asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he is aware that the £30,000 grant to the Infant Aid Society is inadequate to meet their requirements; that the increase in the price of milk has resulted in a reduced supply of highest grade quality milk being distributed by the society; and if, in order to allow the full advantage of the society's work to be achieved, he will increase the grant to allow them to purchase the quantity of highest grade milk required.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Infant Aid Society Grant.
Mr. A. Byrne
I am fully aware that the Infant Aid Society performs very useful work for the corporation in the distribution of milk to necessitous children on behalf of the corporation. The State grant of £30,000 for that purpose is a very generous one and has been payable over a number of years without any proportionate contribution from the corporation. Normally the entire cost of this service should not fall on State funds. In the case of child welfare and other kindred services the local authority bears a proportionate share. The full State grant of £90,000 for the supply of milk to necessitous children, of which Dublin receives £30,000, was allocated amongst local authorities at the commencement of the financial year. Any expenditure by the Infant Aid Society on behalf of the corporation in supplying milk to children in Dublin in excess of the amount of the State grant would be more appropriately met by the corporation.
With regard to the Deputy's suggestion that an increase in price has resulted in a reduction in the amount of milk being distributed, I think it well to point out that, since the price began to increase, milk is also supplied under the food allowance scheme administered by the Department of Industry and Commerce to children of recipients of unemployment assistance, widows' and orphans' pensions and certain other classes.
Mr. Byrne
The Minister is aware that 1,000 children less per week are now getting tuberculin-tested milk as recommended by doctors, simply because the increase in the price of milk has to be met by a reduction in the supplies to the Infant Aid Society. Will he do something about this matter? Will he recommend to the city manager that something should be done to provide for children the same quantity of milk as they were in the habit of receiving in days gone by?
I am aware that there is a much greater quantity of milk being distributed to children in Dublin City than there was prior to 1939. As far as providing an increased allocation for the supply of tuberculin-tested milk is concerned, that is a matter in the first instance for the Corporation of Dublin, of which the Deputy is a member.
Mr. Byrne
The Minister must be aware that the scheme is his and the corporation merely carry out his instructions. Is the Minister aware that the milk which he has described is not tuberculin-tested milk and is not suitable for the Infant Aid Society, who distribute milk on the recommendation of nurses and doctors to delicate children? Will the Minister see that the supply of tuberculin-tested milk for delicate children will be maintained, so that the good work which he appreciated so much in the first portion of his reply may be continued by the Infant Aid Society and their 400 inspectors?
I presume the Deputy is a responsible member of the Dublin Corporation. This matter is one for the Dublin Corporation in the first instance.
Mr. Byrne
We are merely administering the scheme for you.