I beg to move the adjournment of the Dáil until Tuesday.
DÁIL IN COMMITTEE. - QUESTION ON THE ADJOURNMENT.—DISTRESS IN THE WEST OF IRELAND.
I wish to draw attention to the distress at present prevailing in the West of Ireland. I have nothing of an alarmist character to say about the matter. Complaints have come from several counties in the West of Ireland, and in some quarters these have been been characterised as exaggeration. There may be exaggeration, but when you make discount for exaggeration there is unfortunately a very serious sub-stratum of truth in the reports that come from the West of Ireland. The potato crop failed to a large extent on the poor soil of Connemara, Mayo, and other portions of Connaught.
The failure of the potato crop with the large farmer, or where the land is good, is not a matter of very serious consequence, but when you take into consideration that the whole of our land is very poor you will have an idea what the condition is of those who have to live on the cultivation of those patches. I made inquiries myself into a number of cases and the report I got was that by this time the supply of potatoes was very nearly exhausted. My informant who told me about the condition of one parish in particular, said that if the people used them as seed they would not have them for the use of the family. They had not a supply of seed oats either. They depended on the local shopkeepers for groceries and in some cases the shopkeepers threatened to stop supplying them as their credit was exhausted. I must say the Government and the Co. Council met me to some extent by supplying the people with seed potatoes by means of a loan. That is not enough. There is serious distress in Mayo and large portions of County Galway. The Local Government Dept. sent down their Inspectors who furnished reports on the situation. As a result of that grants were given to Donegal, Connemara and North Mayo. As far as these grants went they were so much to the good, but they were not sufficient and left wide districts not touched upon at all. I do not wish to exaggerate the conditions in Mayo, but I say the distress is confined to some small districts, particularly to the parish of Partry, and that has not been touched upon and no provision has been made for it. The people there are in great distress. They are discouraged. The potato crop is growing less and nothing appears to have been done for them. The Government have listened to their Inspectors and have given more credence to the accounts of the Inspectors than they have to our accounts. They consider that we have exaggerated the situation. I hold that with regard to the small districts of Mayo, with which I am acquainted, we have not exaggerated the situation, and I have received distressing letters from priests like Father Healy describing the sorrowful condition of their people. They held public meetings in Louisburg describing the situation there and asking for work. The Mayo Co. Council passed a resolution about Achill. People say: "Here is the same old story about distress in the West," and they are surprised at its continuance. When the cause of the distress continues it is not surprising that the distress has continued. It is impossible for them to live on the small holdings. Nothing has been done to better their lot, while people say: "Here they are again with their cry of distress from the West." As regards some of the areas with which I am acquainted, there is really good ground for the cry, and it should be listened to. And something should be done.
We were hoping that the Minister for Agriculture would be able to commence the "striping" and dividing of the ranches, and we put off making any urgent appeal pending that division. The "striping" of the ranches would end, to a large extent, the state of poverty that exists there. We met the Minister for Agriculture and he told us about the necessary and unavoidable delay that took place in enquiring into the titles and the rentals of those estates that are to be divided and all that necessary work. That was a reasonable explanation of the delay in the dividing up of the ranches, which cannot be divided up for the next two or three months, and perhaps longer. That means that nothing can be done at once in that direction. To get over the acute distress that prevails, immediate work should be provided for those people who are badly in need of it. If you are going to increase the farms and give the farms to people generally with large families you must not allow any of these people to suffer in the meantime. These people are the seed from which you will draw in the future. I am moving in the matter to-day, because I saw that at a conference at Clifden, at which the Archbishop of Tuam presided, a resolution was passed referring to the acute distress. I do not think that that conference would have thought it necessary to pass that resolution impressing on the Government the necessity of providing work for these people if there was no real necessity for it, and unless there were very good grounds for their appeal. I see that at Oughterard also the Home Assistance Officer said that the unusual illness of the people and the increased illness there, were due to starvation. That is going very far. Now we are not as badly off in Mayo, but we are badly off enough. We are not so badly off as they are in Galway. In some places in Northern Mayo, such as Erris, the people are in a very bad way, too. Some work has been started there, but in the parish of Ballindine and other parishes there is great distress. In consequence of the extraordinary congestion and the acute distress that exists some public works have been started there. The distress is so acute that, in fact, the priest has gone out to each home, and he selects the men from each house alternately in order to distribute the work. That is a poor way of doing things.
