Howth. Deputy Cosgrave has 20 minutes.

First, I should like to thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for granting me this opportunity to raise a serious matter of public safety. This block of flats was erected approximately four years ago and it is on the main Howth Road between Sutton and Howth. There are 43 apartments in the complex and I must mention at this stage that they are of excellent design and of the highest standard of construction.

I understand that complaints concerning the presence of gas were made by the residents some six to eight weeks ago. Dublin County Council acted promptly on these reports and have carried out daily checks since, in order to monitor the situation. The apartment block complex has Dublin gas supply.

The Gas UNI report carried out by the Dutch consultants pointed out that part of the Dublin gas grid could not be identified on maps. Can the Minister assure me tonight that the gas grid does not extend to Sutton or is not in this complex? Is this the problem with regard to the presence of gas there?

Legislation has been promised on building by-law regulations. This legislation should insist that domestic dwellings cannot be constructed without stringent regulations for gas safety. I call here for proper investigation of the site and foundations before any building commences, especially where houses and blocks of flats are being constructed, to ensure that there are no gas risks. This legislation should also cover methane gas. The Cremer and Warner report after the Raglan House explosion specifically called for this legislation. Could the Minister inform me when it is expected that it will be before the House?

I must point out that Dublin Gas engineers have carried out extensive tests on the buildings and on the ground surrounding this complex and say that natural gas is not the cause of the present consistent explosive readings which were found on the site yesterday and led to the evacuation of the apartment block last evening. Reports indicate that the origin of this gas is marsh gas, or methane gas. The apartments are erected over a disused quarry and reports suggest that decomposition of vegetation in the quarry has caused the build up of methane gas. I therefore call on the Minister to have the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards sample the gas and ascertain its origin. When the origin of this gas is discovered, I call on the Minister to take all the necessary steps to have the source of the gas sealed and rendered harmless, thus allowing the residents to reoccupy their apartments. I am sure that the Minister is aware that the residents are anxious to have the apartments declared safe and to reoccupy them as soon as possible.

I take this opportunity to compliment Mr. George Redmond, the Dublin Assistant City and County Manager, and his staff for their prompt attention to this emergency. I also thank the Garda Síochána and the members of the Dublin Fire Brigade for their excellent attention to the emergency. We are aware that the area has been monitored daily since last September. Surely a three minute warning in such circumstances, as reported in this evening's papers, is not good enough. I ask the Minister to investigate that matter.

In the Baldoyle, Sutton, Howth and Raheny areas quite a number of such complexes have been erected in the last few years. One can see them dotted from Fairview out. They are excellent buildings. I should like the Minister to have all of these, especially those in my own constituency, inspected to ensure that there is none of this unidentified piping from the Dublin gas grid present in any of the buildings and to give me an assurance that he will carry out that inspection as soon as possible.

Would the Minister assure me that all necessary investigations and work will be carried out on the Sutton complex to render the apartments absolutely safe for the residents? Would he consider compensation for the tenants who had to leave their homes last evening and get accommodation locally in hotels? I understand that the residents may not be in their apartments this evening. Someone must be responsible. Surely compensation should be arranged for them, either by the Minister's Department, Dublin County Council or the people who own this complex.

With the agreement of the House, it is the intention to use the balance of Deputy Cosgrave's time.

I thank you for your assistance, but shall not take the full amount of time. I want to come in in support of my colleague. As you know, I have had an interest in gas in the Dublin region for a considerable time, long before it became popular to take an interest in this area and long before the explosion in Raglan House. Recently, as my party's spokesman on urban renewal, I visited the Liverpool docks complex. They had very serious problems there with methane gas from poor piling practice. I suspect that the same problem arises in Sutton, that the foundations have not been properly laid. When this matter is investigated it will most likely be found that the foundations when being laid were not properly piled or packed, and that this is the source of the methane gas problem.

I want to call tonight for the creation of a Dublin gas safety board to deal, not just with the distribution of natural gas but also with emergencies arising from gas problems. It is a serious matter when tenants in Sutton or any other part of the city have to leave their homes in such circumstances. It happened in Dophin House in my own constituency and in Nicholas Street, literally on the borderline of my constituency. It is a serious matter when people have to be evacuated from their homes because of gas, whether it be methane, natural gas, or any other form of gas. Unfortunately, these occurrences have been far too frequent and far too easily accepted by both the Department of Energy and the Department of the Environment during this Minister's time and, indeed, in the past also. It is time that we looked into the need for the creation of a State agency for the safe distribution of gas and for gas safety generally in the capital and perhaps on a national basis, but specifically in the capital.

The attention of the House should be drawn to the fact that recent allegations coming from within the New Dublin Gas Company state that there are 900 cases of arrears of gas emergency calls in that company. Despite the fact that time and again I have raised this matter in the House, and there has been an informal ad hoc committee of Dublin Deputies interested in the matter, it seems difficult to get all the agencies necessary interested in the safe distribution of gas in this city and to concentrate their minds on that. Coming into the cold weather, whether the gas be methane or New Dublin gas, we have to know if Dublin is safe for gas distribution. With my colleague, Deputy Cosgrave, I have been pressing in this House, almost on a daily basis for the implementation of by-law legislation which the Minister has been promising me on a regular basis as being imminent, coming, will be here shortly, will be here in this session. That legislation will be intended to deal with the build-up of gas within the cavities of domestic dwellings and, in regard to the recommendations contained in the report of Cremer and Warner, dwellings of the kind in Sutton and high rise domestic dwellings such as Raglan House. By-law legislation is supposed to deal with those and related matters.

