I just want to say a few words on this Estimate. I think that the striking characteristic of the Parliamentary Secretary's speech yesterday was its rather doleful tone, because quite clearly the Parliamentary Secretary was by no means happy about the fuel position in this country and still less happy about the turf production programme for the current year. I think he has good grounds to be unhappy, because instead of setting out on a turf production programme in a manner that would be calculated to get the goodwill and co-operation of those who produce the turf, the Parliamentary Secretary, acting, probably, as an agent for the Government, set out to antagonise as many of the turf workers as possible by fixing a very low scale of wages for those engaged in the very heavy and laborious task of winning turf from the bogs of this country. The biggest blot on our national turf drive is the appallingly low wage paid to the turf workers, those who produce the turf. In County Kildare workers are being asked to go into the Government camps and work for a wage of 32/- a week, less 5/- deduction for food, and less deductions for national health insurance and unemployment contributions, so that by the time the worker pays for what food he gets, as well as these contributions, he is left with a net wage of about 25/6. Do we expect turf to be produced by skilled workers in this country for that net wage?
A brave effort was made to popularise the meal which is being provided for turf workers. Members of the House were given the privilege of inspecting it in the dining-room, but the meal the Deputies see there is not the meal you see in Newbridge barracks. The general view of the workers is that it is insufficient, dull, uninteresting and unappetising. The whole policy behind those responsible for its production is apparently to stuff the workers with potatoes. The meal in the dining-room shows that the proportion of potatoes in it is much higher than that of any other kind of food. Is it any wonder that the turf workers have been leaving Newbridge barracks and cycling home to Donegal and Mayo where they may not be able to get employment? They must have some substantial grievance when they do that, rather than work for the low wages paid on the turf schemes and put up with the insufficient diet provided as part of their food ration in the camps. The best test that the food is insufficient is that the workers themselves, out of the small net wage they receive, are compelled to buy food in the towns in County Kildare to supplement it. If the accuracy of that statement is questioned it can be confirmed by having inquiries made from the local guards and shopkeepers.
About half a dozen camps have been put in the County Kildare. Every effort would appear to have been made to make them as attractive as possible. They are finished and ready for occupation, but there is not a worker in one of them. May I suggest to the Parliamentary Secretary the reason for that as I gave it in this House two years ago, namely, that he will not be able to get turf workers to cut turf in the County Kildare for 32/- a week, less 5/- deduction for food and less the other deductions that I have mentioned, bringing their net wage to 25/6? This is the middle of June, and the anticipations were that turf would be cut in the parts of Kildare in which the camps are situated much earlier than now. Instead, the camps are like cemeteries. There are no workers housed there, and no turf is being cut in the area except what is being cut by private enterprise. The result is that very valuable time is being lost in these turf producing areas, time which would have been saved if only the Government had decided that it was not possible to get those men to work for the low wage of 32/- a week.
When a wage of 32/- a week was being paid on the Shannon Scheme some years ago it rightly evoked the condemnation of everybody except those responsible for its maintenance. But that wage at that time was substantially better than 32/- to-day, because the cost of living was much lower then. Yet the very Party which condemned the 32/- a week on the Shannon Scheme is responsible for the same rate of wages on turf schemes in living circumstances entirely different from those that prevailed when the Shannon Scheme was being carried out. I suspect that while it may be possible to get some workers into those turf camps it will not be possible to fill them with workers this year. But they ought to be filled with turf workers this year, and could still be filled with them if only the Government would recognise the necessity of paying a wage which would attract workers to them to cut turf in an area where the best turf in Ireland is to be found.
Let us analyse for a second the economics of this wage of 32/- a week. The worker, as I have said, has to pay out of that 5/- for food, and this with the other deductions leaves him with about 25/6 per week. Portion of that latter sum he has to spend on the purchase of food to supplement the inadequate meal he gets in the camp; he has to keep himself in cigarettes, to purchase refreshments, if he needs any, —he may occasionally visit the local picture house—and he has to keep a wife and family in Mayo or Donegal out of what is left—approximately £1 a week. Is it any wonder that so many of those workers have gone back to Donegal and Mayo?
The Parliamentary Secretary, in his speech yesterday, referred to the falling-off in turf production, and attributed it to an inadequate labour reserve. Is that to be wondered at, since agricultural workers in this State, if they cross the Border, are able to get a wage of £2 10s. 0d. a week? In addition, the Six-County Government have undertaken that, if they cannot give those men a full week's work at agriculture, they can go to the local labour exchange and get £2 10s. 0d. there, whether they work or not, so anxious are they to keep people on the land. Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that there are recruiting agents in this country for firms that require civilian labour in Great Britain? I have seen circulars sent out by them offering them £3 15s. 0d. for agricultural work at the other side, with opportunities for unlimited overtime, and the possibility of earning additional money on fire-watching services. In view of the conditions prevailing in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is it any wonder that our workers should be leaving here? It may be, of course, that a number of them would be attracted away from the country in any case by high wages. I imagine, however, that the generality of them would be willing to remain at home if it had been possible to evolve a wage policy that would entice them to remain here. It seems to me to be something which is economically and nationally unsound to contemplate with complacency the export of our best workers to Great Britain. They are engaged in employment there, and send back to their families here British financial coupons which give their families a lien on our limited production.
