Last might when we adjourned we were dealing with the question of the re-Vote of £130,000, which is ascertained to be the amount which was got out of the first large Unemployment Fund for the purpose of financing without unnecessary delay the preparation of new works. The Vote for 1934-35 consists of: (a) re-Vote '33-'34, £130,000; (b) £120,000, Public Health and Miscellaneous Works, and (c) £100,000, Drainage of Bogs, etc. Both those terms—Public Health and Miscellaneous Works and Drainage of Bogs— are intended to be terms of the widest possible interpretation. If you deduct that £130,000 it leaves £220,000 available for new works, and this has been provisionally allocated between the different Departments. I may tell the House what the allocation is, but the difficulty is that there is a tendency to regard these as in some sense cast-iron agreements. In the allocation of the money between the Votes it is quite impossible at this stage to be definite, because the actual final allocation depends entirely on the time factor in getting them into operation, and the relative suitability of the different works put forward by the different Departments to deal with the interests of the different areas. In the allocation and administration of the new Vote this year it is proposed, generally speaking, to follow the practice of previous years. It is rather a pity that, out of the 9,000 or 10,000 proposals which have been put forward from every possible source in the country, nothing of an original character has been suggested. As the House is aware, we are considering the whole question of public works, and what can be done over a period in relation to this problem. The fact is that they will take in a much wider ambit than the schemes which necessarily come under an ad hoc Vote in a particular year, and as they are to be considered as things which may go on from year to year it is probable that the ambit of the work to be done will be very considerably increased. If anyone has any original idea on the subject, if anyone knows of some really useful fundamental work which has both a high labour content in it and will give really economic value in return for the money spent, all I can say is that this is a very receptive Department. We should be very glad to have the information, to acknowledge its source, and to express our gratitude for any help we can get in the matter. Suitable schemes will be selected from those received from various departments and, as I say, from other sources, in order, as far as possible, to avoid overlapping of grants and secure that the fund will be equitably distributed.
Arrangements have had to be made that schemes must be lodged in good time. For instance, we started to make out minor relief schemes for next winter in January of this year. It was necessary to go over the whole of the existing material which we had and, out of the material which had already been vetted, selected and judged, to pick out, as far as possible, the works required in particular areas. In so doing we were surprised to find that there were quite a number of areas which had claims to relief on their merits for which, out of the whole mass of that material, we had not received schemes. That gap has now been filled.
The selected works will, as a rule, be carried out during the winter, when unemployment may be supposed to be at the maximum. Peat development and marine works, however, may sometimes be exceptional in this respect. Marine works, as Deputies know, in some cases have to be done when both tide and weather will allow. In some cases, it is quite impossible to do the marine works which we want to do during the rough winter weather. For that reason, we have to do them in the milder portion of the year. This is not greatly against them, because minor marine works are generally done in areas in which you are not dealing with an unemployment distress problem, but a poverty distress problem. From my experience now in going over the whole of these things, I am satisfied that in no place in the whole of this country is there any problem in relation to unemployment whose intensity is of the same measure as the distress problem due to the permanent poverty of a very considerable portion of our people.
Peat development also falls on the same lines. When we were concentrating entirely on using our money during the period when it was most desirable from the point of view of unemployment relief, that is the cold, wet, hard winter months, when poverty is a very acute misery, we were up against the difficulty that it was not the right or profitable time in which to develop bogs. We can put, and did put, good economical roads into bogs for the purpose of enabling people to get to their own turbary. That had to be done during that time. Due to the fact that there is behind these bog roads an amazing, an almost unbelievable enthusiasm, energy and enterprise on the part of those who would benefit by them, the physical defect of attempting to do that during that period was considerably overcome.
