Mould in council flats

Sir, – I see that "Washing , cooking, breathing to blame for mouldy flats", according to a new local authority report (News, March 6th).

Whatever about the first two activities, I hope it is not suggesting that people cut back or even stop breathing altogether to alleviate the situation! – Yours, etc,

TADHG McCARTHY,

Bray, Co Wicklow.

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Sir, – So Dublin City Council is blaming tenant breathing (and other activities) for the damp in their flats?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the tenants were willing to lie in bed except when doing their breathing outdoors? – Yours, etc,

DONAL MOORE,

Ferrybank, Waterford.

Sir, – Vivienne Clarke’s visit to the bank vaults in College Green described a silver ornament inscribed to Charles Cameron on his retirement as “Grandmaster of the Freemasons” (“‘Right here in the banks there’s literally hordes of stuff’”, News, March 6th).

This Cameron was the campaigning medical doctor who was appointed as Dublin’s chief medical official in 1874. Through his frequent reports on Dublin’s housing stock, he highlighted the conditions in the “miserable homes” of the very poor. He regretted that “one-room denizens” of the tenements accounted for one-third of the city’s TB victims.

And how ironic that a front-page story on the same day dealt with serious problems of damp and mould in Dublin City Council’s flat complexes.

Dublin still needs its strident and vocal public health advocates with the reforming zeal of a Charles Cameron to protect and improve the living conditions of tenants in public and private arenas. – Yours, etc,

PATRICK CALLAN,

Portmarnock,

Co Dublin.