asked the Minister for Finance whether it is practicable to furnish a reference number on acknowledgments of schemes submitted for minor relief grants so that subsequent correspondence with the Board of Works in their regard might be simplified.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Minor Employment Schemes.
As many as 6,000 to 7,000 separate applications for minor employment schemes are received each year, and the process of registration requires some time even in the simplest cases. The identification of proposals very often presents difficulties owing to the looseness of the descriptions given. As a rule the name of the townland which is stated in the application is the only means by which a work can be identified; and it often happens that there may be two or more proposals for different works in a particular townland. Very frequently a work falls in a number of separate townlands, and applications from different sources for the same work refer only to the townland or townlands in which the applicants are interested. Again, local place names are often used which cannot be traced in the official records.
The practice is to acknowledge applications within a day or two of receipt, and this would not be practicable if the proposals had in the first instance to be identified, checked with previous applications, and given the correct registration number before acknowledgment. It does not, therefore, appear to be practicable to provide the facilities requested by the Deputy.