asked the Minister for Local Government the dates since February, 1961, on which the Housing Committee of Dublin Corporation informed him that their powers to deal with (a) rehousing and (b) slum clearance of derelict buildings were inadequate.

24.

asked the Minister for Local Government what proposals were submitted by the Housing Committee of Dublin Corporation for speeding up (a) rehousing of citizens and (b) slum clearance of derelict buildings, and the dates on which they were submitted.

I propose, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to take questions Nos. 23 and 24 together. Dublin Corporation have not informed me, since the date mentioned by the Deputy, that they considered their powers to deal with (a) rehousing and (b) slum clearance of derelict buildings inadequate. In the period in question I have received no proposals of a general nature from the Corporation for the speeding up of such operations, but the specific building proposals submitted to me indicate a cumulative increase in the Corporation's housing activities. In 1961-62, sixteen separate schemes involving 1,700 new dwellings were submitted to my Department by the Corporation. The corresponding figures for 1962-63 are seventeen schemes involving more than 2,700 dwellings. The net total of new dwellings involved in these proposals is 3,895.

May I take it from these figures that the fact that there is gross inadequacy in the provision of housing for families in the city is the direct responsibility of the Housing Committee of Dublin Corporation?

No, it would not be fair to say that.

Then the responsibility rests with the Minister's Department?

The Deputy might remember there was a hold-up in the provision of houses towards the end of the period of the last Government.

Quite untrue. There is not a shadow of truth in it and the Minister knows it. You are a fraud.

It was because the Government in the winter of 1956/57 could not honour their commitments.

The Minister ought to be ashamed of himself.

I am personally aware of the fact. I was a member of the Corporation at the time. The money was not available.

Six years in office and the houses are falling down on the people in Dublin.

The Deputy made a ridiculous statement yesterday when he suggested there was ever a surplus of houses.

The Minister ought to be ashamed of himself.

The Minister lays the responsibility at the door of the last Government. Is it not a fact that the last Government were a Fianna Fáil Government?

I am going back to 1956/57 when the hold-up occurred.

The Minister might as well go back to Methusaleh.

As a former member of the Dublin Housing Committee, surely the Minister is aware, by virtue of past experience, that the decisions of the committee are subject to corporation approval?

Could we have it from the Minister if he is now blaming a Government who were in office six years ago, as long ago as 1957, or does he now accept that the people responsible are the Dublin Corporation?

I referred to the fact that any slowing up in house building was due to the non-availability of money then.

It does not take six years. What did the Minister's Government do to remedy the situation in the past six years?

The Minister ought to be ashamed of himself. He has not a rag to cover his nakedness.

A long process has to be gone through before the houses are built, and that process came to an end in 1956/57.