asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he will establish in the larger cities of Éire depôts from which supplies of coal, oatmeal, milk, fish and bacon can be purchased by the poor at prices which will permit of their securing sufficient supplies of nourishment for the maintenance of normal health.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Supply Depots for the Poor.
Special measures for assistance to certain sections of the community if employment should become more adversely affected are being considered. The problem does not fall entirely within the scope of the functions of the Department of Local Government and Public Health, and consultations with the other Departments concerned are taking place.
Can we have at this stage an undertaking that no person in this State will go hungry, so long as supplies of the five commodities mentioned in my question, together with potatoes and sugar, are available to the State?
I think that must be regarded as a separate question.
I have asked the Parliamentary Secretary if he is going to take any steps to ensure that persons who are rendered destitute, or threatened with hunger, will get supplies of coal, oatmeal, milk, fish and bacon, and I now add in my supplementary, potatoes and sugar, at prices they can afford to pay next winter, and the Parliamentary Secretary says that it is the subject of bureaucratic discussion between several Departments. I am now asking: whatever bureancratic obstacles may be put in the way, can Oireachtas Eireann be satisfied that, ultimately, he will see that the people get these things?
I can add nothing to the reply I have already given.
If I repeat the question in a week's time, is the Parliamentary Secretary in a position to say that the inter-Departmental deliberations will have come to an end?
I could not give that undertaking.
I shall repeat the question every week from now until the time the House rises.