No call made by the Judge to-day; case deferred by court untill next Wednesday

Please be advised that the following highlighted text is the current
position with regard to the issue of Lift Maintenance at the Ballymun Flat
Complexes.

Due to an ongoing industrial dispute, not involving Dublin City Council or
its employees, the lifts in Ballymun have not been serviced or repaired
since the 4th February last. This has led to the situation where the vast
majority of lifts are not now in operation, with many being out of service
for a considerable time, regrettably leading to great hardship for the
residents affected.

As no service was being provided owing to the contract being terminated, we
have endeavoured to find a contractor willing to come in on a temporary
basis, to carry out emergency repairs while a permanent contract is being
put in place. This process has been made impossible due to ongoing pickets.
We therefore applied for an interlocutory injunction to prevent what it
considered to be secondary picketing. While we were granted an interim order
on 20th April last, we were refused an interlocutory injunction on Tuesday
27th April, and pickets are now back in place. The City Council yesterday
sought a plenary hearing of the case in the High Court to address the
adverse effect that the picketing is having on the residents of Ballymun,
which is listed for hearing on Thursday 20th May 2010.

In view of the hardship being suffered by the residents in Ballymun, we have
requested that the Army provide assistance, which should commence tomorrow,
Friday 30th April.

Although there is no lift maintenance contract in place, and we have been
unable to engage a contractor to provide an emergency service, we will
continue in our efforts to do so. The tender process for the contract for
lift maintenance for the next two years has also commenced.

Our caretakers are now providing assistance where possible to residents
experiencing difficulties. The City Council will exhaust every avenue
available to it to expedite a resumption of the lift maintenance service at
Ballymun.

Kind regards,
Alan.
Alan Breen,
Press Officer,
Oifig Preas, Roinn Seirbhísí Corparáideacha,