I think Deputy Mulcahy mentioned what he expected the Government to try to do in relation to unemployment and certain propagandist statements. He referred to statements that appeared in the Press and mentioned the "Irish Press." It is undoubtedly correct that the figures available in relation to the number of registered unemployed, and the number of vacancies filled through the Employment Exchanges, have been misunderstood in a number of quarters, and not merely in the "Irish Press." I refer the Deputy to the "Irish Independent" of yesterday, and to a number of British papers that circulate in this country, which published side by side the number of registered unemployed at this time last year and the number of registered unemployed to-day. They published these figures without the qualifying note accompanying them that was supplied by my Department. That is something more than a misunderstanding; it is deliberate dishonesty. The Deputy knows —and I am sure the leader-writers in the "Irish Independent" and other correspondents whose effusions appear in the "Daily Mail" and the "Daily Express" are quite well aware of it —that it is not possible to compare the figures for registered unemployed this year with those available for last year, because they are compiled on an entirely different system, and deal with an entirely different situation. It is impossible to say what the registered number of unemployed this time last year would have been, if the same conditions for registration, and for the recruitment of labour on relief schemes through the Labour Exchange, that exist now existed then. I have never attempted to minimise in the slightest degree the gravity of our unemployment problem. I pointed out before that it is probably correct to say that 50 per cent. of those registered at the Labour Exchange as available for work are small landholders or persons with other means of livelihood who, although available for work and anxious to get it, cannot be regarded as unemployed in the ordinary sense. At the same time we have to face the fact that the situation is possibly growing in seriousness. It is the usual course that the numbers unemployed increase over the winter months. That is why the Government has taken special powers in the matter of relief funds in order to provide that direct expenditure on relief schemes in the winter months is at the maximum when the condition of the unemployed is worst. I think it is an obvious fact in the circumstances in which this country is situate at present, with the dislocation of trade which has resulted from the imposition of tariffs upon certain exports to Great Britain, that the steps that have been taken by the Government in order to reorganise the economic life of the country in the new circumstances must have caused certain dislocation, and that it will be a very difficult task to put the economic system operating here on a basis by which it will of its own accord be capable of providing a livelihood for all our people. In the interval we must take special measures, and that is our justification for the large grants made available on the relief votes and the additional sums we are going to make available. We realise that the resources of this country, and the ability of our people, to provide the means are strictly limited. Within these limits we are going to ensure, as far as organisation and direction of the national forces provide, that the degree of hardship which exists among the unemployed will be reduced to the minimum and that work —wherever possible useful public work —will be available to occupy the labours of those now idle.
I think I am entitled to ask that we should not have, from presumably responsible newspapers, the exaggerated and misleading statements which appeared during the last few days. Figures were published which are calculated to deceive, because the necessary qualifying remarks which should have accompanied them are not given. My remarks may apply in more directions than one. The position is that we have roughly 90,000 registered as unemployed; that probably 50,000 of these are small landholders and the like seeking occasional work on the roads; and the relief funds are so administered that persons getting work under them must get it through the Exchanges. The operation of that condition has increased very considerably the number of vacancies recorded as filled through the Exchanges every week. As I said, the average is about 2,019 in the last week for which the figures are available. That should not be taken as meaning that the number of unemployed is reduced by that amount every week. That is not the case. That figure was quoted by me in a recent debate merely to demonstrate the fact that much more use was being made of the Exchanges than heretofore, when the average number of vacancies filled throughout the year was only 16,000 or 17,000.
I do not know what the Deputy meant by attributing to me some statement that appeared in the "Irish Press" this morning, in relation to trade and industry. If my recollection serves me right, the industry dealt with in that particular article which the Deputy spoke of was the readymade clothing industry. I do not know what firm he has in mind which is working only to 25 per cent. of its capacity. But I do know that if any one of these firms is in that position it is possibly due to some defect in the management. There is no reason why any firm engaged in that industry should not now be fully occupied. I admit that this is not the busiest period of the year, but the fact that a number of additional firms have come into the industry would seem to indicate that there is sufficient scope for additional firms in it. Additional readymade factories have been opened. The same page of the "Irish Press" contains an announcement to which he refers announcing the pending opening of another factory. There are at least two other firms with substantial capital coming into that industry on a large scale and there is still room for further development.
I do not want to make any controversial statement concerning the position of Gallaher's factory. As regards the persons who were formerly employed there, and who are not now registered as unemployed, it is assumed by my Department and as a result of definite inquiries made, that most, if not all, of them have found employment elsewhere. When I gave an undertaking here that every effort would be made by me and by my Department to place in employment those formerly engaged in Gallaher's factory, I took immediate steps to implement that undertaking. Instructions were given in the Department that the ordinary machinery of the Labour Exchanges should be utilised in every way to place the former workers in Gallaher's who were available for work and in addition special representations were made publicly and privately by me and by the Department to individual employers throughout the City. I have no doubt that as a result of these representations publicly and privately made a considerable number of Gallaher's former employees have secured employment without the Labour Exchange coming into the picture at all. I know most of them have secured work. There is still a balance of them unemployed, but we are continuing our efforts and will continue our efforts to secure work for these people.
There are other victims of the new conditions who have just as much claim upon the consideration of the Government as Gallaher's employees have. I should like to refer, particularly, to those who were employed formerly upon occupations in the docks. The volume of external trade has diminished and will diminish more if our protective tariffs secure increased production within the country. We are particularly anxious to ensure that those engaged in that work will get special consideration because, unlike the vast majority of Gallaher's employees, they are adults and heads of families and disemployment of these is much more harmful than the disemployment of a number of girls 16 or 17 years of age. I do not want to enter into what must be an academic discussion as to the difference between the proposal by the Trades Union Congress and the amendment moved by Deputy Mulcahy in July. In July on the day he moved the amendment there were available persons in this country who were prepared to invest substantial sums of money in the Gallaher industry.
