I am glad that this very important office is being established for the purpose of furthering the interests of the Gaeltacht areas. Before proceeding further, I want to say that we in North Mayo feel very grateful to the Parliamentary Secretary for having paid a visit to that area, and, on behalf of my constituents and on my own behalf, I want to express my deepest thanks to him for that visit and for the very thorough way in which he did his work while down there. I was with him in the Mulrany and Achill districts and I heard some people suggesting that politics were being brought into it. I am proud to say that I did not see any politics being brought in anywhere. I also want to say that I feel I owe a debt to the Parliamentary Secretary for communicating with me personally and advising me as to the hour of his visit.
On the occasion of the visit by the Parliamentary Secretary, as he will recall, many matters were brought to his notice and he listened carefully to them. He paid the greatest possible attention and I sincerely hope that he will keep the various matters brought to his notice on that occasion in mind when this sum of money is being spent. We have emigration on a large scale in North Mayo. Thousands of our boys and girls are unfortunately obliged to migrate to England to earn a livelihood. That has gone on down through the years and is still going on. If one goes to the bus terminus in Dublin or down to Westland Row station, one will see thousands of people going to and coming from England, the lifeblood of the nation. It is indeed regrettable that that should be the case, and I sincerely hope that this new office will help to reduce the number of people who are obliged to migrate through no fault of their own.
I listened to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture speaking here last week and he said there was no flight from the land. If there is no flight from the land in his constituency, I can assure him that there is a flight from the land in mine. In many instances, whole villages have left and not one person remains in one house in some of these villages. That is the case in many instances in my constituency and it is due to a number of reasons. The holdings are uneconomic. Many of them are 50/-, £3, £4 and £5 valuation and any sensible person must realise that it is impossible for the father of a family to keep his wife and family in comfort on such a holding.
We have also the problem of drainage. Reference has been made in recent times to the drainage of the Moy and this is by far one of the most important drainage problems we have. I very much regret that it seems to be the Government's intention to delay this work for a long period. It is a very serious matter for the people who live along the banks of the Moy, people whose holdings are already very small and uneconomic, that four or five acres of their arable land should be flooded, and, as is the case in many instances—in the Shraheen area, in the vicinity of Foxford—the whole holding flooded and everything lost—potatoes, oats, hay and so on—and, of course, live stock endangered as well. It is a pity that that problem would not be tackled and tackled at an early date. I would ask the Parliamentary Secretary to take it up with the Minister for Local Government. If he could visit North Mayo at an early date and see for himself the conditions prevailing there, I am sure he would come back and impress on the Minister the importance of doing that work.
There are also schemes under the Local Authorities (Works) Act and it seems to me that the Government has cut down very drastically on that work. Consequently, we have, for the time being, widespread unemployment. There are people who were looking forward to getting their lands drained under that scheme and now the whole thing seems to be shelved. A lot of the work intended to be done is not being done. I would like to impress upon the Parliamentary Secretary the importance of starting off again on those minor drainage works. By that means thousands of acres of land that are now flooded would be made available. It is a very beneficial scheme and it should be continued.
I consider that the North Mayo area is ideal for afforestation. A start was made there in recent times and the people were looking forward to the spread of that scheme of afforestation which held out such great prospects for the uneconomic holders. The great advantage in regard to afforestation is that land which is otherwise unsuitable for tillage purposes can be utilised for forestry. Not alone would the scheme give employment to the present generation but it would give employment to generations to follow. As I have said, much of the land of North Mayo is suitable for that purpose, particularly in the Erris and Achill areas, where the land is unsuitable for tillage. I think that a big scheme of afforestation should be started in those areas because it is from those areas principally that you have migration.
