Like my colleague, Deputy McCartan, I too am disappointed that the Minister for the Environment cannot be here to deal with this matter. I have raised it with the Minister on a number of occasions in the past and I had hoped that he would be present today to give good news to the people of St. Joseph's Mansions and other flat complexes in the inner city, but obviously this is not to be the case.
I want to refer to the conditions many tenants of Dublin Corporation flat complexes in the inner city have to endure, but in the first instance I want to refer specifically to what are perhaps the most severe conditions of all, in St. Joseph's Mansions, Killarney Street, Dublin 1. I am not sure if the Minister is familiar with St. Joseph's Mansions. In the region of 140 families live, or should I say endure an existence, in this complex. These people have to live in what has been described as almost Dickensian conditions. These families do not have any washing facilities available to them, their homes are in a state of decay and window frames are in a state of collapse. This complex is dangerous, particularly for the young children who live there.
If there is a fire or explosion in the complex, as there has been in the past, the emergency services, the fire brigade and ambulances, cannot gain entrance to it because of the low archway entrance, the only entrance, to the complex. This has caused fear among the residents for their safety in the event of fire. Seriously ill tenants have had to be carried out of the complex by stretcher to an ambulance waiting in the street outside. About four years ago the corporation submitted proposals to the Department of the Environment for the refurbishment of St. Joseph's Mansions. These included the provision of modern washing facilities and alterations to the existing access to allow emergency services to enter the complex. The fact that the complex is a fire hazard for this reason, and the conditions that exist there are a shameful indictment of the Department of the Environment who have so far chosen to ignore the request of Dublin Corporation for the necessary funding to bring about the improvements.
Each time I raise this matter here the Minister passes the buck to Dublin Corporation by saying that Dublin Corporation are responsible for their housing accommodation and to their tenants. Of course, Dublin Corporation rely completely on the Department of the Environment for the funds to do the work they so desperately want to do. It is a slight on the officials of Dublin Corporation that the Department of the Environment and the Minister, should continually pass the buck to them in this way. I hope the Minister will not pass the buck to the officials of Dublin Corporation.
The city manager, the architects and officials working in the corporation feel strongly for the people living in St. Joseph's Mansions and would like to see this work done. To this end for the last three or four years they applied to the Department of the Environment for money but so far they have not been successful. Dublin Corporation designated St. Joseph's Mansions as one of their top five priority inner-city flat complexes for refurbishment and each year the Department refused the necessary sanction. This is an appalling reflection on the Minister. After all, the buck stops at his desk. The Minister is aware of the problem. I raised it with him and I invited him to look at the conditions there. The Minister has chosen not to look, but he is well aware of the conditions which are unacceptable. In the context of the Government spending £17 million to glamorise Government Buildings it is an absolute disgrace that the meagre amount of money required to provide decent conditions for people not just in St. Joseph's Mansions but in many other inner-city flat complexes has not been forthcoming.