Now if the Minister could say that where this distress is there is no work to be done, he would have a very good excuse, though I do not say that the Government would want any excuse, or that they would use any such excuse. But in the county, where the congestion to which I am referring prevails, there is a considerable amount of public work requiring to be done. There are arrears of work that have been left lying over by the negligent Governments we had in Ireland in the past. There are bogs to be opened up, bogs that now can be taken over and divided under the new Land Act. There are roads to be made into these bogs. True we have not an area like the Barrow Basin which is flooded, but we have little rivers there that do their own share of flooding, and these destroy the crops year after year, and the people are continually having reason to complain of the amount of destruction to crops done by these little rivers. These people wait on me every time I go down there to put that matter before me, and through me before the Government. In one case they had a scheme which was passed by the old Local Government Board, and got a grant from the Development Commissioners, but that scheme was held up by the War. It was pigeon-holed, and the people are now crying out to have this work done. We say that is work that should be done. The people would be crying out to have it done even if there were no distress at all. As a matter of fact, the Minister should welcome this opportunity to get this development work carried out.
The Minister for Finance said the other day that there was great scarcity of money. Still, money could easily be provided for work of reconstruction. I submit that very valuable work of reconstruction could be started in these places that I have mentioned. I suggest that the Government should look into this matter; that the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for Local Government and the Minister for Finance should be able to put forward a scheme to relieve those districts that are affected in this way, and not be throwing the responsibility on the county councils who are not able to grapple with these schemes. They have their own difficulties.
Mr. O'CONNELL
As one of the representatives for one of those areas affected in the way in which Deputy Sears has put before the Dáil, I desire to join with him in urging the Government to tackle this very pressing question. It is not a question of to-day or yesterday; it is one almost of annual recurrence. This position of distress in the West was regarded as one of the biggest blots under the old British regime. Here we are after two years of our own Government, and we have the problem with us still, and no indication that it is going to be tackled in a national way, the only way in which it could be tackled. It is, as Deputy Sears has pointed out, supposed to be exaggerated. I can assure the Dáil that it is not exaggerated in any way. I do not think that the Archbishop of Tuam and the clergy of Clifden would be the people who would exaggerate the destitution that prevails. Yet we have those Government inspectors, from one time to another, going through these districts, and after making a few superficial inquiries they go back and say: "Oh! the tales that we hear about distress are exaggerated." They know very little about the position when they make these re ports. This is not a new matter even to the present Government, for it is some months ago since the representatives of the Province of Connaught, irrespective of Party—for Party does not enter into this matter—made representations to the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Agriculture, and pointed out to them what the position in the West was. Promises were made that immediate action would be taken, and we were informed that works would be opened up here and there.
As Deputy Sears has pointed out, certain works have been opened and certain employment has been given. But the employment given and the amount of money set apart for this employment is altogether inadequate to meet the situation that exists in the West. I do not wish to go in any way into details as to what might have been done in this matter, but it is certainly evident that the Government have not tackled this question of distress in the way in which they ought to have tackled it. It is no use to leave this to local effort. Local effort is not capable of dealing with the problem that exists there. It is a strange thing, but it is a matter that requires some explanation, that even the share of the road grant that was given to the county council has not for some reason or another found its way into the Clifden area, and a proper share has not found its way into areas where it is most sadly wanted.
The District Council of Oughterard has complained that it did not get its share of the road grant. That is a matter in regard to which we should have some explanation. I might refer, too, to the ever-recurring problem of the fever in the Lettermore district. That is caused largely through the want of a pure water supply. Nothing has been done and nothing is being done to deal with that very urgent matter. I join with Deputy Sears in impressing upon the Ministry the urgency of this problem.
It is a pity that more time could not be devoted to the consideration of this very important question. I desire to associate myself with the other speakers in regard to the conditions of distress existing in several parts of Ireland. In the county that I come from the conditions are fully as acute, and perhaps more extreme, than in the areas referred to by Deputy Sears and other Deputies. The position in Donegal is pretty acute at the present moment, and we are faced with something approaching a crisis. Other Deputies have dealt with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Local Government. I will deal with another Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The Minister for Industry and Commerce has knowledge of the circumstances existing in districts particularly on the western seaboard. We have a right to demand from the Minister that he should produce some scheme of relief.