There are also schemes of turf development. We have vast areas of turf in the Erris and Ballycroy areas. I mentioned these to the Parliamentary Secretary when he was down there. He said he would consider those matters. I believe that a turf-powered electric station in that area would absorb a lot of the turf. There seems to be a never-ending supply of turf in areas of Erris, Achill, Ballycroy and many other places throughout North Mayo. If the poor people in these areas have not the land on which to make a living these bogs should be developed. I think there is no better way of developing them than by erecting a turf-powered electric station. We know that all these things would cost money, but it seems to me—this scheme is intended for Gaeltacht areas and the areas to which I refer are truly Irish-speaking—that preferential treatment should be given to these areas and an opportunity given to the people to live at home and make use of the industries that are available to them if only the Government would consider sinking the money in these schemes.
We have in the county machine-won turf schemes and we have also turf produced by private methods. Lots of people think that if turf was produced on a large scale by private methods and stored in a central store in our local towns early in the year it would bring good quality fuel within the reach of the people in towns like Ballina. This would prevent overcharging by turf vendors when the weather becomes bad and when frost and snow are on the ground.
We at no time have received any consideration in the matter of industries in any part of North Mayo. It is true that we have got an alcohol factory but it is like the other alcohol factories—it is what you might describe as "a white elephant." It is not giving much employment and the product that is being turned out there is being criticised and condemned by everybody. In the very important town of Ballina you have no industries whatsoever except what were started by private enterprise. It is true that these give a certain amount of employment but there is still in the neighbourhood of Ballina a lot of unemployment. I would like to impress upon the Parliamentary Secretary, that, when he is considering the establishment of any industries, special consideration be given to Ballina which is in the heart of the migratory area. There is also Belmullet. I think that area should also get consideration for an industry. If the Parliamentary Secretary does not consider Belmullet he might consider Achill. These areas, as I have already said, are migratory areas and if such industries of which I have spoken were started it would help to reduce the number of people who are emigrating.
Our piers and harbours have been sadly neglected over a long number of years. It is no lie to say that it was a foreign Government who established them in the first instance. Under a native Government, these piers and harbours have been sadly neglected. It is really a shame that that should be the case. There is quite a good harbour in Ballina and, while Westport is not in my constituency, there is quite a good harbour there and also at Newport. I can remember when very big cargoes went to and from these ports. In Dublin you have congestion of traffic at the North Wall and one can hardly load or unload in the vicinity. Yet you have lots of storage facilities at the places I have mentioned and the harbours are quite good. It is a shame that all this traffic should be centralised in Dublin and no consideration whatsoever given to the harbours in Mayo.
Here I should like to impress upon the Parliamentary Secretary the importance of developing those harbours and also the importance of developing our fishing industry. It is a terrible thing to think that in an island country such as ours there are scores of towns and villages where you cannot buy a bit of fresh fish. That was not the case some years ago. I have often heard that in the town of Ballina, where the streets used to be lined with cart loads of different classes of fish, you can hardly get fresh fish for sale in any shop to-day. In the rural areas there is no fish at all available. If that side of our industry was put on a proper basis, I believe it would absorb a very considerable number of our unemployed people. The harvest that can be reaped from the sea is really very valuable. It is a shame that you cannot procure even a little fresh fish in country areas despite the fact that we are surrounded by water.
There is also the question of fishing gear. Apart from the question of improving the harbours generally, there is no use in expecting fishermen to put out to sea in outdated types of boats and with unsuitable fishing gear. The Parliamentary Secretary I think would be well advised to take some steps and drastic steps to remedy this whole situation.
If we are to get anywhere with our fishing industry I believe that it would in fact be advisable to have a separate Department of Fisheries and a separate Minister to deal with nothing else except fisheries. Until that is done and the thing is tackled in a serious way we will never bring that industry to the state it should enjoy in this country.
There is the question of storing the fish. You cannot land fish, place it along the side of the pier or quay and leave it there. There is the question of cold storage equipment and the proper storage of fish because, as anybody who is conversant with fishing will understand, there may be big hauls on some occasions and the surplus fish may be unsaleable.