Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Pearse House flats, which are located just off Pearse Street, are due to be regenerated as part of the flat regeneration scheme. This regeneration is taking place at a snail's pace. The conditions residents have to live in are absolutely unacceptable. In the past week, two residents have had to be moved out of their homes; both of their flats were completely flooded by raw sewage which came up through the floors. They have had to move out and have had almost no support from Dublin City Council. Effectively, the flats are unlivable for many people. What I have described is a regular occurrence.

The stairwells in the flats consistently smell of urine and are filthy. This is the case not just in Pearse House but in all of the flats complexes across the city. There is little sign of Dublin City Council maintaining these complexes. The bin storage areas are absolutely disgusting in many cases. There is so little maintenance by Dublin City Council. There are people coming in from all around the city who are just dumping bags of rubbish. Rats, pigeons and seagulls then rip these apart. Living in a flats complex is another world compared with what we have here. The conditions are completely unacceptable.

What the residents of Pearse House have to put up with is something residents in all the flats complexes have to put up with. The Government talks about regeneration and the insulation of homes, but the people who live in the flats do not have that luxury. The doors are all old. People have been paying rent for years and they have to put up with doors that are completely unacceptable. Never mind insulating homes; you could stick a pen through the doors of these flats. All these insulation schemes are available if you are well-off. If you live in a flats complex, you do not have that luxury and you are treated like a second-class citizen.

It is unacceptable that this Government, like that which preceded it, is continuing to regenerate flats complexes at a snail's pace. There is no sense of urgency. There needs to be a genuine commitment to improving the lives of those living in the inner city and those living in flats complexes because what they have had to put up with for decades is unacceptable.