Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 8 Jun 1955

Vol. 151 No. 7

Committee on Finance. - Vote 49—Gaeltacht Services.

Minister for Lands (Mr. Blowick):

I move:—

That a sum not exceeding £142,900 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1956, for Salaries and Expenses in connection with Gaeltacht Services, including Housing Grants.

The current year's Estimate shows an increase of £10,000 net over that for last year. Being a net increase this does not reflect the total additional amount being provided this year for Gaeltacht Services. The gross additional amount provided is £61,480, and an estimated increase of £51,480 in Appropriations-in-Aid reduces this to the figure of £10,000 net.

The gross additional amount of £61,480 is made up principally of the following increases: Salaries, wages and allowances, £3,460; machinery and maintenance, £4,310; manufacturing materials, £44,835; Gaeltacht housing, £10,000.

The activities of the Gaeltacht Services Division to which I shall refer in this statement are the rural industries, the marine products industries and the administration of the Gaeltacht Housing Acts.

Sub-heads D (1) to D (8) show an increase of more than £47,000 in the provision for the rural industries, as against the amount provided last year. This increase is almost entirely due to larger provision for the purchase of manufacturing materials for the various industries—comprising an increase of almost £28,000 for materials for the tweed industry, an increase of £11,500 for materials for the knitwear industry, an increase of £2,500 for materials for the embroidery industry and an increase of £3,500 for materials for the toy industry. Last year I was able to report satisfactory progress in these industries and this year I am glad to be able to tell you that this progress has been maintained. The sales of tweeds increased by just over £69,000 for 1954-55, as compared with the previous year and these sales are now more than double what they were in 1952-53 or in 1951-52. Sales of knitwear products, embroidery and toys also showed satisfactory increases. In view of this and the fact that we expect continued improvement this year the need for increased provision for manufacturing materials will readily be appreciated. The Estimate for receipts from sales in the current year is just over £500,000.

The provision for machinery for the rural industries also shows an increase since it will be necessary to purchase some heavy machinery to enable the Kilcar mill to produce special types of weaving yarns and to put on the tweeds special surface finishes which are in public demand, but which cannot be done at present in the mill. Provision is also made for the purchase of machinery which will enable the blending of various types of wool to be carried out more efficiently and also permit of the production of yarns for special ranges of tweeds which are in popular demand.

There is also provision for increased purchases of machinery for the toy industry. It has become necessary to replace some machines which are worn out through use and provision is also being made for the purchase of other new types of machinery for more efficient production.

It may be noted that there is a reduction of £2,000 in the provision for advertising and publicity. As there is a heavy demand for the products of the rural industries intensive advertising is not required to the same extent as last year, and the current provision of £6,000 is considered sufficient to meet requirements in this direction.

The wages of workers employed in the rural industries are paid out of receipts, and provision for this is made under sub-head H, where an estimated expenditure of £131,300 is shown. This sum of £131,300 is the largest ever provided for wages for workers in the rural industries. It exceeds last year's provision by nearly £20,000 although last year's provision itself exceeded that of the previous year by the same amount.

Sub-head E makes provision for the marine products industries which comprise the purchase of sea-rods, carrageen moss and other seaweeds from gatherers around the western coast. These seaweeds are sold to the firm of Alginate Industries (Ireland) Limited. The State has a controlling interest in this company and the accounts of the company for the year ended on the 30th of September, 1954, were laid on the Table of the House in April last together with a report on the working of the company for that year.

Deputies will remember that an Act which was passed by the Oireachtas last December authorised the Minister for Lands to acquire an additional 37,900 shares of £1 each in this company.

The additional capital sought by the company was required to enable it to produce sea-rod meal with greater efficiency, to equip itself for the handling and marketing of carrageen moss, and to provide facilities for the production of seaweed meal for cattle food.

This Estimate covers the purchasing of the seaweeds from the gatherers, and transport and handling costs prior to delivery to the company. This year's provision of £28,750 shows an increase of £750 on last year's figure.

Sub-head F shows an increase of £10,000 in the provision for grants to be paid under the Gaeltacht Housing Acts. Housing activities have shown a continued increase since 1953 when the last amending Act was passed. The number of new houses completed during the year which ended on the 31st of March last was 192 as against 134 completed in the preceding year and 191 houses were improved or extended as against a total of 134 improved or extended in the preceding year. In addition, 24 households utilised the new sanitation grants provided under the 1953 Act, and installed piped water and sewerage in their houses. At the 31st of March last the number of houses in course of erection or improvement was 1,107 as against a total of 807 cases in progress a year earlier.

