asked the Minister for Finance whether he is aware that there are 403 men at present unemployed in County Dublin, and if he will allocate a substantial grant for the carrying through of relief schemes on which those men could be employed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment in County Dublin.
As the Deputy is no doubt aware, employment schemes are intended mainly to provide employment for men who are applicants for unemployment assistance. Men in receipt of unemployment benefit are not eligible for work on employment schemes.
I am advised that of 403 men registering on 2nd December, 1950, at the employment offices for County Dublin, only 108 were applicants for unemployment assistance, and these were distributed over 38 electoral divisions, including the small towns. Employment schemes have already been sanctioned for the Balbriggan and Swords areas, the only two areas in which there are sufficient unemployment assistance recipients to form gangs of economic size.
I might add that the proportionate allocation of employment moneys for the different areas was based on the numbers of unemployment assistance recipients on the register in January, 1950, and that since that time there has been no significant change in the number registered for County Dublin.
Am I to take it from the Parliamentary Secretary now that only a certain type of workers will get employment?
As was always the case.
Notwithstanding the wild promises of his colleagues in the inter-Party Government, he tells me across the House that there are only so many people idle in certain areas. I can assure the Parliamentary Secretary that my information is totally different. Will he consider giving a grant to employ these people, even for the miserable few days before Christmas, as a number of them have families and homes to look after? Apparently the Parliamentary Secretary and his colleagues, the archangels of the Labour Party, and others are not concerned about unemployment in County Dublin.