I gave notice this morning that, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I would raise the subject-matter of the future of St. Patrick's Regional Chest Hospital in Castlerea on the Adjournment debate. The Ceann Comhairle was good enough to give me that permission.
I do not like to delay people from getting to their homes, and to make things awkward generally for those who are associated with this House, but I feel that this subject is one of the gravest importance to the staff and workers in this sanatorium. Not only is it of importance to these people, but it is of importance to many people in the surrounding townlands in Castlerea area, and to many workers in the town of Castlerea as well. A serious situation exists there to-day. As time goes on, that situation will become progressively worse.
In the past six weeks or so a number of questions was asked in this House about the future of this sanatorium, and the Minister, in his various replies, pointed out that the future of this sanatorium was under consideration. He also pointed out that, if it was considered desirable, or if a decision was made, to restore this institution to its former status of mental hospital, the question of the security and employment of the workers would receive consideration. I questioned the Minister in this House on the 10th February, 1955, and in the course of a supplementary question, column 180 of the Dáil Debates, of the 10th February, Volume 148, I asked:—
"Mr. McQuillan: Could the Minister give any indication, in view of the anxiety felt all round the Castlerea area and the number of people who will lose their employment when the sanatorium is closed down whether it will revert back to use as a mental hospital or whether it will be utilised for some other health purpose?
Mr. T.F. O'Higgins: It is a wise thing to meet trouble when it comes.
Mr. McQuillan: The trouble is there now."
Trouble was there on that date with regard to employment, and the trouble is worse to-day, and will be worse as time goes on, until we get the final decision of the Minister. The Minister, in the course of one of his replies, pointed out that when this institution was taken over from the mental hospital authorities, the take-over was purely on a temporary basis, until the regional sanatorium in Merlin Park would be erected. That means that, in view of the fact that the sanatorium in Merlin Park is almost completed, within a very short space of time the transfer of patients from Castlerea Sanatorium to Merlin Park will have been completed.
I am not personally concerned as to what actual use the Minister in his wisdom decides to put this institution in Castlerea. We are all glad to see that the fight against the scourge of T.B. has met with such success that it has enabled, or will enable, the Minister to dispense with an institution such as Castlerea Sanatorium. But we have to consider the fact that many people depend for their livelihood on the benefits given to them by the work in this institution, on the employment on farms in the surrounding area, and to workers in the shops in the town itself. Although we are able to rejoice that the need for a sanatorium no longer exists in the area, yet I believe the responsibility is there on the Minister, or any Minister, to ensure that the large number of workers concerned do not become unemployed, and as a result have to leave, not alone that area, but the country, to join the other groups of emigrants who stream from it each year. As I said, the Minister suggested that it was time enough to meet trouble when it came.
I want to give some facts to the House with regard to the employment situation in the sanatorium at the moment. On the 1st December, 1954, there were 281 people employed in the sanatorium. On the 1st March, 1955, that number was reduced to 262, for the reason that a number of patients were being transferred from Castlerea Sanatorium to the institute in Merlin Park. Now the weekly wage bill in December, 1954, was £1,325 per week and the weekly wage bill on the 1st March, 1955, was down to £1,238 odd per week. The contracts to traders in Castlerea town for goods and services supplied to the sanatorium for the year 1954 were worth £21,100 odd. In the same year, the small farmers in the vicinity of Castlerea received £2,500 for the supply of hand-won turf to that institution. In the same year, those farmers received approximately £400 for the supply of hay to the institution. These figures may not sound large to this House, which deals in terms of millions, but the figures represent the livelihood of many people in that district, which is poor as it stands at any time.
The total consumption of fuel in that institution in 1948, when it was a mental hospital, was 2,000 tons of turf per year. In 1954 the consumption had gone up to 7,000 tons per year. I need not develop the employment that the cutting and the delivery of that turf has meant to a number of people in the area. As the numbers dwindle in the institution, the need for that supply of turf dwindles. As the number of the inmates dwindles and as the staff dwindles, so also does the need for the purchase of goods from the traders become less. In turn, these traders find it necessary, as they have assured me, gradually to lay off their staffs.
