DAIL FULL OF RATS, SLUGS AND FLIES..
Pest control issues may cause ‘disease risk’ at power base
OIREACHTAS SERVICE
BY
MICE in a medical room, rats in a toilet, slugs in a basement, and fouling “next to the minister’s entrance” were some of the pest issues recorded at Leinster House in the past six months.
Exterminators also warned that someone in the nearby Office of the Attorney General was defying instructions not to feed pigeons.
Experts said droppings on the Dublin building’s doorsteps would “most likely cause an accident”.
An infestation of flies was reported in the ushers’ hut at the Merrion Street entrance site last November, while rats were spotted burrowing out of a drain in a car park in January.
The pest control company identified a “possible disease risk” due to bird droppings around the door bridge connecting the building to the Department of An Taoiseach.
A build up of bird droppings on the air-handling units next to the minister’s entrance was also considered a “health and safety risk” that would also encourage insect infestation.
A “possible disease risk” was also identified in the ministers’ car park, and the pest control company recommended specialist cleaning “once fly activity is under control”.
The details are contained in records compiled by the company, which were released by the Houses of the Oireachtas Service under the Freedom of Information Act.
One pest that caused no notable issues was the clothes moth.
The bug is being controlled using Exosex lures that use pheromones to trick male insects into mating with other males.
More than 70 of the devices were installed in Leinster House in 2020.
Almost €5,900 was spent on mothspecific pest services from midseptember to the end of last January. Issues with bird droppings close to the attorney general’s officeprompted an exterminators’ email.
They wrote: “If you go back over previous recommendations, I’ve mentioned that someone is continuously feeding the birds, which is making this an ideal breeding site.”
The Houses of the Oireachtas Service did not comment.
It previously said “a robust and extensive pest control system [is] in place, which is appropriate to the size, age and location of the Leinster House campus”.
A robust & extensive pest control system is in place