There are a couple of things which this Vote has disclosed. It has disclosed the continuing existence of a Parliamentary Secretary for this Department. We heard so little about him during the past 12 months that I thought he had been dissolved or something. This Vote reminds me of whipping a dead horse. I feel that one degrades oneself and wastes one's time in discussing it. It is an insult to the intelligence of anybody with any capacity to spend time in discussing the matters which are here put before us. I am sorry to see that Deputy Tubridy has left. He says that this Government has done more for the Gaeltacht than the last Government. That may be true; I am not going to discuss that matter for the moment. What have they done? During the year we have had in this House all this hypocritical parade about the preservation of the Gaeltacht, the preservation of the Irish language, and the necessity for preserving the Gaeltacht in order to preserve the Irish language. If this Vote here represents the efforts of this House and of this Government to save the Irish language, then I say nothing more hypocritical than the palaver which we have listened to here in this House during the past 12 months can be conceived.
If the Gaeltacht is going to be preserved, it must be preserved by giving a livelihood to the manhood of the Gaeltacht. Deputy Tubridy tells us that this Government has done more than the last Government in that regard. I do not know what the last Government did. I am not going to worry about that: I believe in dealing with to-day and to-morrow. The Gaeltacht extends from Fanad Head, the most northerly point in my constituency, down to somewhere below Kinsale. Let us see what money has gone to the manhood of this area from the Government which has done more for the Gaeltacht than the last Government. It is going to give them £2,800 for kelp and seaweed. There is no indication as to how much per ton is given for the kelp or for the seaweed, but the gross sum is £2,800. To take care of that £2,800, which the entire Gaeltacht is going to get, the costs are as follows:—Transport and storage, £1,200; Grinding, screening, bagging, etc., £660; Analysis and testing, £5; Stores, stationery, etc., £500; Miscellaneous expenses, including casual labour, £150; Assistance by way of cost of transport of seaweed sold by gatherers, £100. The costs are £2,615, and the manhood of the Gaeltacht from Fanad Head in Donegal down to the most southerly point in Cork are going to get £2,800. Yet this Government has done more for the Gaeltacht than any other Government! Has the Deputy any conscience when he can get up in this House and make statements of that kind, expecting them to be published in the Press for his constituents to read the next day or some other day? I think that we here in this House, irrespective of Party, should pass a resolution of utter condemnation of this Government which is handling that problem. Put that as a commercial proposition to any board of directors, and ask them to adopt it. Kelp and carrageen together in the entire Gaeltacht will get £3,112, and the costs of that are £3,361. Yet an enlightened gentleman like Deputy Tubridy comes before this House to tell us what this Government has done and to prate about the Irish language. Is not that enough to sicken anybody? Is not the thing disgusting? This is to save the Gaelic race. The thing is too contemptible to discuss, as I said already.
Some five or six years ago, when the present chairman of the Board of Works was Minister for this Department, I put up the proposal here that if you were going to do anything for this area you would have to go into the homes of the people and in some form or another give them reproductive work. There is something to be said for what Deputy Tubridy stated. I know what he means. He talked about giving this £2 grant in the Gaeltacht. I am going to be straight and blunt. Is this House going to turn this entire area, that is to preserve the Gaelic race, into a huge workhouse where there will be no self-help and no self-reliance? Is that going to be the home of the Irish race, where every man and every woman will be standing like beggars waiting for money from someone and not one act of self-help done? The amount of money represented here divided up over that area is contemptible. There is no use in suggesting that that money is going to do anything for that area. I know an area in my constituency, along a coast line of about four miles, into which eight or ten years ago £3,000 or £4,000 went for kelp and salmon in one year. I know the people who got it. And this miserable sum of £3,112 is going to do for the whole coast line of this country!
This House apparently can give up any hope of this Government doing anything for the Gaeltacht to preserve its manhood and womanhood and to preserve it as the cradle of the Irish race and of the Gaelic tongue. I was jeered at six years ago when I suggested that you should go into the homes of these people and give them something to do in their own homes. I remember Deputy Norton telling me that I was suggesting pigs and porridge for them. I did not suggest that at all. I think that a lot could be done for these people, but I do not think the Parliamentary Secretary or the Minister is going to do anything for them. How could they? What acquaintance have they with this huge problem? How much work have they put into the organisation to do anything for this area?
