David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 129, to delete lines 4 and 5.

This is a more significant order. It is an order of 3 February 1755 for the surveying of pavements in the City of Dublin. This is from the Paving Commission. I doubt very much if the Minister of State can tell me there is no application or no relevance for this today. The pavements in the City of Dublin are a complete, absolute and utter disgrace. They are a death trap. Nobody can deny that and nothing whatever is done about it. I have been complaining for decades about the squalor and disintegration of the Georgian core and I instanced particular buildings, including buildings in North Frederick Street, to Dublin City Council, but it said everything was all right and it was marvellous. A week or so ago one of the buildings collapsed, so how "all right" was that? In a major capital city of Europe we should at least have decent pavements on which to walk. Whereas this piece of legislation on the Statute Book might well have passed into antiquity, it is time for it to be renewed. What is the Government doing about the status of the city? It always gets off on the excuse that this is a matter for the local city authorities but it is the capital city.