In the question on the Order Paper in my name yesterday I asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health
"whether his Department has considered the situation arising from the inability of a large number of families in country districts to harvest their turf, owing to the bad weather; and the consequent scarcity of fuel, causing much suffering to poor people; and whether it is proposed to take any action to relieve the situation?
In reply to that question the Minister for Local Government made a curious statement that no representations had reached him on the matter. It is very hard to understand why the Minister responsible for the public health of the country gave such an apparently irresponsible reply. One might consider that he wanted not to be troubled with the subject, as it might involve a lot of extra work for his Department and he would rather not hear about it. But if it means an attempt to insinuate that I put down the question merely to have my name on the Order Paper I can tell him that he is quite definitely wrong in his assumption. Long before I put down the question I made representations to the Forestry Department with a view to inducing them to relax the regulations in force under the new Forestry Act. As a matter of fact, the question was put down a week before the Dáil met, in order that the Minister might have an opportunity of making inquiries. However, I am not going to waste time in criticising the reply of the Minister. But I want to say that numerous representations have reached me regarding the scarcity of fuel in country districts.
For instance, here is a letter from Blessington district. "There will be no turf got this year as you would want a boat to get into a bog and the water is swimming over it. I see small farmers buying coke already." Again, in another letter, "To make matters worse very few people have managed to save their turf, and the plight of poor folk—many of whom used to live by selling turf—is pitiable. I wonder if anything of a public nature could be done in connection with that problem?"
Another person wrote to me: "Many families here are already without a fire, but there is a plantation near from which a good deal of fuel could be obtained if the owner was induced to apply for a felling order and if the Forestry Department gave consent."
In a district outside my own constituency I happen to know that last Sunday fortnight a poor man had managed to kill a rabbit, possibly by illegal means. He had no fire to cook it and half-a-dozen of his neighbours to whom he went could not help him in his difficulty. Most of the people in that particular district live by selling turf, and when they are without fuel there it is obvious that elsewhere very considerable scarcity must exist. Already the price of turf in most districts has gone up by 50 per cent.; in some districts it has gone up by as much as 100 per cent. I do not want to exaggerate the case or pretend that there is any need for panic in the matter, but from inquiries I made since I put down this question and from what had already been represented to me, I am convinced that there is going to be very great hardship to poor people this year through scarcity of fuel. Coal, as these people would buy it, would cost as much as £3 a ton and in most cases they could make very little use of it.
I have already mentioned that the price of turf has gone up considerably. The new Forestry Act is in operation and that, of course, prevents people, without at least the formality of applying for a permit to fell, from utilising any timber that may be available. The Minister may say that if there were this scarcity there would be already public commotion about it, but we all know that the last thing the very poor people will do is to make commotion. They will go on pulling down fences and improvising fuel before they will think of representing their position to any public authority or bringing it before their representatives. We all know that their patience in such matters is really a very big fault. If the position is such as I suggest, and I think it can be testified to by nearly everybody present, then it certainly calls for public action. A number of bogs are so much flooded that people cannot get into them at present. In many places numbers of families have not been able to get any of their turf; day after day they can be seen carrying turf in bags on their backs along the bog road. It is not a matter which I think can be dealt with in the ordinary way by Home Help. No public council could give such an amount of Home Help as would enable them to buy fuel at the high prices that will prevail this year. As well as that, a number of people who have made a living through selling turf will be an additional charge on Home Help since their means are gone for this year. Therefore it would mean a double extra levy on the county council.
I do not want to delay the House in going over the whole position, but I want the Minister to tell us that he will inquire into it. It would be the merest satire on a public Department to have Medical Officers of Health in every county, to have all sorts of machinery for looking after the health of the people, when at the same time you have this very serious state of affairs that is affecting the health of the people, particularly the very old and the very young. I can give the Minister names of school teachers who will tell him how bad conditions are in their particular districts. He can communicate with them if he does not take my word, and they at least will testify that the children attending schools are already suffering severely. If the position is bad in October and November it is going to be a great deal worse after Christmas and in the spring and certainly there should be a statement from the Minister.
