Dinim:
"Gurab é tuairim na Dála so nách ndéanfaidh ná rudaí atá molta ar an bpáipéar bán—ar a dtugtar Statement of Government Policy on Recommendations of the (Gaeltacht) Commission — an Ghaeltacht do shábháil, agus nách fuláir don Rialtas scéim chruinn ar a mbeadh moltaí indeunta do cheapadh láithreach agus suim áirithe airgid do leagadh amach chun na moltaí sin do chur i ngníomh gan a thuille moille."
Ba mhaith liom a rá gur mian linn cabhrú le haon Pháirtí atá ullamh iarracht do dhéunamh ar an Ghaeltacht do shábháil. D'iarr an tAire Rialtais Aitiúla orainn na poinntí do chur síos go cruinn beacht agus ár smaointe do nochta. Táim ag deunamh iarrachta chun é sin do dhéunamh. Isé ár ndualgas ár mbarúil agus ár smaointe do nochta. Dinimís iarracht chun é sin do dhéunamh anois. Dinimís iarracht ár dtuairim ar an Phaipéar Bhán do nochta; an Páipéar do scrúdú agus do chur i gcomparáid le tuarasgabháil Choimisiún na Gaeltachta. Ba mhaith liom san do dhéunamh tré Ghaedhilg ach ba mhaith liom, fosta, na Teachtaí uile do thuigsint a bhfuil le rá agam. Ní thuigeann ach beagán Teachtaí an Ghaedhilg. Is trua liom san agus ós rud é gur mian liom go dtuigfeadh siad an méid atá le rá agam labharfa mé as Beurla.
Some reference was made to this Commission in the debate on a Bill which was before the Dáil about a week or a fortnight since. I then asked in Irish: "Are we in earnest about this matter of the Gaeltacht and the salvation of it?" I referred not only to the Government benches, but to the whole Dáil—the Labour Party, the Independents, Fianna Fáil and Cumann na nGaedheal. I suggest that we should ask ourselves: "Do we appreciate the necessity for immediate measures?" If the Gaeltacht is not saved in this generation, it will never be saved. The Minister for Fisheries suggested that the Fianna Fáil Deputies would not approve of any good suggestions put forward by the Government. That is not so. I know I speak for Fianna Fáil in saying that we are willing to help any Party in the Dáil, or in the country, to save the Gaeltacht and to save the Gaelic nation. The Gaeltacht presents a great problem, the solution of which involves considerable expense. There is no doubt about that. It is a social problem that will have to be solved, apart from the language question altogether. It is an historic problem. There are historic reasons for the Gaels having been driven there, that I need not go into now. But, above all, I say that it is a national problem and a spiritual problem, because on its solution depends the death within, probably, a generation or the revival and the continuation of a Gaelic nation. We were asked by the Minister for Local Government to put up concrete suggestions. We were accused of having none. He said that the Government put up, in a clear and explicit way, what their proposals are. He asked us to come down to frank criticisms. I shall endeavour to do so, comparing the White Paper with the Report of the Commission, showing how little has been done and how much could be done. There are 82 recommendations made by the Gaeltacht Commission in the Report and, of those, fourteen have been adopted by the Government. That Commission was set up in March, 1925, to lead to a clear and definite national policy in respect of the Gaeltacht, and it is stated in that Report that in this policy of saving the Gaeltacht the Oireachtas and the Government of Saorstát Eireann are the appointed trustees.
I say that the Oireachtas—that this Dáil—are trustees as well as Cumann na nGaedheal, and that the responsibility will be ours except we try and unite to find some solution of the problem. How have the trustees so far discharged their obligations? "Our language," we are told in the letter written by the President to the Commission, "has been waylaid, beaten and robbed, and left for dead by the wayside." A patient in such dire straits needs special care and attention, needs nursing and special remedies. Many experts have been called in; they have given their opinions; they do not all agree. But while the experts wrangle as to what is best to be done the patient may quietly slip into the grave. It is beyond dispute that it is a grave economic problem, that considerable sums of money will be necessary to solve it. But we maintain, on this side, and I hope the Dáil will maintain, that the problem is worthy of spending millions on it, in order to solve it satisfactorily for a Gaelic Ireland.