It will be seen, therefore, that in all the activities that I have mentioned— rural industries, marine industries and housing—the Gaeltacht Services Division of my Department is showing satisfactory progress and it is hoped, and in fact the present indications would lead us to expect, that during the current year this satisfactory progress will be maintained in each of these spheres of activity.

Mr. Derrig:

The Minister has stated that the sales of tweeds increased by just over £69,000 as compared with the previous year. I wonder if the Minister could tell us what proportion of the £500,000 total sales is represented by tweeds?

Mr. Blowick:

Two hundred and twenty thousand pounds.

Mr. Derrig:

There has been a boom in the tweed industry and I agree with the Minister that the development has been most satisfactory. While congratulating ourselves on the advance that has been made and the progress shown, there is always the question whether, in fact, we have taken the greatest advantage of our opportunities. There is no doubt but that, for the past few years, tweeds have been in the forefront in the fashion world. Previous to that, as the Minister knows, the tweed industry had its ups and downs. When the Minister left office and I came in, the tweed industry was really in the doldrums. There were heavy accumulations of stocks which there was difficulty in disposing of. After that, things began to improve.

It would seem as if tweed has now got a fairly good innings. I hope that situation will continue. The fashion world is unpredictable and we cannot say whether we will be as fortunate as we hope. We should not, therefore, be in any way complacent or rest on our oars in the matter but we should take advantage of every opportunity to extend the sale of Irish tweeds in the foreign market. As well as I remember, the sales used to be about 40 per cent.—I do not know whether I am correct about that—in the home market.

Mr. Blowick:

About 50 per cent.

Mr. Derrig:

The Minister may be able to tell us when he is replying whether the home market has been more satisfactory. It ought to be. We had certain sales to the U.S.A. There were certain firms there who, even if they took only a number of consignments, would be responsible for sales amounting to perhaps £20,000 or more. My recollection is that the prospects in the foreign market were very promising and that, really, we should have expected more support at home.

During the period of the last Government, and when the Coalition Government were last in office, successive Ministers for Industry and Commerce and Government representatives, as well as the organisations who were interested in the promotion of Irish industries, were doing everything possible to get the Irish public to give first preference to the Irish article. We know that, in the case of tweed, they are certainly getting better value. It is almost impossible to wear it out. There should be no need for our women folk—even if they are fashion-minded—to have resort to the foreign fabrics particularly when, by supporting the Irish article, they are not alone in the height of fashion at the present time, but they are giving much needed employment in the congested and Gaeltacht areas.

I come now to the question of the Kilcar factory and the references that were made under the previous Vote to the question of publicity. I think that if a little brochure were issued with regard to the Gaeltacht industries it would be of great help to Deputies and to the public. Of course, if they visited places such as Kilcar they would see what is going on there. However, if they are not in a position to visit these places then, even from the advertising point of view, I think there is something to be said for turning out brightly coloured brochures such as the English Forestry Commission, for example, publish with regard to their different plantations. They are good publicity and they show the public where to go if they want to see what is going on. We do not seem to have very much publicity about the Minister's Department and I have always lamented the fact that we have not had more. A considerable amount of money has been spent in advertising in certain directions with regard to forestry, but there should be more brochures when there are particular works and enterprises which are doing well so that the public may see what is being done. It is really by way of an invitation to the public to see the place for themselves.

My attention was called to the fact that in Kilcar, due to the very good employment given there, there was a beneficial effect in stemming emigration. The giving of employment to the young men in the area seems to have had a certain effect—perhaps natural and foreseeable—in getting the girls of the parish and the adjoining parishes to remain at home and settle down at home. I am afraid it will be very difficult to alter the situation in Gaeltacht areas unless we can get regular employment at fairly good wages for the young men. The attractions of employment elsewhere—or what they consider to be attractions—are very strong. Those people think of the high wages and generally do not take all the other things into consideration. Their predecessors 40 years ago in Boston and Philadelphia even changed their names to a certain extent and they were writing home telling how well off they were when in fact they were not as well off as they claimed. When the emigrant goes across he finds that he has to face very many difficulties, not the least of which is that he has to enter into a big industrial organisation and he has to give full value. He has to work hard and give a good return to the employer or he will not be maintained. He will not get the high wages if he is not able to fit into the industrial organisation.

