The Estimate for the current year is a sum of £82,881, being a net reduction of £28,593 on the figure for the preceding year. At first glance, this may seem a substantial reduction but on closer examination it will be observed that the actual gross amount proposed to be expended during the current year is down by £13,898 only, the receipts by way of appropriations-in-aid being estimated to exceed those voted last year by £14,695. It will further be observed that the salaries and expenses of the Minister, Parliamentary Secretary and their staffs have been transferred from this Vote to the Vote for Lands and that there have been other adjustments on the headquarters staff, so that in effect the actual amount of money which it is proposed to expend on the Gaeltacht Services is less by £10,856 only. This reduction of £10,856 is made up of reductions of £3,423 in the expenditure on rural industries, £6,973 on marine products, £312 on the central marketing depôt, and £950 on the provision for teachers' houses, totalling £11,658, against which must be set off an increase on other sub-heads of £802, leaving a net decrease of £10,856 as compared with last year.
Before referring to the sub-heads of this Vote in detail, I should like to say something about the two main items on which expenditure is down, that is to say, rural industries, for which £3,423 less than last year is required and marine products, for which I am providing £6,973 less than last year.
Looking first at the estimate for Rural Industries, sub-heads E1 to E7, it will be observed that the main constituent parts of the reduction are £2,000 approximately in salaries, wages and allowances, and £1,000 in advertising, and lest there be any misconception on the question of the reduction in salaries, wages, etc., I should like to explain that the sub-head covering wages, salaries, etc., in the estimate does not include the payments made to the ordinary workers engaged in the industries. The workers' earnings are not shown in these estimates; they are deducted from the actual selling price of the articles manufactured before the net amount is brought to credit as appropriations-in-aid. The reductions shown in this sub-head relate to the salaries or wages of a number of instructors and instructresses whose services I have been reluctantly compelled to terminate.
Deputies will recollect that, on the presentation of the estimates for the year 1934-35, I indicated that I was not satisfied that money voted for the purpose of rendering assistance to the depressed areas in the Gaeltacht was being spent to the best purpose. Since then, I have had an opportunity of examining the position in more detail, as a result of which I have definitely satisfied myself that the method of distribution was wasteful and that far too great a proportion of the money was being expended, not on the workers for whom the State intended, but on instructional salaries and administration charges. At the same time, stocks were being piled up at centres and at headquarters for which a market could not readily be found, or, if found, such market was at prices which in no way represented the cost of the finished article. For the institution of the arrangement which caused this expenditure or for its continuance, I take no responsibility save to assure the House that I could not favour a system which resulted in an undue percentage of the money voted going in administrative and managerial costs rather than to the workers. It was accordingly necessary to close down, for the time being, some centres at which overhead expenses were out of all proportion to the results.
With regard to the centres which have been closed down, we have been able to arrange for some of them to be taken over and operated by local groups. Wherever this is possible, it is being done and it will, I think, be of advantage to the local workers. In the first place, it will be possible to cater for the demand for goods produced in local areas and it should insure closer supervision and more economical control than is possible by the Department. Where it is not possible to dispose of closed-down centres in this way, every effort will be made to have them reopened when existing stocks have been reduced or when new and additional markets have been secured. At the present time we have 23 centres operating. Not all of these are as good as we would wish but, on the whole, the volume of employment afforded by them and the prospects of future development do justify the continued cost of management and administration involved.
A regrettable feature of the closing down of some of these centres is that we have had to dispense with the services of the instructresses. Some of these instructresses have long service, but are not entitled to pensions. Such of them as have service prior to the transfer of Government are entitled to make application to the Civil Service Compensation Board for compensation and this is being done. In the case of the instructresses who have been trained by the Department during recent years the blow is not quite so severe though the loss of employment is to be regretted.
Next as to the reduction of almost £7,000 in the amount provided for marine products, sub-heads F1 to F4, most Deputies are familiar with the unfortunate situation in regard to kelp, a situation which has been forced on this and other countries interested in the production of iodine from seaweed by a strong South American combine having for its object the extinction of its competitors. The price of iodine has fallen to about one-third of its real value, at which we find it is not economic to collect seaweed for burning and for that reason a large reduction on the sum previously inserted for kelp has had to be made. But I doubt now whether we shall be able to expend even the amount we have budgeted for.