As to the general question of the use and relative value of the relief works we are doing, from an inspection of some hundreds of them I have come to this opinion. If I go on a job for which I know £100 has been allocated and I find that for that money as much as I could possibly expect to get for £150 in commercial work has been done, then I am perfectly satisfied that, whatever other thing can be said for or against that work, it is intrinsically valuable. That, in my experience, is the best criterion of the integral value of the work. I have seen some work done on which there was an amazing output of value for the money. In other cases, I have found the contrary. That is my general criterion at the moment. For that reason, we were able during the bad winter months to do development work of the character I speak of where it simply meant enabling a man to get to his turbary. But, where it came to the wholesale development of peat for the purpose purely and simply of commercial use, then the problem altered. It is necessary in these cases, where possible, to do the work at a period of the year in which the work itself can be most efficiently and economically done and that is during the dry period of the year. In addition to that there is the Peat Development Section which has a very definite programme of output which requires to be met during the next year. We cannot put off the doing of the necessary work of preparation until it is convenient purely and simply from the unemployment impact point of view I think some 73 schemes altogether were carried out by the Peat Development Section up to the present at a cost of £24,000. I think that every peat development scheme put forward up to the present has either been completed or is now in active operation.
Owing to the pressure of work which has been occasioned by the bringing into operation of the Unemployment Assistance Act, the local labour exchanges have been going through a very bad time and they have been subjected to very great pressure. They have decided, I hope temporarily, to change the system under which men for relief schemes were found from the labour exchanges. In practice the labour exchanges have been available in different degrees and with different degrees of efficiency both in relation to the different class of work which was done and in relation to the time. There has been a gradual improvement in the operations, for instance, in relation to public health work and in relation to road work, especially so in the eastern division of the Saorstát where unemployment registration was common; in ordinary practice the system of recruitment which is now being changed was satisfactory.
As the House will remember, one of the actions of the present Government was to intensify registration—to make extraordinary efforts to see that the people who previously had not been in a position to register should register. The result was that the registration figures of somewhere about 30,000 under the old régime were raised to somewhere about 100,000. This increase in registration took place practically entirely in the western districts of Ireland. I may mention that for the information of the Dáil maps were made showing the density of unemployment registration as distinct from unemployment. There was a complete revolution in the contour and appearance of these maps after the intensification of the registration. In fact, the map looked like a map of the congested districts of Ireland. In the first place, in those districts, the people had not been accustomed to registration, and, in the second place, the particulars of registration—I mean the particulars in relation to individuals—were not closely or personally known at the beginning to the labour exchanges. In fact, for a few months the labour exchanges in the western districts were completely snowed under and very specially so in relation to the minor relief works, where you desire to see strictly local men on the job. In these cases the labour exchanges were practically useless.
Gradually as time went on, the labour exchanges improved enormously in that matter and we were able to hand over county by county. From the beginning we used the labour exchanges in the eastern counties, and as time went on, county by county, we were able to hand over —and we were enthusiastically anxious to hand over—to the labour exchanges all control in the matter of taking on the men. We had hoped that this year that process of transfer would have been practically completed. Unfortunately, due to the pressure which is now on the Department and for which I frankly recognise there is a legitimate reason or excuse at the moment for taking work of that kind off them, we have now had to go back to the system of appointment by officials who will be controlling the individual works. The regulation in relation to that matter is that applicants who are in receipt of unemployment assistance are to receive preference over those who are not; and every effort will be made to secure that those longest unemployed will be the first to be engaged. The local labour exchanges will assist by giving any information in their possession with regard to applicants who are in receipt of unemployment assistance.
In regard to the applicants, 75 per cent. of the vacancies are to be given to married men and 25 per cent. to single men. I hope myself that the new system is temporary, and that we will eventually get back to the position in which the central association of the employment exchanges will be able to take over this work again.
In the detailed distribution of the relief works, grants will be made in proportion to the needs of each area as far as they can be ascertained; and due regard will be had to the desirability of providing work where possible for able-bodied men who are in receipt of unemployment assistance under the new Act. The sum provided this year for this purpose is £1,186,000. In allocating the funds a broad distinction will be made between county boroughs and urban districts on the one hand and rural areas on the other.