Kilcar is an example of what can be done. The operations of the mill have meant that employment is given not alone directly through it but in the weaving industry in County Donegal which, as we know, is a traditional centre for weaving and all the ancillary processes. In that particular mill all the processes from start to finish in connection with the production of Irish tweed are being carried out and we can be assured that there will be no falling off as regards the quality, that a high standard will be maintained. I hope that employment will continue and that there will be greater output and greater sales from the mill in the coming year.

I want to ask the Minister particularly how the export trade is doing and whether advances have been made through the organisations that have been set up to assist in securing exports. I want to ask him also whether the proposals that were there when I left office—for the improvement of the mill by the provision of additional machinery, additional storage and extensions at Carrick and Ardara—have been carried out. The Minister for Finance has been telling the people down the country that he is advancing money from the National Development Fund for somewhat similar purposes. This particular aspect of the Gaeltacht services is deserving of special consideration. The industry is flourishing and more employment is being given. On the technical side, as far as machinery is concerned, one would like to be assured that the full requirements are being provided. As far as I remember, the proposals envisaged the spending of over £100,000 on the improvement and development of the industry under various headings.

With regard to the Crolly factory, I would be glad if the Minister could tell us how the employment situation is there. He refers to increased purchases of machinery and replacements for the toy industry. I would like to know whether the improvement in sales has been such as to justify taking further steps to improve production on the technical side. I have always believed that in the matter of our rural industries we could benefit by sending experts, particularly on the machinery side and on the design side, to see what is going on elsewhere—to go to Switzerland for example, and see what types of machines are used in the smaller industries there and, of course, to visit the German centres also, since there is intense activity going on there. In that way it might be possible, even if we have to introduce a certain number of foreign workers, to develop these centres that we still have in the West, so that handicraft would be brought more into the picture.

That is possibly a matter that arises more on the Vote for the Department of Education, but I think that if you have to train workers it is really the industry itself in the long run that must do it. They may use the machinery of the vocational education committees or other machinery, but it is really the industry itself in the long run that has to train them. We must expect that enterprises like Kilcar and Crolly, now well established, will be able to do more to co-operate with whatever other agencies are in question to get an up-to-date technical training for our young people in these areas and perhaps to induce others—as has been the case in Donegal—to start off for themselves.

The fact that we have these industries under Government control and running with Government assistance does not mean that we want to monopolise the market or want to be unfair to any others. We want to encourage those who are in a position to go ahead or who think that they can make good through the assistance that the Government would be prepared to give them —in other ways, for which the Minister would not be directly responsible, though I hope he would have a word to say in the allocation of capital for other industries in the West of Ireland. We ought to be able to co-operate with them and build up the industries that we have to the greatest extent possible, so that they can compare with those elsewhere from the technical point of view and encourage our young people to start little enterprises themselves. I am quite sure that they could do so if they had the technical knowledge. That is the thing that is lacking, as they certainly have the application and we know the industry that they show elsewhere. If they had that technical knowledge, particularly in fitting the product to suit the customer's taste, that is where the whole secret lies.

With regard to the knitwear industry, I want to say—and it is not to-day or yesterday that I have been anxious about this—that unfortunately we have been rather behindhand in applying new ideas. We have not kept trend with the market. I do not know why that should be. There is a great deal of talk in the newspapers about fashion topics, matters of design, and so on, but it is an extraordinary thing that new designs and improvements and attractive garments are constantly coming into this country from Scotland or from France. We know that the Scots, if it suits them, will come over here to see what we are doing in connection with peat, in connection with electricity, or what we are doing with our bogs, because they are alert and they want to take advantage of every possible opportunity to develop their own resources. But we have not been keeping in touch in regard to the requirements of the market. We have assumed that because there is a certain boom, if I may call it so, in the tweed industry that is all right, but that boom, as we know, will pass, and even if it does not, we are up against keen competition from these outside manufacturers.

These things do not change. Although I have suggested early on that fashion is unpredictable, it can be seen well in advance, even perhaps two years in advance, what the trend is likely to be and what the market will be like in two years' time. Therefore, if the existing premises do not permit of having a showroom to see what our Gaeltacht industries can do with regard to knitting materials, I think a showroom should be provided and that it would be worth while. I feel also that as regards design and marketing we ought to keep in touch with the trend; we ought to be in advance and we ought not to be in a position that we simply copy what is being done and very well done elsewhere. We ought to be able to say: "Here is something new we have produced ourselves. It is Irish and you know it is Irish."

