asked the Minister for External Affairs whether he is aware that a report from the Irish News Agency, published in the U.S.A. last November, stated that the Government had had 300 tons of peat transferred from the emergency stocks at Cork to the Aran Islands to relieve a shortage, that the report gave a lurid account of life in the islands and that many persons in Ireland have received from friends in U.S.A. letters protesting against the dissemination by an Irish News Agency of what they describe as the sort of news usually circulated by the anti-Irish Press, and if he will state what purpose is served by such reports.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish News Agency Reports.
I am aware of the report referred to by the Deputy but I do not agree that it is open to the inferences suggested in the Deputy's question.
It was a news item dealing with the action being taken by the Government to avert a fuel crisis in the Aran Islands.
Will the Minister not say that the report could be objected to by Irish people resident in America?
Hardly, I think. I do not know if the Deputy has seen the full report. I do not think it could be open to serious objection.
I can tell the Minister that I have seen letters from America objecting to the report and stating that the report had held them up to ridicule in America.
The position was that there was a fuel crisis in the Aran Islands and the report depicted the effect of that fuel crisis and the steps which were taken to remedy it.
The Minister is sidetracking. Is the Minister aware that the reference to the use of cow dung as a fuel in the Aran Islands was the kernel of the report and that that is the kernel of the objection taken by the Irish in America to this type of thing? Incidentally, is he aware of the cause of the shortage of fuel in the Aran Islands, namely, the action of the Government in stopping the hand-won turf scheme in Connemara?
That is going into another matter. Perhaps if the Leas-Cheann Comhairle would allow me to read the report—it is a short one—it would satisfy the House that the report is not an objectionable one:—
"Irish Government to-night took action to avert fuel crisis on Aran Islands, off Galway coast, where 1,700 inhabitants have been reduced to burning briars and even fertilisers to keep their homes warm, reports Irish News Agency.
Islanders, many of whom appeared in film production of Man of Aran, have been sharing fires in one another's homes and relays of men, women and children have been gathering cow dung from fields to use as fuel.
One of the islanders said that small boats from Connemara braved high seas to bring peat from mainland, but this was of such poor quality, due to the very wet summer, that it would not burn.
Government has now ordered immediate delivery of 300 tons peat from emergency stocks in Cork to three islands of Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inishere. When this news was received to-night via telephone in police station on Inishmore, which is the only direct communication with the mainland, it was relayed by light signal to inhabitants of two adjoining islands."
It is hardly open to any serious objection.
Is the Minister not aware that the report displays an ignorance of the custom in the Aran Islands? Is he not aware that this particular fuel, called bualtrach, has always been used, because of the absence of wood on the islands, as a kindler, and that that practice is not unknown in other parts of the world where fuel is also scarce? Where was the point in holding up to the American people any section of the people living in these islands as people who have got only cow dung as a fuel? That is not true, not even in this particular emergency to which this report refers.
Do they use it even as a kindler in the winter? I thought it was used in summer only?
This is always used as a kindler in winter.
The whole thing is that there was a fuel shortage in the Aran Islands at the time and it was in relation to that that a report was issued.
I want to assure the Minister that objection has been taken by people in the United States against this particular report, and will he see that such reports will not be repeated?