§ Mr. BRADY(by Private Notice) asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether 1736 his attention had been drawn to a statement in the Press this morning that the work of repairing or rebuilding the cottages in the area in East London devastated by explosion was well advanced and that yesterday over a hundred houses had been completed and handed over to the tenants, although only two months have elapsed since the date of the explosion; that the speed at which the work is being done is establishing a record for this country in rebuilding; whether it is not a fact that although almost twelve months have elapsed since the destruction of a vast amount of property in Dublin that nothing has yet been done towards the rebuilding of the houses so destroyed, and that this delay is causing incalculable injury to the persons who carried on their businesses in the destroyed area; and whether he will take steps, even now, to deal with this urgent and serious problem?
§ Mr. DUKEIt is the fact that the properties destroyed in the rebellion in Dublin are not yet being generally rebuilt although the Government has provided by ex-gratia Grants and a statutory loan scheme a large measure of assistance toward the rebuilding. The rebuilding is in the hands of the owners of the destroyed properties. There is no analogy, so far as I can see, between the rebuilding by Government of property destroyed by an accidental explosion of munitions under manufacture for the Government and the rebuilding by private owners of their property destroyed as the result of an outbreak of rebellion.
§ Mr. BRADYIs it not a fact that the Government undertook to help these owners to rebuild the premises, and that an extraordinary delay has taken place in the fulfilment of this pledge by the Government?
§ Mr. DUKENo, Sir, the Government has done probably more than any Government ever did in the past in such a set of circumstances, and there has been no avoidable delay on the part of the Government. On the other hand, although large sums have been provided for out of the Exchequer towards the rebuilding of these premises, the state of things is that to which the hon. Member refers.
Mr. HAZLETONWill the Chief Secretary inform the House of Commons if the owners of this destroyed property in Dublin were any more responsible for its 1737 destruction than the people who suffered by the explosion in the East End of London?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThat is not an urgent question.