asked the Minister for Finance whether, having regard to the considerable number of recipients of unemployment assistance now registered in the district, he will make available such moneys as may be required to proceed with the construction of a swimming pool in the town of Tuam.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Swimming Pool for Tuam.
I would refer the Deputy to my reply to a similar question from him on 8th November last, to which I have nothing to add.
I understand that plans have been submitted to the Board of Works in respect to the swimming pool. That is an element of which the Parliamentary Secretary may not have known when he gave his reply last November.
There is something more than the plans to be taken into consideration. There is the unemployment position which has not materially changed in Tuam since I gave that reply.
If the Parliamentary Secretary would note the reply given to my question No. 3 to-day, he will recall that the Minister for Industry and Commerce stated that as a result of the closing down of building schemes in Tuam a number of workers were now unemployed.
The unemployment grants for each year are based on the unemployment position in the previous January. The unemployment grants in Tuam, if any, last year were based on the number of unemployed registered in January, 1951. The same is true for the coming year. The grants will be based on the unemployment position last January. There were 22 unemployed in Tuam last January.
There is serious unemployment in the building trade in Tuam.