The relief problem in the cities and towns of the Saorstát is one of unemployment, and the largest element in dealing with that at the present moment is, undoubtedly, the huge scheme of house building which is going on. Where that is not sufficient we use for the purpose of giving employment the local government machinery of sewerage and waterworks, roads and schemes of that kind. The only two types of work yet discovered which can be put immediately and flexibly into operation to deal with what you might call emergency states of unemployment are what we now know broadly as minor relief schemes and road work. Both of these are organised in such a way that you can practically, at any time, throw a whole lot of men into them. But to do a very large amount of work of that kind, I mean a large amount of work considerably in excess of the amount that we are now spending in an area, the thing cannot be continuous and economic. In the rural areas the problem is twofold. You have unemployment amongst the agricultural labourers as such and you have what I regard as altogether a greater and more overwhelming problem, that is poverty. The extent of this poverty amongst large numbers of agricultural producers is amazingly unbelievable.
What we have done as far as relief is concerned in these districts I have already told the House. We tried to get a mathematical basis, but all mathematical bases built on human affairs are fallible. But we try to do all we can to correct this by the experience which we ourselves have and the experience which we get from members of the House. We took out the valuation of every single rural electoral area and we divided that valuation by its agricultural population. By that we got a valuation per head of the population and from that we derived a poverty factor. We then divided out the minor relief fund between all these electoral areas, without any regard to any other consideration, as to about 75 per cent. of the total amount available on the basis of that poverty factor, multiplied by the population of the area which was concerned. You have now a position in which you have simply a list of electoral areas. Behind those you have a definite money allocation, calculated on that basis as belonging to the electoral area. We went through the works we had and we selected the work which in itself was most suitable and which came as near as we could manage it within the limits, allowing a certain latitude necessary one way or the other. As far as the balance of the fund was concerned, we distributed it over the areas largely in proportion to the number of unemployed agricultural labourers existing in those areas. Out of these two factors we got a formula by which, I should say, at least 90 per cent. of the total of the minor relief fund is automatically allocated in an equitable manner.
Everybody knows that any formula of this kind, while it is very nice and scientific, does not take into account all considerations. We have regarded the figures as ones which stood subject to criticism by anyone who had a better knowledge. Where a case was put up that a particular area was more necessitous than our calculation would show, we have gone into it simply and solely as a problem to be decided on its merits. If it were shown, as in quite a few cases it was shown, that our calculation was vitiated by the fact that out of 100 or 200 holders in a particular area two or three of them held three-quarters of the land—in other words, if it was shown that the calculation was vitiated by the lack of average in the size of the holding, that would then be taken into account. I am putting this matter to the House in this fashion so that they will understand that in administering the funds which have been given to us in trust to administer we are trying to find a basis which will be reasonable and fair. If anyone can find a better basis I should like to hear of it. We have put up for two years maps showing the whole detailed distribution, the distribution of every penny of the fund, geographically and otherwise. It may be that with the very best wish in the world we have not succeeded in distributing that money fairly, either as between the counties or as between different portions of the counties. If those Deputies who have closer personal knowledge than I have of the necessities of the particular areas will go over those maps and point out to us where we have failed to meet the necessities which they know of in the distribution, we will be very glad to take their suggestions into consideration and use them in the further development of the schemes.
The principal kinds of relief which we have indulged in are peat development schemes, reclamation of land, afforestation, mineral exploration and development, minor marine works and minor relief schemes. Peat schemes of a commercial character were instituted and I think the one stroke of genius in the peat development scheme was the flat rate on rail. By arrangement with the railways they were prepared to take peat from any place in the Saorstát to any place in the Saorstát for a flat rate. That solved at a stroke the biggest and most difficult of all the problems, and that was the transportation problem and the problem of the various values of peat due to its distance from the centres of consumption. It meant that every place within three or four miles of a railway, wherever it was in Ireland, was practically on a balance if the peat itself was good. I hope this year we will spend at least three times as much as we spent last year in the preparatory development of peat; that is to say, in the planning out of large areas of peat development, driving roads into them and constructing drains out of them so as to enable them to be brought into production this year. Most of the work up to the present has been done through co-operative peat societies. I am not one of those people who are wild enthusiasts for co-operative societies as effective units. I stress that point for the purpose of paying tribute to the efficiency with which the co-operative societies in this case have as a rule delivered the goods. It is essentially one of the activities in which cooperation is needed among those who are going to produce the stuff and the use of co-operative societies for this purpose up to the present has been a success. Whether or not we are coming to the limit of efficient activity of co-operative societies in this connection is a matter which is under consideration. It is suggested that while to the extent to which it is further possible we shall use the co-operative society, if the very much larger output which is envisaged is to be obtained it may have to be obtained by more direct methods.
