Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Housing is a wide issue and impacts so many people in so many sectors. Our gardaí, nurses and teachers are all impacted.

An area of housing that can be forgotten, and indeed is to a large extent, is public housing. I have said before and will keep saying that the standard of maintenance in public housing estates in shockingly bad. The Minister was in Glovers Court and saw for himself the condition of that flat complex. It is appalling. Rats, mould and dampness are having a severe impact on people's health. Leaks and flooding of residences that are owned by councils, and even approved housing bodies, are unacceptable. Gallery Quay, which is not too far from here and only 17 years old, has nothing but problems. The apartments look great from the outside but people should try living in them. The lift in one block has been broken for months now. That lift serves 28 families and, therefore, young and old must climb the stairs day in and day out, yet there is still no sign of it being fixed. Flooding of apartments and no ongoing maintenance is causing serious health issues for residents. The neglect is due to a lack of resources being invested in the flats and means they are becoming more and more run-down. One would imagine keeping the stairwells in the flats would be a fairly simple, straightforward job but the vast majority of stairwells in the flat complexes are disgusting as there is urine, needles and rubbish. The stairwells are untidy and smell disgusting. The failure of Government to build public homes on public land is sentencing families to a lifetime in substandard accommodation and poor health.

Dublin City Council is also adding to the dereliction in streets. It has retail units and is using the ones on Townsend Street to store brushes and bins. It is completely unacceptable. It is not fair to local communities and it needs to be changed urgently.

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