It is stated in the Commission's Report that the language problem and the economic problem are in close relation to each other. The Commission recognises that, and the Commission, as requested, did consider both problems, and, on July 14th, 1926, presented the Report to the Executive Council, a Report that was published on August 23rd, 1926. That Report contains very valuable information; it contains excellent suggestions. It bears every sign of having been carefully and sympathetically considered, with an understanding both of the social, economic and national problem presented by the Gaeltacht. The findings of that Commission were hailed with delight by those who stand for an Irish Ireland; they were welcomed by the Gaelic League; they were welcomed by Councils in the Gaeltacht, and if measures were adopted in accordance with the recommendations of that Commission there would indeed be hope. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick," and I can assure this Dáil that the hearts of the Gaels to-day, in Tirconaill, Galway and Kerry are sick and sore, for they believe that the promise will never be fulfilled. There has been, to my thinking, an inexcusable delay in setting up the machinery to put those recommendations into operation.
On March 29th last the Minister for Local Government asked what was to prevent that Report being discussed here during the last year and a half. "What is to prevent us"—I will quote his exact words—"from criticising the delay of the Government in saying what their intention was in connection with it?" Now, the onus of submitting schemes lies not on the Opposition but on the Government who set up this Commission. He stated, in the introduction of it, that they were bound nationally and in honour to give effect to the recommendations brought in by such Commission. On November 16th last I asked the Minister for Fisheries the following question—I will translate it—"When will the White Paper be published, or when may the public know to what recommendations of the Commission the Government intend to give effect?" The reply I got was: "The White Paper will be laid before the Oireachtas within about a fortnight. I hope it will be sent to the printers tomorrow." That was on November 16th last. The Dáil went into Recess on the 24th November and the White Paper did not appear till February.
I was not the only one who asked questions. There were questions about it before ever I came into the Dáil, and we were told to wait, that the Government was considering it. I put a Supplementary Question: "Could the Minister inform the Dáil whether the White Paper will mention a definite sum of money to be allocated for the carrying out of this work?" The reply I got was "The Deputy will soon have the Paper, and I think he should wait and see." We waited and what have we seen? That Commission Report was drawn up by men, I would say, who were in sympathy with the problem, who thoroughly understood the problem and who understood the national implications of it. The White Paper or the implementing instrument, was drawn up, I would say, by the heads of Departments who were civil servants, thoroughly efficient men in their work, I would say, but whose problem was to see how little could be done; to make the best show they could and spend as little money as possible. The spirit in which it is attacked may be the measure of our solution and the measure of our success when dealing with the problem.
In November, 1926, an All-Ireland meeting, at which all shades of political opinion was represented, was held in the Mansion House, and asked that this Commission's Report be given effect to. Doctor Douglas Hyde spoke there. "Money wisely and sympathetically spent," he said, "to reestablish on a firm and scientific basis the traditional industries of the Gaeltacht should repay itself within a few years. The best of our people," he continued, "were driven by Cromwell to Hell or Connacht... Give them but half a chance and they are the seeds of a great race. It was Hell or Connacht for their ancestors. It is to be Heaven or New York for them." He concluded by saying: "Even though all the recommendations, economic and administrative, should cost something considerable to carry out, it would still not be more than a fraction of the Shannon Scheme, and it will save the historic Irish nation, for it will preserve for all time the fountain-source from which future generations can draw for ever. It is the one way to save the Gaelic nation." Senator Kenny said on the same occasion that "on our action or inaction to-day depended the life or death of an ancient cultured language... It could not be purchased in the market place, and no efficient substitute could be found for it."