When the estimates were being prepared there was a hope, which I shared, that the market would soon show an upward tendency and we provided for the purchase of an amount not exceeding 1,000 tons of the spring weed. I regret to say that this optimistic opinion has not materialised and that as the market looks at present we cannot undertake to purchase kelp in any considerable quantities this year as the acquisition of any large quantity would involve substantial loss which we could not justify having regard to the stocks of approximately 6,000 tons which we at present hold in store. I can assure Deputies that no avenue is being left unexplored as regards any possible use to which seaweed or its products might be put and if any reasonable prospect of disposal at anything approaching prime cost materialises I shall be pleased to make arrangements for the restoration of the normal purchase of kelp. It is not that the Department seeks to make a profit out of kelp nor even hesitates to face a substantial loss on it, but the problem is to find any market at all that would, in any way, compensate the gatherers without throwing an unjustifiable charge on the State. It is proposed to dispose of as much as possible of our existing stocks during the current year in the hope that we may be able to offer some price for the winter weed early next season.
Taking the sub-heads now in order, the reduction under sub-head A on the administrative staff is due primarily to the deletion of the salary of the secretary of the Department, the duties now being taken over by the secretary of the Land Commission. The reduction of £584 in the total salaries, etc., for rural industries, marine products and housing branches is explained by the amalgamation of marine products and industries branches, involving a reduction in establishment of one higher executive officer and other minor administrative changes.
In the accounts branch the reduction of £352 is due to the substitution of one junior executive officer by one clerical officer, after making allowance for additional costs by way of annual increments payable to staff.
Under sub-head B, travelling expenses have been reduced to a figure more commensurate with requirements, having regard to our experience of the actual expenditure incurred by officers engaged upon these duties over a number of years. The variations shown in sub-heads C and D, being casual, call for no comment.
It will be observed that a reduction of £2,003 has been made in sub-heads E1, relating to the salaries payable to instructors, instructresses and organisers. As I have already intimated, I could not justify the payment of an instructress where the amount of wages paid to the workers was but a fraction of the administrative cost of the centre. I, therefore, found it necessary to cease work at centres where this was the case until it is possible with better organisation, coordination of production and sales and economical marketing, to secure adequate markets for our products. In actual operation, there are at present one instructor and 24 instructresses but we have reasonable hopes of being able to employ eight more during the course of the year. The provision of £500 in the sub-head for additional staff includes a sum which, with the savings on this and other sub-heads, will provide for the services of commercial and production managers, which are considered necessary to put the undertaking on a properly organised business basis. The variation in sub-head E (2) is casual and is based on average expenditure in previous years.
In sub-head E (3) provision has been made for the maintenance of existing looms, machines and equipment, and the substitution of about eight new machines for a similar number of machines which are worn out. This proposal is a step towards the renewal of all existing machines by newer and better types over a fixed number of years.
The provision for raw materials in sub-head E (4) remains unaltered, being based to a great extent on actual expenditure in previous years, having due regard to an extension of trade under the reorganisation scheme.
I have thought it expedient to make provision in sub-head E (5) for a sum not greatly different from that shown in the previous year. This sub-head enables the Department to award prizes at fairs or shows, or to incur expenditure within the limits provided in forwarding the interests of Gaeltacht goods exhibited at these fairs and shows.
A reduction of £1,000 has been made in the sub-head for advertising, E (6), as there is no longer the same necessity to expend large sums on bringing existing Gaeltacht products before the public. Periodical advertising will continue, but the sum suggested should cover our needs unless the launching of some new project demands otherwise.
General expenses, as budgeted for in sub-head E (7), call for no comment, except in so far as it may be necessary to point out that the increased figure for the provision of designs is offset by the omission in subhead E (1) of the pay of an organiser for the production of knitted goods.
It will be observed that the reduction in sub-heads F (1) and F (2) in the provision for the salaries, wages and expenses of officers engaged upon the purchase of marine products is substantially due to the slump in the market for kelp following the collapse in the price of iodine and to an alteration in the method of carrageen development. It will not be necessary to employ staff to the same extent as in previous years.
Sub-head F (4), providing for the expenditure on carrageen development within the current year, shows a substantial reduction, but the Department can congratulate itself on the fact that the reduction is due to the maturing of the policy of the Department by which there is now available for all carrageen gathered in the Gaeltacht a good market. A stage has now been reached when the functions of the Department in relation to carrageen for manufacturing purposes can be limited to a supervision of the industry. An agreement has been made with a firm which will ensure the satisfactory continuation and development of the industry and that the gatherers will be paid the full price that the market will justify. Adequate safeguards have been adopted by the Department to ensure that the standard of quality will be maintained, that all carrageen offered will be purchased and that the interests of the gatherers will be protected. Food carrageen will continue to be packed at the Cashla station under the direct administration of the Department as heretofore, and provision has been made accordingly. A sum of £150 has been provided as a token sum to enable the institution of research into improved methods of marketing food carrageen. No material alterations have been made in the provision for sub-heads G (1), (2), and (3), in relation to the staff of the central depôt and general expenses. No comment is accordingly called for.
