Vol. 397 No. 10
14 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for the Environment the reason for the prolonged delay in giving sanction to Dublin Corporation to carry out refurbishment at St. Joseph's Mansions, Dublin 1; if sanction will be given this year; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
24 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for the Environment the flat complexes in Dublin's north inner city which Dublin Corporation wish to refurbish; if he will visit the flat complexes concerned in order to observe conditions at first hand; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 24 together.
The management and maintenance of their rented dwellings are matters for the local authority. Limited funding may, however, be provided under my Department's remedial works schemes to assist local authorities in carrying out major refurbishment projects. It is a matter for the authority to formulate such proposals and to indicate their relative priority when proposals are being submitted. The corporation have sought assistance for ten estates, including Blessington Street Flats, St. Joseph's Mansions, St. Mary's Mansions and Portland Row in the north inner city. I have designated the six estates to which the housing authority attached the highest priority, including St. Mary's Mansions, for funding under the remedial works scheme and £5 million — one-third of the total available nationally — has been allocated this year to Dublin Corporation. Due to the overall high level of demand for assistance under the scheme and the relative priority accorded to proposals by the corporation, it was not possible to designate any further projects for funding this year.
Would the Minister not answer the question? The St. Joseph's Mansions scheme was accorded priority by the corporation as they recognised there was a need for refurbishment. They have submitted proposals to the Minister but so far he has ignored them. Is the Minister not ashamed that the people living in St. Joseph's Mansions have to endure Dickensian conditions with no bathrooms or any other type of washing facility? Furthermore, would the Minister be prepared to go down to meet the people who have to live in those conditions and see them for himself? Perhaps he would then consider providing sufficient finance to the corporation to enable them start work on the priority schemes listed. I am sure the Minister is aware——
I think the Deputy has made his point rather effectively.
May I further ask the Minister——
Brevity please, Deputy.
——if he is aware that when the refurbishment scheme commenced the corporation accorded these two blocks of flats in the north inner city priority? The only place where work has been carried out is at St. Mary's Mansions in the north inner city.
The Deputy is embarking upon a speech. This is not in order.
Does the Minister not accept that this is a disgrace?
The Deputy should understand that the initial aim of the scheme was to cater for a major structural refurbishment of low cost and pre-1949 dwellings and the funding available was intended to supplement the expenditure of local authorities in dealing with those matters and not act as a substitute for it. I would also ask the Deputy to bear in mind that Dublin Corporation are getting one-third of the total available to me this year under this scheme. Eleven applications were submitted by Dublin Corporation, six of which are being funded.
Will the Minister list them?
They are Darndale, Fatima Mansions, St. Mary's Mansions, and Oliver Bond House, while tenders have been invited for Cherry Orchard, phase 2, and Ballymun, phase 1. I must point out that the cost of these projects is £70 million. I am not going to act in a recriminatory way about anything that has been done heretofore but I wish to say that since taking office I have increased the amount of money available under the remedial scheme each year as I recognise that this is a scheme which requires serious funding. I am allocating one-third of all available moneys to Dublin Corporation this year. I should also point out that 75 schemes are being funded throughout the country at this time. I know there is a problem but we have to bear in mind that £70 million is being allocated for refurbishment in the six schemes I have mentioned. It is very easy for Deputy Gregory to say that I should do this or that but I am giving him the facts and indicating what the initial aim of the scheme was and that I have increased the amount of money available each year in tackling this problem which was not addressed by anybody over many years. I am designating the six top priority schemes put to me by Dublin Corporation and that is not a bad effort in the circumstances.
Would the Minister not agree that it is not a bad effort but rather a deplorable effort given that families have to live in what I have described as Dickensian conditions and do not even have washing facilities? Why can the Minister not give sanction to Dublin Corporation, without making any additional funds available, to go ahead with refurbishment work at St. Joseph's Mansions, even if this would mean the Corporation having to find the money themselves? Why can the Minister not just sanction the proposals they have submitted?
Let me ask one further question. Is the Minister aware that because of the conditions prevailing at St. Joseph's Mansions no ambulance or fire tender can gain access and that the proposals allow for such access? There is a great danger that we could end up with a serious disaster in that flats complex because of the way in which it is constructed.
There is a problem throughout the country and I am dealing with it as best I can. Seventy-five schemes will be funded this year. As well as this, major work is being undertaken throughout the city at a cost of £70 million. Is the Deputy saying to me that I should scrap one of the six to be substituted by St. Mary's Mansions?
I am not saying that.
That is what the Deputy is saying. I have allocated the money as best I can. I know what the Deputy is talking about and I am aware of what it will cost to refurbish St. Joseph's Mansions. I do not want to go back to the corporation to ask them to reconsider their priorities and perhaps drop Darndale or Oliver Bond House. What I want to do is try to finish the job in hand. A colossal amount of money, £70 million, is involved and I will get around to St. Joseph's Mansions as soon as I can. I fully recognise that basic sanitary facilities should be available to all local authority tenants not just in Dublin but in many other centres throughout the country. It was because he recognised such a problem existed and had not been attended to that this Minister highlighted his priorities in arranging housing funding during the past three years. Much could be said about what transpired during the term of office of other Ministers——
It is obvious there is a scarcity of resources because of the policies being pursued by the Government. Would the Minister consider requesting the corporation not to waste scarce taxpayer's money on feasibility studies for the eastern by-pass for which consultants would have to be paid £200,000 and use that money—
The Deputy is clearly injecting new matter into this question.
I am merely indicating where he might find the money needed.
That is worthy of a separate question. I have given Deputy Gregory a lot of latitude but I will allow him to ask one brief supplementary. I want to go on to another question.
I wish to repeat a question the Minister is refusing to answer. Would he be prepared to go down to St. Joseph's Mansion to see conditions for himself?
The Deputy has already put that question. Let us avoid repetition.
The Minister is refusing to answer it.
I will answer it. The last time the Deputy made a similar request he found me on Sheriff Street the following day and from what I have been told by some of the ladies there this upset him greatly. I will settle that issue for the Deputy as well, and I am not so sure that he is happy that I can settle it.
