The film looks at inner city tenements, a proposed high rise scheme in Ballymun and the difficulties encountered by those seeking houses in Dublin. The report includes interviews with young families trying to get homes including a couple who have been forced to live in a caravan. One young mother describes the problem of trying to get a house in Ireland. The problem is so grave that emigration may be the only option. Reporter Cathal O’Shannon is in Ballymun where a new housing development is being built. He outlines the circumstances which might see an individual rent a local authority dwelling. Denis Larkin the chairman of Dublin Corporation Housing Committee explains the problems the Corporation has had in the past and what it is now trying to achieve. A married couple describe their efforts to get a home and the difficulties they face on a caravan site. Cathal O’Shannon’s report continues with figures for house building and numbers on the Dublin Corporation housing list. One man interviewed, who does not qualify under the statutory regulations, describes how he now finds himself back in his mother’s two-bedroom home with his wife and children. The report ends with Denis Larkin describing the hopes Dublin Corporation have for the construction of new homes and reductions on the housing list. He stresses the need for more land to build on and more resources at government level. This episode of ‘Newsbeat’ was broadcast on 19 May 1966.

From 1840s until 1970s Dublin was blighted with the worst slums in all of Europe. Generation after generation of poor Dubliners would be forced into the disease ridden tenements to survive. This is the first documentary of note to tackle this sad and under-reported subject.

From 1840s until 1970s Dublin was blighted with the worst slums in all of Europe. Generation after generation of poor Dubliners would be forced into the disease ridden tenements to survive. This is the first documentary of note to tackle this sad and under-reported subject. This episode deals with the beginnings of the slums in the 18th and 19th century and introduces the Winston family, one of the last families to live on Henrietta street.