asked the Taoiseach if he will give particulars of (a) the number and class of staff at present employed by the Emergency Scientific Research Bureau, (b) any important problems which have been solved by the bureau, (c) the class of work at which the bureau is at present engaged.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Emergency Scientific Research Bureau.
The office staff of the Emergency Scientific Research Bureau comprises one officer of Customs and Excise, one shorthand typist and one writing assistant all of whom are on loan from other Government Departments. The secretary of the Industrial Research Council is secretary to the bureau and the services of the council's records officer, shorthand typist and typist are available for the work of the bureau when required. The technical staff consists of two part-time engineers, two engineers on loan from other Government Departments, five assistant engineers, two chemists, one of whom is on loan from the Industrial Research Council, eight assistant chemists, three physicists, one botanist, one technologist, and five laboratory attendants. The bureau engages special scientific consultants as and when required.
With regard to the remainder of the question, as I said in reply to a somewhat similar question on the 12th November last, it is not possible within the scope of a reply to a Parliamentary question to deal adequately with the various activities of the bureau. The work of the bureau as a whole will in a short time come under review in the Dáil when this year's Estimate is being considered. Meantime, if there is any particular matter in which the Deputy is interested I will be glad to obtain for him such information as may be available.
asked the Taoiseach if he will state whether any success has attended the work of the Scientific Research Bureau in finding a substitute for imported artificial manures which are not now available for agriculture, and whether the attention of the bureau has been directed to articles by Sir Albert Howard, C.I.E., M.A., on the manufacture of humus from the wastes of the town and village by the Indore process.
The Emergency Scientific Research Bureau has concluded, from an examination of the position in regard to the country's requirements of fertilisers, that the difficulties involved in securing the necessary plant would make it impossible during the emergency to manufacture within the country artificial manures on the scale required. The bureau has recommended the increased production of native phosphate, the increased use of seaweed as manure, a more intensive search for natural deposits, the winning of which would help to relieve the situation; and these measures have been adopted.
The bureau is aware of the Indore process for the manufacture of humus but has not regarded the possibilities of applying the process to Irish conditions as being worthy of special study by them. The essential feature of the Indore process, namely, the use of the urine and dung of farm animals in conjunction with waste materials in the production of humus, is based on principles already widely practised in this country in the making of compost and farmyard manure, and further study of the matter would seem more appropriate to the Department of Agriculture.