I gave notice last evening that I would raise, on the motion for the adjournment, the question of the growing distress in the County Clare, and the prospect of that distress becoming more acute as time goes on. Because of the infrequent sittings of the Dáil, I felt that this was a matter that should be taken in hands at the earliest possible moment. For a number of years conditions in the County Clare have been going from bad to worse. They are largely climatic, political and economic, and they are so inter-related that they have brought about a very serious position indeed in the county. As everyone knows, last year was a very wet season. Over large areas of the county the land became water-logged. That favoured the development of the fluke parasite, with the result that very serious losses have been entailed amongst the live stock of the county, especially amongst yearlings and two year old cattle. The position in West Clare, which is the poorest part of the county, is very bad indeed. All parts of the county have, to a more or less degree, suffered, but, relatively speaking, the conditions in West Clare are worse than in any other part of the county. West Clare is the impoverished district of the county. The holdings all over the county are, on the average, small, but they are unusually small in West Clare. The land there is poor, mostly bog or marsh, and the unfortunate people who reside in that area have the greatest difficulty in eking out a living. Notwithstanding all that, they are compelled, through force of circumstances, to pay the highest possible rates for their land and to receive the poorest possible services. In addition they have to pay the highest possible charges for the necessaries of life, and their means of production are very low. Even at the best of times there is only a small margin between them and starvation, but after the series of disastrous seasons that we have had, their position at the moment is really deplorable. Large numbers of their live stock have died.
Owing to high taxation, especially local taxation, during the last four or five years, for which the present Minister for Finance in his then capacity as Minister for Local Government, is in no small measure to blame, these people are without funds and without ready money to repair the ravages caused by fluke. The question now is, how are we going to serve these wretched people? Various remedies have been suggested. The question of a moratorium has been mooted. That would be a very difficult matter to deal with, involving as it does many problems, and, on the whole, I do not think it would provide a suitable solution. I suggest that we ought to endeavour to get to the root of the difficulty, which is the high rate of taxation that obtains. The local taxation which prevails in this district amounts to something like 15/- in the pound. It is that that is condemning these people to a hopeless and a helpless servitude, and nothing has been done to relieve them from the burden. I appreciate the good intentions of the present Minister for Local Government. It is true that we are getting a little temporary relief through the Relief Rates Act, but despite that a very heavy burden remains on the farmers, and no serious attempt at internal economy has been made. I put it to the Minister for Agriculture and to the Minister for Local Government, who, I am sorry to observe, is not in his place, that these people have lost a great part of their live stock through the fact that they had no capital to enable them to purchase a little concentrated food to keep the animals alive. The question must be faced at once, that these people are no longer able to meet the inflated taxation which is demanded from them. It is true, of course, that if they do not pay, you can put the machinery of the law in force against them, and that you can seize the few old cows they may have. In most cases you will not get any more than 30/- for these beasts. The only thing valuable about them is their hides. If you put these people out of business you condemn them to hopeless and perpetual poverty.
I suggest that this distress should engage not only the serious attention of the members of the Executive Council but also that of the External Ministers concerned, the Minister for Local Government and the Minister for Agriculture. It is necessary, I suggest, that the land should be drained. This land is infected with the fluke parasite, and until it is drained the people who own it, even if they had the money, would be running a great risk if they were to put fresh stock on it. In addition to the wet season that we had last year, there has been what we might call a great deal of intensive flooding of the land in that area due to the extraordinarily large number of bridges that were blown down during the last five years. The stones from these bridges were left in the bed of the stream, and in a case where temporary repairs were carried out at Corofin, of which I have experience myself, the County Council employees who were engaged on the temporary structure, instead of removing the stones out of the bed of the river, left them there. I suppose that from 20 to 30 acres of land in the vicinity of that bridge were so badly flooded that it was rendered absolutely unsafe for cattle or sheep to graze on it. I want to put it straight to the Dáil that I am not seeking for charity for these people. As a matter of fact, if I were to put the question right, I would simply say that I was demanding reparation. I repeat that I am not seeking for charity. I do not want anything from the Ministry that would demoralise these people or that would lower their self-respect.
The real question is how best to maintain the public solvency on which the stability of both county and national administration depend. You can do a great deal by the provision of state rules, but you cannot do everything. But I would suggest if it was possible to adopt some means of liming the land, which is a radical cure for those large areas. Then get the county council to clean the beds of the rivers, blocked up with the debris from the broken and destroyed bridges. If you do that you will do something. In addition to that, compel the local councils to reduce expenditure, and, if needs be, take statutory authority by which they cannot exceed a certain estimate for the coming 12 months. You will then have done something, perhaps only a little, but, at all events, something to prevent people from falling not alone into absolute despair, but into actual destitution.