I maintain that the White Paper is not in accordance with the sentiments expressed in the Commission's Report or in consonance with the spirit of those who drafted it, notwithstanding the fact that it has been defended in this Dáil by the Chairman of the Commission. I should like, even at the expense of being tedious, perhaps wasting the time of the Dáil, or amusing the few Deputies who are here, to go through these recommendations seriatim and to put up a definite criticism of them. It strikes me that the purpose of this White Paper is simply to justify State action taken already, or State action in existence prior to the setting up of the Commission, or to justify the rejection of the most vital recommendations of the Report. There is very little cognisance taken in any part of the White Paper of recommendations that are directly vital for the preservation of the language, and no special moneys are allocated for putting the findings into operation. I would say of those recommendations twenty are vital for educational development, and of those twenty thirteen were definitely rejected or not acted on, four avoided, or indefinitely postponed, and three accepted in principle, but hedged around with a lot of conditions and only partly operated through ordinary machinery. I shall take the 82 recommendations. Of these 82, I said fourteen were adopted, and the numbers are 1, 2, 4, 8, 34, 47, 49, 51, 56, 68, 71, 72, 73, 74, total, fourteen. The rejected numbers are 5, 6, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 32, 38, 39, total, 10. Three are said to be solved by the preparatory colleges—3, 7, and 9.
Now regarding those preparatory colleges, I have here a letter written to Eoin MacNeill, Aire an Oideachais, 1923, dated 15th February, as follows:
"At a monthly meeting of the Executive of the Gaelic League a sub-committee was established to consider the question of bi-lingual schools and education in the Gaeltacht generally. It is the belief of the members of the Coisde Gnotha (the Executive of the Gaelic League) that the Government should provide special educational facilities for the Gaeltacht, because the Gaelic-speaking districts are generally poor."
"Therefore the children there have little chance of preparing themselves for training colleges, and it would be a disastrous thing for Irish if the material for school teachers were drawn altogether from English-speaking districts. The Government therefore should establish good intermediate schools, schools for teachers, and put the best teachers in them into the Gaeltacht. The Coiste Gnotha therefore recommends that there be established in the Gaeltacht intermediate schools in which will be taught ordinary subjects and in which full justice be given to Irish as a medium of instruction. The best scholars in the bi-lingual schools would naturally furnish material for these intermediate schools and would be excellent teachers later on. We recommend that such schools be established in the following districts: Decies at Ring; Co. Cork, Carbery; Co. Kerry, Iveragh; Co. Clare, Carrigaholt; Co. Galway, Spiddal, Rossmuck; Co. Mayo, Tourmakeady; Tirconnaill, The Rosses on Glenties. In addition there are intermediate schools in or near these areas already which should be Gaelicised in Dingle and Tuam."
So in implementing the report the Gaeltacht Commission can scarcely take credit for those schools which were suggested by the Gaelic League many years before and for which plans were prepared long before the Commission sat. So far for preparatory schools. Further schools are to take advantage of the Gaelicising of the training colleges. Something has been done in that direction but I wonder is there any college in Dublin on the road to becoming perfectly Gaelic even in ten years and in which those leaving preparatory colleges could continue their education in Irish? Other sections of the report are being considered and in that connection I would like to read paragraph 57 as an indication of how far such consideration is likely to lead us. It concerns the establishment of veterinary dispensaries. It says:
"The Government are prepared, however, to consider the re-establishment of dispensaries in any district where it can be shown that there is a reasonable prospect of their being availed of to an extent which would justify the expenditure involved."
I do not think that holds out much hope for the solution of that problem. In the same connection it may be well to look at paragraph 63, which refers to possible legislation, and it says:—
"If and when this Bill becomes law, application will be made to the Dáil, according as may be necessary."
Mair, a chapaill, agus gheobhaidh tú féar. Those fourteen sections are being considered, and if their consideration is being made in that spirit I do not think that much will come of it. Paragraphs 41 and 76 may be worth a glance. The first of these refers to District Justices and says:—
"This recommendation is accepted in principle and will be carried into effect in so far as suitable qualified persons are available. The extent, however, to which it can be carried out is restricted owing to the limited supply of suitable material."
Paragraph 76 deals with the survey of the mineral resources of the Gaeltacht. It says:—
"The Government will be prepared to consider the question of undertaking such a survey in any particular case where sufficient evidence is available of commercial prospects that would justify the necessary considerable expenditure involved."
I do not think that will get them very far in such a survey. They refer to the Report of the Technical Commission. That report is an excellent one. It is full of meat and requires to be digested slowly. In fact, I cannot say that I have thoroughly digested it and, not being gifted with as much grey matter as leaders on the front benches of the Government. I suppose I will be given more time.