That is how the Scots have gone ahead. They have not just rested on their oars. They have gone ahead and produced new things designed to make the customer feel that he or she is getting a greatly improved garment, that the price is satisfactory and that it is new. You must change in these things and my experience has been that the tendency is to stay too long in the old designs and the old type of product and not to move ahead with market conditions. If the industry is flourishing surely that is all the more reason why we should step out and give more examples of what we can do in the way of improved designs and up-to-date products?

If we were in the position that we had been in some years ago, when the industry was in the doldrums, then, of course, it might not appear appropriate to take on these developments but I think the situation is now such that we can look for additional capital development with regard to Kilcar or Crolly, or even the provision of more up-to-date machines in the knitting centres. But in regard to the problems of marketing and design and putting knitwear garments on the market that can compare favourably and be even better than those that are imported, special attention ought to be given to that matter.

I am glad to see that there is an increase in the provision for housing and that at least 24 householders have availed themselves of the facilities of the Department to introduce sanitation. It is very difficult in some of the Gaeltacht areas to get satisfactory water supplies. It is a very important matter that people going to the Gaeltacht areas, either as visitors or as students, should be able to get the same type of accommodation as they would get elsewhere in this country or outside it and that there would not be any question whatever, but that sanitation and water would be provided for them.

Therefore, if it is the position that there are houses that have already got Gaeltacht housing grants, I wonder would the Minister be good enough to say when he is replying whether the special grant or special facilities for the installation of water and sanitation could be made available to them? I am thinking particularly of visitors and of the fact that they are rather disappointed often because they cannot get the type of accommodation that they like and I think if they could get it they would be prepared to pay the ordinary charges. It is a very important matter, not alone for the Gaeltacht people themselves to feel that they have proper sanitation and proper comfort in their homes, but for the visitors and particularly for those who visit these areas to learn and study Irish.

The Minister referred to the seaweed meal project for cattle food and I would like if he would give us some information when he is concluding as to how this industry is getting on. A great deal has been written and spoken about the necessity for utilising the land— such as it is—in the Gaeltacht. In that connection I would ask the Minister to take a friendly interest in the projects for the production of grass meal or for reclamation of land for other such purposes in the Gaeltacht areas. We rather incline in this area, which has such a long coastline, to neglect our sea products and credit is due for the work that has been done in connection with the seaweed industry over the past number of years. I hope it will continue.

I would like to have the Minister's assurance that as regards the alginate industries he is satisfied that the amount of employment that is given locally will be continued and maintained. If there are possibilities of further expansion in that industry, of having more of the processes carried out in this country so that it may not appear to be merely a question of exporting the raw materials but that we may be able to do more and more of the processing here as time goes on, I would like, if the Minister has any further information to give us about that matter, if he would be kind enough to do so.

Mr. J. Brennan:

I would like to intervene briefly in this debate in regard to some of the items coming under this heading. Naturally those of us from the Gaeltacht counties are primarily interested in what employment can be provided for our people. For that reason I want to deal at the outset with something to which Deputy Derrig has already made reference, namely, the present tweed boom. Those of us who represent the congested areas are inundated even now with appeals from young men asking to be given a chance to weave, to be provided with a loom and given an opportunity of learning. That may seem scarcely credible to some, but it is nevertheless quite true; and that appeal is coming at a time when we can sell every inch of cloth we can manufacture and at a time when we are making provision for the extension and expansion of our present facilities for producing cloth.

Recently we had the pleasure of seeing brought to fruition in Glencolumcille a mart which was, indeed, a long time under way. But then anything with which the Board of Works is connected must necessarily be a long time under way; however, it does materialise eventually. The unfortunate position is that we now find it is only half large enough. We are very grateful to have it and we are not in any way belittling its value to the area but it was scarcely under way before we discovered that it does not provide even half the accommodation necessary if we are to take full advantage of the present boom in the tweed industry. That is something that ought to be uppermost in the minds of those who are responsible for estimating the expansion of which we are capable and which is necessary to absorb the growing population in these areas and stop the flow of emigration.

Deputy Derrig says that this has succeeded in a marked manner in stemming the flow of emigration, and our only regret is that sufficient expansion has not taken place at the right time. I am afraid that we are inclined to wait until the boom is, so to speak, full on before we set about taking advantage of it. There are hundreds of weavers who could yet be employed. There are weavers across Channel who would be glad to come home if the employment facilities were available. It would be a good thing to take full advantage of the boom in that respect.