The people living in the districts referred to are seriously affected and are suffering many hardships. They are our own people, and we should give some consideration to the fact that they did their own share in securing for us the liberty we have attained. It is the duty of the Minister to conserve and consolidate and endeavour to get some schemes of re-construction in operation so as to alleviate to some extent at any rate the existing distress. The people are very willing to work; it is not purely a question of their willingness or unwillingness. They are anxious to get something to do. Some of them hold small bits of land, but these are scarcely sufficient to afford a livelihood. It is the duty of the Minister to provide some schemes whereby an improvement will be brought about in those districts, and under which the people will be able to live in some condition of decency. We should endeavour to preserve the Celtic spirit that prevails in those areas, together with the native language and customs. Unless we do that everything we have gained will be thrown by the board. The duty devolves on the Minister, and he should not hesitate to accept that duty.
If schemes of reconstruction and development such as I suggest involve the expenditure of huge sums of money, let it be understood that there will be people there to make it a reproductive concern. There need be no fear that such schemes will be otherwise than reproductive. The people will do their best in that direction, and they will be glad to be afforded some opportunity of living in decent conditions in their own country. I attach a great deal of importance to the position of the Minister for Industry and Commerce. I hope he will not let down the parts of the country that we speak for. To a very large extent those very areas are the bedrock of the nation. By ignoring the appeal of the inhabitants there for assistance, you are doing serious injury to the nation; if you accede to their request and put development schemes into operation, you are doing good work for the country.
Is maith liom gur tugadh an cheist seo chun chinn mar caitfhidh an Dáil an cheist reiteach. Si ceist i ceist na Gaelthachta. I am glad that this matter has been raised, in public, by Deputy Sears. It is well to say that the representatives of all parties from the Western districts were aware that the situation was very bad in the West, and they held meetings and urged upon the Minister the necessity for attending to this matter. In response to the appeal made by the Deputies from the Western seaboard, the Land Commission started some works, but the distress existing there is so bad that these works are not sufficient to alleviate it. Some time ago a special grant was given to those distressed districts. The amount was £100,000, and works were decided upon by the Ministry for Local Government and the Local Councils, but, unfortunately, they were held up. I would ask the Minister for Finance to make this grant available again. If that grant was given to those districts it would relieve the situation at the moment. In addition, it would be well if the Land Commission were to take up the matter of dealing with the estates in those districts, because the distribution of land and the resulting work on the holdings would give a good deal of employment. I may mention also that the large bog wastes in the Western districts could be made reproductive if the system of planting were introduced.
I wish to support the motion put forward by Deputy Sears. I know of my own knowledge that in Belmuliet Union, in Mayo, outdoor relief has gone up by 400 per cent. in the last three months. The same applies equally to Achill, in the Westport Union, and the Land Commission has done absolutely nothing there to relieve that distress. Nothing whatever was done. In that area you have poverty, sickness and distress on the one-side of the county. On the other side of the county you have the sheriff's bailiffs driving the cattle off the land, but I am glad to say, however, that they have been prevented from doing that latterly. That is all I wish to say.
Ní raibh dúil agam labhairt ins an díospoireacht so acht dubhairt Teachta O Conaill rud go mba maith liom ceartú.
I did not intend to intervene in this debate, but there was one thing said by Deputy O'Connell that I would like to correct. He says there was a feeling in Connemara that the people of Clifden did not get their fair share of the road grant. Well there was an unanimous decision come to at the County Council meeting allocating the unexpended money and the Clifden members of the County Council were absolutely satisfied with it and agreed that Clifden had got its fair share of the grant.
This offensive by the men of the West has taken me more or less by surprise. I have not had any official representations of any kind about any very acute distress in the West. We hear a certain amount of rumours all over the country as to distress and the failure of the potato crop and all that sort of thing, but not of such a serious character as to make Government intervention necessary. Some months ago we investigated this question of distress thoroughly all along the Western seaboard. Inspectors of my department collaborated with inspectors from the Board of Agriculture, and as a result of their representations we did a considerable amount to relieve distress in these areas. When cases of real distress were put up before us, we came to the relief of the persons concerned. We have not heard anything about the cases put up here, but if any urgent case is brought before my department we will be ready to consider it and do what we can to relieve the distress.
In effect that is a denial of everything that every Deputy has stated.
The Dáil adjourned at 4.35 p.m. until Tuesday, 20th May, at 3 p.m.