Earlier this evening, when speaking on this Estimate, I mentioned how important it is that the Minister should review the three means tests which operate in the Housing Act. If the matter is reviewed by the Minister, I believe that the beneficial results which the people of rural Ireland desire, will follow. It is vitally important for us to realise that those people who are anxious to improve their homes by way of reconstruction should get the best possible co-operation from the Department.
I should like to mention the problem of housing sites. Coming, as he does, from a rural area, the Minister will realise that it is no pleasure for members of local authorities to know that, after they have informed the Department that sites have been selected, they must wait a long period before the sanction is given. We are all aware of these delays. I quite appreciate that it is necessary to make a thorough investigation as regards the suitability of sites, and so forth, but I fail to understand why it should take—as it has taken in the past—two years for a Minister for Local Government to decide to reject a site or to sanction it. Substantial fees are paid by local authorities to qualified architects who, naturally, know their job and when a local authority gets the opinion of these men in the matter of the selection of housing sites I fail to see why it should be necessary to have to wait two years for sanction by the Department—having, in the meantime, by way of contact with the Department and Parliamentary questions been endeavouring to obtain an earlier decision.
If the Minister will tackle this problem, I believe it will bring about an early improvement in the living conditions of people who, at the present time, are condemned to live in hovels and very unsuitable homes in various parts of the country and who must continue to live there simply and solely because we cannot get speedier decisions from the Department of Local Government.
Mention was made of roads. Deputy McGrath spoke on this particular matter, as well as other Deputies. I agree that it is very important to provide decent roads but, at this stage, I do not intend to comment on the amount of money a certain road may have cost and which had a direct bearing on a question asked in this House this week. I shall not comment on that matter now because I am convinced that the surveyors who were responsible to the manager and, perhaps indirectly, to the members of the local authority will be well able to account to us for the money they spent. Until this matter is put before us in our own local council, I do not intend to comment on it either here or elsewhere.
In my view, the proper approach to the improvement of the roads of this country was that of the late Deputy T.J. Murphy, when he was Minister for Local Government in 1948. He considered that the time had come when the Government and the local authorities should realise the importance of providing more money for county roads. In Cork, we have between 6,000 and 7,000 miles of county roads and it is well to know that the main roads are being put into good condition.
In areas where the roads have been left in a bad condition for some years, as much money as can be available through Government grants to the local authorities should be given for their improvement. In that connection, I might say that if a little more freedom were given to the local authorities and the responsible engineers as to where that money should be spent in these rural areas, I believe it would be much more advantageous in the long run. If we could give that freedom as regards the improvement of certain roads then I think we should get quicker results. The Minister may tell us that it is after consultation with the local authorities and their engineers, and after the submission of their plans and the numbers of the roads on which they want improvements carried out, that the money is allocated. I am convinced that the surveyors, the engineers, the local authorities and the county managers, where they are good —and we have a good county manager in Cork—are not getting enough freedom of action as regards the spending of this grant money. We are satisfied that, in all the years back, they have been doing their best as regards the way they spend the money which is allocated through the amount coming in from the roads. If the responsible officials are able to utilise the money coming in through the roads, I believe there should be greater trust in and co-operation with them as regards Government grants.
I think it was Deputy McQuillan who mentioned here to-night the importance of the Local Authorities (Works) Act. In spite of the fact that opposition was offered by the Fianna Fáil Party to the introduction and passage of that very important Act, it gave better results than many Acts which passed through this Oireachtas in the past 20 years.
If the Minister finds it possible, even within the next 12 months, to get back to the stage of making full use of that Act in the way of grants then, in my view, greater advantages will accrue to the various county councils and the various local authorities. Whatever may be said as regards the labour content on roads, the amount of money given under the Local Authorities (Works) Act and the ratio of the labour content as regards the money expended means, in addition to advantages in the rural areas, greater employment and a greater return in wages to the men concerned.
Whether we like it or not, we must admit that even in 1954, as in all the years back, the one hope of providing employment in many of the various counties of this country is through work under the local authorities. If, therefore, there can be greater co-operation as regards the Local Authorities (Works) Act between the Department of Finance and the local authorities I believe that Act will yield the beneficial results which it was yielding before the amounts of money allocated under it were drastically reduced in the past few years.
From time to time, many of us who serve on local authorities become aware of the terrible system of red tape which operates in the Department of Local Government.
I move to report progress.