In the reclamation of land, grants varying from £1 to £5 are given by the Department of Agriculture to encourage tenants with uneconomic holdings from the various districts to reclaim waste lands and bring them into cultivation and make them a permanent addition to their agricultural farms. The Land Commission carry out reclamation on a sufficiently large scale to provide entirely new holdings for migrants. Any money of that kind which we use is used through the Land Commission. Broadly speaking, the whole object of the Department which we control is not to do the work ourselves if an existing organisation of the State can do it. I must say that in the somewhat onerous task of co-ordinating those activities we have had the highest and the most cordial co-operation from all the other Departments of the State.
Marine works consist of boat slips and piers mostly in very poor areas. They are used for the purpose of enabling the people to do a little more fishing largely for their own use, for the gathering of kelp, for the gathering of seaweed for farm purposes and sand and gravel also largely for agricultural purposes. A good deal more work of that kind can be done. There are a lot more piers that have been proposed. Taking a period of over 50 years you will find that there were a lot of piers erected which, certainly, ought never to have been proposed. I used to say in the days when it was my business to know a great deal about the sea coast that there were piers in Ireland that would justify a revolution. I say that deliberately, and my experience in the building of them has not altered that opinion.
Minor relief schemes are the most popular of all. I should say I get 30 inquiries, from members of the Dáil, in relation to minor relief schemes, for every one that I get in connection with other schemes. It is amazing! You can spend £1,000 on an ordinary road but it does not seem to have the impact or the interest of £100 spent upon a bog road. Certainly the atmosphere created and the work done in connection with the bog roads is surprising. Those of us who have seen Ford's making castings, and moulds, and cores for castings, for piece work, certainly regarded human labour as being brought to the limit of intensity. But I can say I have seen men working on bog roads, trying to cut another few yards to the bank, with an intensity that would make the intensity in Ford's in making their castings look like slow motion. The reason is that the work is useful to themselves. We try, as far as possible, in every case, for the purpose of getting those good results, to employ upon the works those who will benefit from them. Exactly in the same way, where we drive considerable roads into bogs, for the commercial development of peat, we employ, if possible, members of the co-operative society who afterwards are going to work that bog and get the benefit. Speedy cuts are made, and with an enthusiasm and directness that you do not get from ordinary hired labour.
Some 1,900 separate minor relief schemes were carried out last year. In the month of December there were engaged, at one time, some 16,000 men upon these schemes. Although we turned out about 2,500 schemes of different sorts, I must say they have gone this year with a smoothness and an ease, and a lack of trouble, that is a very great testimony to the efficiency and the energy of the officials of the Department who have to deal with, what I need hardly tell the House, are the very considerable and various ways, 2,500 schemes scattered all over the country.
I again refer to the map that I put up outside in the Lobby. I hope in future years that will be the practice. I think two or three years' maps of the kind that I have put up will eventually prove to be most valuable organisation sources of the proper distribution of relief schemes in the future. They have not been put up for advertisement or kudos of any kind, but for the deliberate purpose of enabling members of this House to have full and exact knowledge of what has been done and to bring constructive criticism to bear in the administration of the relief schemes, in order that they may realise more than they do now what, I think, the Dáil intended them to be when they put these advantages at the disposal of the Department for the relief of distressed industries.
