The living conditions faced by Dubliners in social housing flats built between the 1930s and 1960s are frankly unconscionable. I have heard stories from people who are desperate, who are enraged and who, increasingly, are resigned to the failure of this State to uphold their human rights. I get countless pleas in my constituency of Dublin Bay South from people living in flats with mouldy walls, rotting woodwork and rat infestations in places like Pearse House and Markievicz House. The endless tick-tacking between central government and Dublin City Council on regeneration plans has left these residents exhausted and hopeless. As one resident put it to me, residents have gone through hell over the last five years with the planned and cancelled regeneration of Pearse House. Another told me of her deteriorating mental health and said residents had suffered in silence for too long and the thought the regeneration may be cancelled has left them hopeless. She said they were simply asking for a chance to live in peace and dignity. Residents of Pearse House and Markievicz House have been left in limbo by a housing Minister who seems more concerned with optics than solutions. The Department refused the comprehensive regeneration plans put forward by Dublin City Council last year on the basis there would be a reduction in the overall number of units. However, it would stand to reason that the severe overcrowding issues simply cannot be solved without some reduction. Imagine if the same had been said about the tenements. The solution for Pearse House that has been approved is a reduced refurbishment project that will not solve overcrowding and has only had its first phase approved. Is the progress the Minister and Minister of State are making on supply of new housing so limited that the loss of a few units in Pearse House would make a substantial impact on the Department's performance? Must the residents of Pearse House and Markievicz House continue to live among rats in mouldy, overcrowded flats in order to appease ministerial vanity? The choice is the Minister's.

Sentiment score: -0.10