asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he is aware that many of the attendants in the Grangegorman and other mental hospitals are at present badly housed; that the mental hospital authorities are prepared to inaugurate forthwith building schemes to provide houses for these attendants, provided the law is amended to enable the hospital authorities to benefit to the same extent under housing legislation as housing authorities and Public Utility Societies; and whether proposals for the necessary legislation will be introduced so as to permit the mental hospital authorities to carry through such housing schemes.

Additional accommodation is necessary in some of the mental hospitals. The provision of the necessary houses can be undertaken by the committees of the hospitals in the exercise of their ordinary powers, and loans for the purpose are available out of the Local Loans Fund.