The Minister stated that the employment question will be dealt with when the necessity arises for a change back from a T.B. sanatorium to a mental hospital institution but, while we are awaiting that decision, patients are being transferred weekly to Galway and each week that the transfer of patients takes place a number of people are losing their jobs in the sanatorium, so that by the time the decision is made to restore it as a mental institution there will be no problem there with regard to employment. The staff will have gone.
In his answer to me the Minister pointed out that a number of people who are at present on the staff at Castlerea will be eligible for transfer to Merlin Park in Galway. I want the House to understand that at the present moment there are 262 people employed in the sanatorium, including doctors, nurses and staff of all description. Of that 262, only 38 are eligible for transfer to Merlin Park. If the Minister wishes to point out to the House, as he will, that if this reverts to a mental hospital institution that that will mean employment for many of the people there in extra staff on that new controlling body, I wish to point out that in 1948 the total number employed in Castlerea, when it was a mental hospital, was 53. If it reverts, the maximum that can be held of the present group employed in the sanatorium is in the region of 80. That means that there are approximately 200 people whose employment is at stake at the moment and whose services are gradually being dispensed with on a weekly basis.
That is a most serious position at the moment. There is a feeling of gloom and despondency amongst the staff in that sanatorium. They do not know on whose neck the axe is going to fall next. The first light shower of dismissal notices has descended on the staff like the first few flakes of snow in winter. I want action taken before there is a shower of dismissal notices on these people in the sanatorium.
To-day, in order, if possible, to get the Minister to let us know his mind, I asked him whether he considered the possibility of utilising St. Patrick's Regional Chest Hospital, Castlerea, for the purpose of treating mental patients who suffer from T.B.. The Minister assured me that this matter was under consideration. On numerous occasions in this House suggestions have been made as to the future use of this sanatorium. I find that all these suggestions are being considered. I want the Minister to understand that I am raising this matter, not in a spirit of controversy, but in order to relieve the anxiety of the workers about their future.
Many of these workers have families and dependents and they do not know from day to day when they will be told by the responsible authorities: "We regret very much but your services are terminated." If within the next three or four months there is another 60 or 70 people laid off, then, when the Minister makes known his decision with regard to the future use of this institution, all these people will have scattered to the four winds in the meantime. It is to ensure right now that these people's future will be safeguarded that I want the Minister, when he is replying, to hold out some hope to them that his decision with regard to this burning question will be known within the shortest possible space of time.
I want to repeat to the Minister that there is no suggestion of pressure being brought to bear on him so far as I am concerned to have this institute held as a T.B. hospital. Let the Minister utilise it for whatever purpose he and his Department consider best but let them in making the fresh arrangements for the use of this institute take into consideration the fact that of the total number who are now employed, 261, only 38 can be transferred to Merlin Park, that approximately another 40 of them can be employed if the institute reverts to a mental hospital establishment, and that that will leave approximately 200 people who will have to be alternatively accommodated.
There are other aspects of this problem that I could deal with. There is a number of small farmers with a valuation ranging from £3 to £8 within five or six miles of Castlerea. Their sons work in the sanatorium to help their parents to rear families on uneconomic holdings in the Castlerea area. Within the last four years, three of the best bogs in the West of Ireland in the Castlerea area were closed down by Bord na Móna with a consequent loss of good employment to hundreds of young people in the area. The sole remaining means of employment in Castlerea at the moment is this institution.
We are not—I want to repeat again —suggesting to the Minister that it should be held as a T.B. institute on the present lines if it is found that there is no further need for it as such but we want to make sure that the employment of these people in the sanatorium, the welfare of the small farmers in the locality and the security of the shopboys and others in Castlerea is preserved. I want the Minister, when he is replying, to hold out immediate hope that a good alternative will be given to Castlerea if and when his decision is made with regard to the use of the institution.
In conclusion, I urge him to make this decision, if at all possible, within the next two or three weeks before further staff are laid off.