That legislation is urgently required and I have been pressing for it on a weekly basis as the Minister will acknowledge. There could be a build-up of methane gas within these cavities just as easily as there could be a build-up of New Dublin Gas and in any event we do not even know whether if there were to be a gas explosion caused by the build-up of methane gas, other gas pipes would be affected because in some cases New Dublin Gas do not even know where the pipes are. This is a very serious matter and the seriousness of the potential dangers from the build up of gas is not being taken into account as it might be either by the Government or by this House. It is about time that we though about the creation of a New Dublin Gas safety board which would be concerned about the safe distribution of all gas in the city. I hope the Minister of State will give some attention to that suggestion.

At the outset, I wish to say that I share the concern expressed by Deputy Cosgrave and Deputy Michell in relation to the recent developments which have taken place at Offington Manor in Howth. We are all aware of the potentially serious or even fatal consequences of gas leaks which are allowed to build up to explosive levels and I would point out that marsh gas or methane is no less dangerous than commercial gas from the distribution system.

The House may be interested to know the background to the present situation. Both New Dublin Gas and Dublin County Council have been monitoring the area around Offington Manor for the presence of gas leaks. Leak samples were analysed by New Dublin Gas last August and also by an independent laboratory abroad. Each analysis confirmed that the gas detected did not originate from the distribution system and this information was conveyed to Dublin County Council. The council have been carrying out their own monitoring programme and, as a consequence, detected a recent rapid rise of gas in the vicinity of Offington Manor. A sample of this gas has been sent to the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards by the council to establish whether it is marsh gas. While these results are not yet available, I understand that a corresponding sample has been analysed by New Dublin Gas who are fully satisfied that it did not come from their distribution system.

The gas grid is the responsibility of New Dublin Gas and the Minister for Energy. I am not shirking my responsibility as this is a very serious matter. I can assure the Deputy that the Building Control Bill which was referred to will shortly come before the House. The IIRS are testing gas samples at the request of New Dublin Gas and excavation procedures have been carried out under the emergency plan of the Garda Síochána and the local authority. I appreciate the position of the residents and the owners and I understand that this is a very serious matter. I have asked Dublin County Council to give me a report as soon as possible and if action had to be taken I can assure the Deputy I will refer the matter to the appropriate authority.

Deputies will be glad to know that I have been informed this evening that gas concentrations have declined to nil and that the fire authority have lifted the ban on occupation of the apartments. This is not the end of the story however. The council will continue to monitor the presence of gas in the area and keep the position generally under review. They will also consider what action is open to them including their powers under the Fire Services Act. It goes without saying that my Department have asked the local authority to let us have a report as soon as possible.

A further matter which will require attention is the conclusive identification of the origin and nature of the gas concerned. Remedial measures will require to be taken including such measures as are necessary to stop the gas emissions altogether or to ensure that any emissions which occur are safely vented to the open air or otherwise dealt with. This is something for consideration by the owners of the apartments in question in the first instance. In saying this, I am conscious of the report of the Task Force on Multi-Storey Buildings which recommends that, where remedial or other measures may need to be taken in relation to buildings coming within their remit, these should be set in train by the owners of the buildings concerned.

Before I conclude, I want to emphasise again the importance of the building regulations. I want to assure the House that these regulations will be brought before the House as soon as possible for debate. I also want to assure the Deputies and the House that all the necessary measures to deal with this will now be taken. I understand the seriousness of it and we will keep this matter under constant monitoring. I want to assure the Deputy that whatever action has to be taken once we have received the report will be taken.

Is the Minister telling us that the residents may safely go back to their dwellings this evening and, secondly, if venting work has to be carried out will the Minister of State's Department insist that the owners of the flats carry it out immediately, pay for it out of their own resources and render the complex absolutely safe?

The information we have received from the fire authority indicates that the dwellings are now in a safe condition.

Can the residents now go back?

As far as I am aware they are going back. I want to make it very clear that this is not the end. We will now have a look at this to see exactly what the position is and we will keep it under review. If whatever recommendations come to hand have to be dealt with, we will see they are dealt with.

I have one final question for the Minister. He is aware that I have been pressing in this House for a very long time, almost weekly, for this legislation with regard to rendering domestic dwellings, particularly high rise domestic dwellings, safe for gas use. We have been told the legislation is coming in this session, it is imminent etc. Can the Minister give some idea when this legislation will be with us? It is very important. The Minister should try to publish it straight away.

I would say early in the New Year.

He promised the legislation would come in this session.

I am giving an undertaking now — and I do not do such things too easily — that the Deputy will have it in the New Year and will have plenty of time to debate it. It will be most interesting.

We have not seen the legislation in this session. I presume it will soon be introduced in this session. It will be all very well to read it during Christmas but we want to see it in this session.

The Minister of State has indicated the position.

The Building Control Bill has been put back on the Order Paper, as the Deputy knows. We will bring in this Bill as soon as we can. When we bring in a Bill we want to present it properly to the House. I do not want to bring in anything in a haphazard way. I want to bring in a Bill that will stand up.

The House will appreciate that the Chair is allowing this question and is asking that we do not develop it at greater length.

I have one last question. Will the Bill the Minister of State referred to incorporate the Cremer and Warner recommendations or will there be a separate Bill?

Let me ask a final question, too, and perhaps the Minister can answer both together. Will the Minister undertake to have his Department keep me informed of developments as they occur on the site out there?

I am surprised at Deputy Cosgrave——

He should keep in contact with the local authority who are very active in this and——

I want the Minister's Department to inform me.

I am waiting for a report from the local authority and when I get that my Department will take whatever action is needed in this respect. This is a very important matter to come before the House and I am glad of the opportunity, thanks to you, Sir, to discuss it. I assure the House we will take whatever action is required in conjunction with Dublin County Council.

Will the Minister of State not keep me informed?

Dublin County Council will keep the Deputy informed and if he needs more information he can call to my office and I will be only too glad to help him in any way I can.

That answers my question.

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