The increase on the amount asked for under sub-head G, for industrial loans, is merely an increase from a nominal sum of £210 to a sum which will enable the Department to advance a loan of a reasonable amount should the merits of the proposal seem to warrant an expenditure on the particular scheme proposed.
In sub-head I, provision is made for the emoluments and travelling expenses of a domestic economy instructress whose meritorious service in the Gaeltacht is well known to western Deputies. No alteration has been made in the provision for grants under the Housing Acts, subhead J (1). While the amount expended for the year just past did not reach the sum provided in the Estimates, we are doing our utmost to have the work speeded up during the coming year, and, if applicants carry out their part of the agreement, no obstacle will be placed in the way of any resident of the Gaeltacht who is entitled to a grant or loan, or both, completing the work in the shortest possible time. Provision is made under sub-head J (2) for the building of one new teacher's residence and the completion of two already under construction. The appropriations-in-aid, sub-head K, consist mainly of sums brought to credit from the sales of marine products and from the sales of the products of rural industries. It is intended, if possible, to dispose of the existing stock of kelp during the current year on the best commercial basis available. We are budgeting for £10,000 from this source. The figure for rural industries has been based on previous years' experience, due regard being paid to the fact that the instructional period has now terminated and that an extension of business is not unlikely. Our gross rural industry sales for the year just ended amounted to £30,000, which was considerably in excess of our last year's Estimate. Included in these were the clearance of certain accumulated stocks of tweeds and knit-wear goods which had been hanging over in the Department. We are gradually getting our stocks cleaned of "jobs" of inferior lots and are approaching the period when we will have our centres and our central depôt on a reasonably good business basis. I do not mean that we are out to make commercial profits in the ordinary sense but we do want to eliminate waste, to put an end to the accumulation of bad and faulty stock and to get the maximum amount in wages to the workers with the minimum amount of administrative overhead. The services of a production manager have already been secured and the Civil Service Commission is at present advertising for a commercial manager and a competent designer. When we have these arrangements complete and with the administrative reorganisation and the clearing out of old stocks that have already taken place, I am hopeful that we will be on reasonably sound lines and that our organisation will be such as will enable us to expand our existing operations and break into new lines that will give a wage return to the needy areas.
There is one branch of our work which, whilst it does not figure in our Estimates, is to me of the highest importance, and that is our interest in seeing that the activities of the other Departments of State are so guided that the greatest possible amount of assistance can be directed to the Gaeltacht areas. In our inter-departmental activities, we have received the most sympathetic assistance from all the other Departments. Needless to say, the full co-operation of the Land Commission is available. The Department of Industry and Commerce, whilst it has found it almost impossible to get industrialists to go right into the Fior-Ghaeltacht, has, where it is at all possible, got industries going in the towns adjoining. Certain manufactures are at present considered as "reserved commodities," and I am hopeful that we will be able to secure some of these for Gaeltacht areas. Already artificial silk fabric has been so declared and I am hopeful that we will have this as one of our larger Gaeltacht products. Two of the alcohol factories are being reserved for Donegal and one for County Mayo. I merely mention these as examples. In Education, Local Government, Agriculture, in the Board of Works and the other Departments our Inter-departmental Committee finds the utmost co-operation and valuable help. Frankly, it is through the agency of the other Departments that the main benefits which result from Governmental activities of all kinds can be brought to the people of the Gaeltacht and I would like to express my appreciation of the help that we have received from these other Departments.
I am hopeful that, following the reorganisation of our services, we will show continued improvement and get the maximum amount of benefit for the money expended. The difficulties, as Deputies know, are considerable but we have hopes of overcoming at least some of them.
I have refrained from going into the question of migration to which the Land Commission has been paying special attention and which has been dealt with in my Land Commission Estimate. It is my hope that schemes of migration will be possible on a large scale—large enough to preserve the language and association of the migrants and large enough to give a substantial number of the Gaeltacht residents a reasonable chance of establishing themselves as farmers on decent holdings.
