Ms Nuala Ward:

This site opened up in 1989 and there was no formal means of allocating the bays to anybody. It is very important to put the historical context on this. Over time, families grew and nieces and nephews, children, sons and daughters moved into the site, like any other village or townland in Ireland. What we were really concerned about is that, because the chronic overcrowding had been going on for so long, we would have expected a robust method of allocating social housing or other sites to people who live there as a very straightforward means of addressing overcrowding, but that is not what we found. That was a very serious concern to us. As the committee knows, overcrowding is a key contributor to all the other issues that Dr. Muldoon has identified in regard to the health and well-being of children.

With regard to the contractors, this is a critical point. Information was given to us that, for example, there was one electrical contractor who was unable to gain access to the site. When we looked deeply at that, looked at the minutes and cross-examined everything, we realised it was just one individual on the site who was causing the difficulties. All the other people on the site were extremely upset that they suffered the consequences because of this one individual. They were querying why gardaí were not called and why something was not done in regard to that one individual’s behaviour that impacted on everyone else. When committee members read through the fine detail of the report, they will see that.

That is why Dr. Muldoon mentioned the paralysis. We cannot just walk away from such deplorable conditions and not try to resolve them in some other way. I hope that answers the two questions.