Mr. Birrell has promised a Departmental Inquiry into the character
and extent of the slum problem in Dublin. The value of the inquiry has, however, been seriously compromised by the statement that the proceedings of the Committee will be conducted privately. This decision has elicited a protest from the Lord Mayor, who is supported by the best public opinion in Dublin. Nearly one-fourth of the total population of Dublin —70,000 out of 306,573—are living in tenements of a single room ; there are 6,000 people living seven in a room and 9,000 living six in a rocm. The average death-rate during the past decade has been 24.8 per 1,000, as compared with 13.6 in London. The mortality among paupers in workhouses is about 250 per 1,000. And all the time there is a tremendous staff of medical officers of health and sanitary sub-inspectors under the direction of the Dublin Corporation. In face of these facts a public inquiry becomes a public necessity.
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