Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State spoke about preventative maintenance, planned maintenance and deep retrofitting. There has been no planned maintenance or preventative maintenance done in Cork sine I became a councillor in 2009. There has been none. The Minister of State came in here and gave us an answer. There has been no funding to Cork City Council for those works to be carried out. I remember being chair of the housing committee in Cork City Council and being told it would be every three years. Then, I was told it was every five years, and then, because of cuts due to the financial crisis, there was no maintenance. It is time now to stop messing around.

This affects not only people on Noonan's Road but those in Clashduv, Dean Street, Cattle Market Avenue and others. I will give the Minister of State one example. A similar flat complex on Baker's Road was retrofitted approximately ten or 12 years ago and it is now back in the same condition. There is only one answer here and that is full regeneration of that area. As Deputy Ó Laoghaire said the next time the Minister of State is in Cork, he, or the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, needs to come and see what these people are living in.

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