asked the Minister for Finance if and when it will be possible to start work on the Portarlington-Mountmellick section of the River Barrow; whether he is now in a position to state the revised and total cost for the drainage of this river, and if and when he intends to introduce the Barrow Drainage Bill.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - BARROW DRAINAGE.
No date can be named for beginning work on the section of the river between Portarlington and Mountmellick, because work must be carried upstream, and its progress depends on the weather and flood conditions. I am not yet in a position to give an estimate of cost for the scheme or to name a date for introducing the Bill.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary say whether a certain amount of money was allocated for the work on this particular scheme during the financial year 1926-27 and, if so, what was the amount?
There was no allocation in respect of any particular portion of the work. It was a general allocation.
Would the Minister say whether the present weather would interfere with the carrying out of the preliminary work to be undertaken in that area; is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that in the town of Mountmellick 114 able-bodied men are out of work and in the immediate surroundings of the town 36 persons are unemployed, and the same applies to Portarlington; further, will the Parliamentary Secretary take this into consideration and give a guarantee that the work will be started as soon as possible?
It is entirely an engineering matter and I am advised that the work must progress up from the point at which it is being carried on. It cannot be undertaken piecemeal.
Are we definitely to understand that the Government has made no arrangement to bring in a Barrow Drainage Bill before the end of the present Session?
I have not said that.