One can understand the circumstances which drive these workers out of the country; one can understand the joy they feel at being able to send money back to keep their wives and children. A wise Government would take prompt steps to remedy the condition of affairs which drives these workers out of the country and permits them to send back here coupons giving them a lien on our limited production. Nobody can blame them for emigrating in these circumstances or for seeking work and wages elsewhere. The shame of that emigration rests on the Government and the responsibility for bringing it to an end also rests with the Government. I believe that even yet the Government will be forced off their 32/- a week wage. They ought to force themselves off it at the earliest possible moment because it is an unjustifiable wage. It is particularly unjustifiable when you see what is happening in the County Kildare in respect of wages paid by other persons. Hospitals' Trust employed turf workers in Kildare last year and employed them again this year and are paying from 50/- to 60/- per week. These workers are working within a stone's throw of the workers to whom the Government are paying 32/- a week. Goodwill, Limited, are employing men at from 60/- to 70/- cutting turf and they are satisfied with the quality, the output, and the tonnage cost. Yet the most the Government offer men for cutting practically the same class of turf is 32/- Hospitals' Trust have got willing, satisfied workers; Goodwill, Limited, have got willing, satisfied workers, a good output, a good quality of turf, and very efficient organisation. If the Government had the good sense to follow the wise lead given by these concerns, the Government would to-day have the turf camps full of happy, satisfied workers engaged in a co-operative effort to produce the maximum quantity of turf.
I should like to make a brief reference to the turf supplies in Dublin. I have seen a good deal of turf being carted through the city, and it seems to me that a lot of it is wet scraw, just suitable for starting a fire. The poor people who have to buy it might as well roll up paper in balls and put it in a grate, as use some of the stuff that is being sold; the only difference is that the paper would be dry, while this stuff is saturated with moisture. I have seen other turf delivered in bags, and when the bags were emptied it was simply turf mould suitable for bedding horses, but no use for lighting fires. I know that poor people in this city, and even people who are not poor, are being exploited by having that rubbish dumped on them. In my opinion, the public in Dublin who are compelled to pay 64/- per ton for turf are being shamefully exploited, because the turf which is being sold to them is not worth 24/- per ton. Turf for which they are paying 64/- can be bought on the roadside in County Kildare at 24/- per ton. Yet, Dublin people will not be allowed to buy Kildare turf. They must buy through Fuel Importers, Limited, and are obliged to take an amalgam of scraw and mould with a slight leavening probably of good turf.
I cannot understand how the Government can justify a price of 64/- per ton for turf. That sum obviously is not being absorbed in turf workers' wages, because I think a turf worker would produce three tons of turf for a week's wages. These wages, therefore, do not play a very important part in the 64/- per ton charged for turf. But, although the turf worker is being exploited by being compelled to work for a low wage, and the consumer is being exploited by being asked to pay 64/- a ton for turf, neither the turf worker nor the public is satisfied. Apparently, a whole lot of needless handling and hauling which takes place between the production and delivery eats up a very substantial portion of the cost of the turf. Last year—and I suppose it will happen again this year—we had the spectacle of bogs lying idle in Kildare while turf was being hauled from Mayo and Donegal. I said before, and I say again now, that commonsense demands that counties like Kildare, Offaly and Meath should be regarded as the reservoir for Dublin in the matter of turf supplies. It is nothing short of insanity in present circumstances to be bringing turf from Donegal and Mayo to Dublin. The cost is appalling, the waste of transport is appalling, and the shrinkage of the turf is appalling in a long-distance haul of that kind, and the cost of handling, loading and unloading is such as to send the price sky high.
Commonsense demands that counties adjacent to Dublin ought to be regarded as the reservoir for Dublin's turf requirements. But that is not happening. Many bogs in Kildare are not being worked. Instead of getting the good will and co-operation of people to produce turf in these areas where turf is available and where it can be easily transported, the Government appears to be concerned with saving its face in Kildare, Leix, Offaly, Meath and Westmeath by paying a low rate of wages instead of a rate of wages which would beget the enthusiasm of the turf workers in those areas and attract turf workers from other places to those areas which are convenient to Dublin.
I share the feeling of the Parliamentary Secretary that there will be less turf produced than last year. From what I see on my visits to the country, I am convinced that less turf is being cut this year than last year. This year we have new problems to face. We have the problem created by the fact that we are getting practically no coal now and, instead of producing less turf, we ought this year to be producing substantially more turf, because last year many people were able to fall back on the reserves of coal which they had. These reserves are now either exhausted or approaching exhaustion; but, instead of making a special effort to produce much more turf this year than last year, apparently the Government are quite satisfied with allowing a position to develop in which less turf is being produced than last year. Experts in connection with turf production who have surveyed our requirements estimate that no less than 50,000 workers will be required to satisfy the turf requirements of the country on the basis of our present coal imports. At present we are probably not employing even half that number in turf production and they are not properly organised and are not working to any kind of schedule.
From what I can see I can only conclude that by the end of the year there will be an insufficiency of turf and, because of the fact that it will have to be hauled long distances to supply Dublin the price this year will be higher than 64/-.
There may be a very considerable problem this year in view of the coal and petrol shortage in transporting the turf which Dublin requires. I suggest to the Parliamentary Secretary that, even though a blunder was made in fixing such a low wage for turf production, a wage which has not attracted turf workers, the Government should even now retrace their steps and not make in regard to turf the same mistake they made in regard to wheat. After telling us that 40/- was sufficient for a barrel of wheat, the Government retreated and gave 45/- and, when it was too late, they increased that to 50/-. If they had taken the bold step in the first instance of paying 50/- a barrel for wheat, we would not have had the wheat problem we had in recent months. If the Government will even now pay a decent wage to turf workers, I believe they can still retrieve the mistake they made in fixing such a low wage.