The old C.D.B. has been referred to. It makes one writhe to compare the present administration of this area with the work of the old C.D.B. Think of the men who were on that board, think of their ability, and of the time and the energy they put into the work. One of the greatest men this country ever produced was on that board and threw all his energies and talents into dealing with that trouble. Now we are asked to believe that we are going to save these people by the expenditure of £3,000. I remember the late Cardinal O'Donnell applying all his talents to that mighty problem, because that is what it is. Look at the Micawber attempts that are being made to-day to deal with it. Think of all the men who were the Cardinal's colleagues on that board. They did do something for that area. More could be done, but no more could be humanly done with the resources that they had at their command than they did. They applied their talents, their genius, and their energy to it. They put backbone and spirit into the people of that area and they maintained them during all these years. What is being done now? I will not apply any term to this. Deputy Bartley and Deputy Tubridy have done that. We have given them the dole and we have given the £2 grant for children speaking Irish. These people want that £2. I know they do. But think of giving £2 to people for speaking their native language. Where is that going to get them? What are their fathers doing? They should be out gathering kelp and selling it. That is what I want to see these people doing. I have been told that the market for kelp is bad. That is untrue. There are times of depression in connection with any industry. The curious thing is that while this Government are only giving a nominal price for kelp, British buyers are coming to Rathlin Island, round to the Six-County area where kelp is gathered, and giving as much as £10 per ton for it. That is not being done for charity. That is not being subsidised by a Government Department. That is being done by British speculators, private individuals, who have some object in view and that object is not charity.
This Department has the External Affairs Department, the Trade Commissioner in London, trade agents everywhere, and ambassadors in Berlin, Paris, Rome and New York to get into touch with. English merchants are buying kelp for some purpose, and they are not subsidised by any Department. They are not doing it for charity. There is something else behind it. Does the Government Department know anything about that? While we are prepared for such subsidies in these areas, we want to get some results and not this sort of thing. The Parliamentary Secretary must know that British merchants who deal in kelp are in the market and are giving £10 a ton. What is the explanation for that? The curious thing is that they did not buy kelp in our territory. Was that because of the economic war? Has the Parliamentary Secretary any information about it? I have no method of getting it, as I have not the organisation behind me that the Parliamentary Secretary has. He has the Departments of External Affairs, Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, as well as trade agents abroad, to go to. What information do all these supply as to the prospects of this industry? It is being subsidised so as to pay an economic price, but the bill for storage appears to be the most important part of it. Deputy Tubridy spoke about re-constituting the Congested Districts Board. What is happening? The men who went out after the tide to gather kelp and who carted it are going out of the business altogether. If the tradition is not maintained in the homes of the people, the industry will die out. In these areas there are only two things for the people to depend upon, kelp and fishing. The sea fisheries are dead. I cannot deal with fisheries now, but I say that they are part of the same problem, and that these two Departments should never have been separated. They should be under the same control. The Parliamentary Secretary states:
"The reduced Estimates for marine products is, in effect, more notional than real, as the Department is willing to take all kelp offered for sale. In the Estimate for last year provision was made for something in the nature of 1,000 tons and a quantity of seaweed, but actually only some 400 tons were offered."
That is clever. The trend of the whole situation is that this industry is going down and down, and will ultimately disappear. That industry brought great wealth to these people. I admit that the work is hard. I would like to see the people paid for hard work. It is a slavish job saving and carting kelp. While the Department estimated for 1,000 tons, it only got 400 tons. Imagine only 1,000 tons from the whole western seaboard. Ten years ago 1,000 tons would be gathered on six or seven miles of the shore in County Donegal. I remember that the then departmental head wanted to send a ship to Limerick from Donegal to carry 1,000 tons of kelp. At the same time two other boats were chartered from Glasgow to carry kelp from Burtonport, Tory Island, Fanad and Malin. It is worthy of speculation as to whether this Government will not completely destroy the spirit and manhood of this area. I do not know if what Deputy Tubridy stated has been the cause, or if the giving of the dole has put people out of employment. I am not going that far. If it is, it is tragic. This Government has attempted to commit many crimes against the country, but if that is true it is the greatest crime of all.
