Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Lá le Bríde faoi mhaise daoibh freisin. This is my day, so I hope I have success with this topic. I know which Minister is taking this matter. I will use photographs and hand them to him when I am leaving. What I am looking at here is the age old question of mould and damp in local authority housing, and I want to remind the House that in 2015 a landmark collective complaint against Ireland from across 20 local authority estates was taken to the European Court of Justice. In 2017, the court found Ireland guilty and insisted that there must be rapid and immediate changes made to local authority houses.

As late as last night, I visited Emmet Buildings in Dublin 8 and I also recently visited Oliver Bond flats. To say that people are living in disgracefully damp and mouldy conditions is probably an understatement. That is why I want to hand the Minister of State these photographs. They are incredible. I happened to be with a local school teacher who teaches in St. Brigid's National School in the Coombe. She mentioned to me the level of absenteeism and children being unable to attend school because of the impact that mould and damp has on their health. I have statements here from the World Health Organization and the National Health Service, two authorities that are looking at the question of mould and damp in local authority accommodation. This is poor accommodation that is impacting on respiratory health, the health of the skin, the health of children in particular but also the health of elderly people. The loss of time out of school should be enough to wake this Government up to the fact that these issues need to be dealt with in a timely fashion.

It is five years, maybe going on for six years, since the European Court of Justice ruled on this matter and very little has changed for these tenants. There are immediate solutions. They need better ventilation and new windows. Most of these flats still have single-glazed windows. They also need a retrofitting programme. However, at a minimum they need new windows and improved ventilation should be available to all of these local authority tenants. When we ask Dublin City Council what it is going to do about this issue this is the response. I have a question here to the chief executive in which I asked if there is climate action funding available.

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