Perhaps as another generation grows up, young men will not go out to fish in small curraghs in storms in which perhaps they might lose their lives, and will not go to the sea shore before five or six o'clock in the morning to pull out and save seaweed, if money is to be got easier. Is that what the Government is doing for the Gaelic race? I would like to hear from the Parliamentary Secretary what he is really going to do. Has he any really constructive policy, or is he going to abolish the present organisation and delegate his functions, covering fishing and everything else, to some other body, by giving it a considerable sum of money and saying: "Here you are, go into this area and enter into production as far as is humanly possible?" Of course, I will be told that it is easy to criticise, and I will be asked what suggestion I have to make with regard to kelp. In that connection, I see no justification for British buyers and Scottish agents coming to Rathlin Island, and giving £10 a ton for kelp unless they were storing it up for the purposes of war. The Parliamentary Secretary can get information of that kind and he should. If these people who are individual business men in this business are prepared to take that risk, very well we will support the Parliamentary Secretary in taking it. I want to keep these men in all this area working. I want to keep them working at the sea so that the tradition will remain there even though the industry has struck a bad patch in regard to prices. I do not want to say anything that would grate on anybody's nerves or temper. This House has voted large sums of money in the last few years for very futile and idle things. Would it not be far better than these silly schemes, ridiculous schemes, a reflection on this House, if the money were used for this purpose, paying we will say, since the decline in the price of kelp began, a flat rate of £5 per ton— a guaranteed rate of £5 per ton? In that way, some of the money that has been wasted, wasted from the point of view of the taxpayer, for which there is no justification whatever, would be spent on work like this. Had we a board like the Congested Districts Board, manned with men of the calibre of the men of that board, that would be handed over a sum of money of that kind, does anybody suggest that we would get a production of this kind? Not at all! We have here 400 tons of kelp and seaweed, both combined, you will remember. Apparently, there is some seaweed bought too, whatever it is bought for. Whether the Department burn it themselves I do not know. I think the Parliamentary Secretary should have the moral courage to get up and say: "Very well, I have been a failure at this thing. The thing is a fiasco," tender his resignation to the Government and say: "Set up some other arrangement to deal with it, because I cannot." It is not right for us to do these things, carrying on a sham of this kind and then make it appear that we are doing something to build a citadel of the Irish race. Let us be quite frank about it. Open confessions are good for the soul. Let us have one.
Now there was another very interesting thing, equally ridiculous, so ridiculous that I am ashamed to think that I am here and that this thing is produced by the Department—loans for industrial purposes, loans for the purchase of machines and equipment for rural industries—£10. The industries of the Gaeltacht are going to get £10! Loans for the purchase and repair of turf boats— £10—some fresh paint put on them, I suppose. Loans for the purchase of boats, carts and draught animals for use in connection with marine products and industries—£10. Loans for the purchase of boats and transport services—£1,000. Miscellaneous loans £500. What are these loans for boats? I think we had a special Bill here during the last session to purchase, or rather either to purchase boats or to maintain a service from the harbour in Galway to some islands west of Galway. I think it would be much better, if this fits into some service that the Gaeltacht Department are running, that there should be some co-ordination. There was a Bill before the House and these should be put into the general thing and not have this thing of scraps here and scraps there and no co-ordination anywhere.
I see that a new knitting factory is going to be opened in Bunbeg. I give that my blessing in so far as it is a success. I give it my condemnation in so far as it is only opened to be ultimately closed. Does the Parliamentary Secretary expect success from this or is it merely under pressure from somebody, that simply money is voted and a factory is opened and, of course, to keep it open for a time and then close it down again? That is taking place down in the County Donegal. I do not want any more shams of that kind. If a factory is opened down there for knitting or any other purpose, I want it to be opened as an economic proposition, run on business lines and run successfully. I do not want a factory being opened this month and closed down six months hence or some other time. The thing is awful, scrapping machinery and wasting everything, staff and everything else being thrown as scrap on the market. Thousands of pounds worth of this stuff will be lying at Beggar's Bush until somebody buys it as a job lot.
Deputy Linehan has referred to the tweeds. Now, I would like to hear from the Parliamentary Secretary what is the actual position in Beggar's Bush. What is the nature of the stock that is on hands at present? Have last year's patterns been cleared? If they have not, what amount is lying over? If there is a substantial amount of last year's stock remaining on hands, what is the explanation of its lying on hands? I do not want a repetition of what occurred some years ago. Some enormous amounts of these tweeds of various kinds, running into a huge sum, lying there and ultimately sold for scrap price. I remember the sneering of Senator Connolly, then the Minister for Lands, in this House on the position that he found in that connection. Accepting what I see in these Estimates, there is no improvement yet. I hope that the innovation of designers will mean an improvement. I am anxious to know from the Parliamentary Secretary the actual procedure. Have last year's patterns—the entire stock of last year's patterns—been cleared? If they have not been cleared, what is the amount, at their wholesale price, that is remaining on hands at the end of the season, and if there is any substantial amount of them lying on hands at the end of the season, what is the explanation of the failure to market them? Was it due to intensive competition? Was it due to quality, or was it due to not having the proper patterns? The House is entitled to know this, because if public money is being voted to assist these areas and if for lack of design or some technical defect of that kind the industry has been strangled, the House should know that and should see that steps are taken to put an end to this.
I would suggest—I made the suggestion before, and my colleague, Deputy Dillon, also—to the Parliamentary Secretary, that if he purposes to occupy the position that he now holds, that he should take steps and ask the Government for sufficient money, or the necessary money, to get these people into full production of kelp, and offer them, we will say, a flat rate of £5 a ton for it. It is quite clear, looking at things humanly and looking at the abominable world that confronts us, that the whole of Europe is going headlong for a war. That is an abominable prospect. There it is— human vengeance and human jealousy. If that is so, of course, in a few years there is going to be an enormous demand for kelp.