We do not for a moment deprecate the caution that has been exercised with regard to the quality of the material being produced. We know it is absolutely vital that it should be the very best quality and I would not suggest too much haste in order to take full advantage of the present expansion because that might prove detrimental to the quality of the product which must essentially, if we are to hold the market after the boom has passed and maintain tweed as an article which can command an export market, be of the very best quality. Irrespective of how fashions may change I believe we will always be able to turn out a product which will find a ready market in many, or some, countries. The twofold duty which confronts those responsible for undertaking a further expansion is, first of all, to take full advantage as far as possible of the present boom period and, secondly, to ensure that the high standard of quality which is at present being insisted on is maintained, if not further improved.

Deputy Derrig mentioned that Gaeltacht Éireann are not the only people producing tweed. That is very true. We have in Donegal some private firms that are equally well established, if not better, than Gaeltarra Éireann. Put oneself in the position of these people for a moment and consider the fact that they find themselves in competition with a State-sponsored concern, subsidised by the taxpayer, and one must realise immediately the vital necessity there is for a liaison between Gaeltarra Éireann and the private concerns. I hope that the Minister for his part will ensure that there is no undue competition between Gaeltarra Éireann and the private producers.

Mr. Blowick:

The Deputy should not forget that the private firms do not suffer from the disadvantages the State-sponsored body does. They can pretty well do what they like and they have not a number of industries scattered over a wide area. Their industry is all under the one roof, so to speak, and they have that advantage over State-sponsored industries.

Mr. J. Brennan:

I am afraid the Minister is not quite correct. When he visits Donegal again I would like him to visit, even for a short time, the firm of Messrs. Magee & Co., and he will find there an organisation something similar to Gaeltarra Éireann. Their weavers are spread over the countryside. They are well paid. A very high quality material is produced and there is a world organisation to sell it.

Mr. Blowick:

Yes, but they have only to pay one manager. We have to pay several.

Mr. J. Brennan:

They have agents in Paris and New York. They have a huge export of cloth to both Paris and New York, where only the highest quality is accepted. I am not asking for any preferential treatment to be meted out to these people but I think we have the right to demand that they should at least get a fair deal from the State-sponsored organisation of Gaeltarra Éireann. Some of these private concerns have weathered the storm at times when the State-sponsored organisation could hardly sell a yard of cloth. The only place from which they are getting any assistance at the moment is from Coras Tráchtála, Teoranta. I believe they are getting a certain amount of assistance from that body and that body has always been ready to give any assistance it possibly could.

The Minister may not have been aware that we have such far flung and widespread private organisations for the production of tweed. Because we know they have come to stay and because their organisation is such as will withstand even a slump period we are anxious that unnecessary rivalry or unfair competition should not enter into the picture. Some private firms drew my attention last year to a publication in the official organ of An Bord Fáilte, Irish Travel, in which it was insinuated, if not explicitly stated, that Gaeltarra Éireann were the sole producers of Irish tweed. Now that was detrimental to the interests of certain firms because those people abroad buying from private concerns in Donegal might quite easily come to believe that these private concerns were only middlemen, themselves buying from Gaeltarra Éireann. I hope articles such as that will not appear again because they are very detrimental to the interests of these private concerns and I appeal to the Minister to ensure that no unfair advantage is taken by Gaeltarra Éireann of our private concerns.

The Minister gave us some figures with regard to the amount of material purchased by the home market as compared with that exported. I am very much afraid that if we had the actual figure as to the amount used on the home market it would represent a very low percentage of our textile trade throughout the country for the year. I am afraid that most of the people who buy from Gaeltarra Éireann buy in order to export the material in piece goods or in short lengths. Fortunately for the industry, a great many of the firms in this country are doing an excellent job in exporting, particularly to America, thousands and thousands of pieces each year of Donegal tweed and of other Irish tweeds.

Their purchases are regarded in the returns here as being for the home market, whereas, in fact, the greater quantity of the tweeds purchased either from Gaeltarra Éireann and many private producers is actually exported in short pieces or sold to tourists. They are exported in the form of piece goods to other countries, but the amount that we are actually using on the home market is negligible. One has only to go to a race meeting or come into the Dáil or go to any other place where people who could afford to wear Irish tweeds assemble, to see how little is used by our own people. There may be a reason for that, but I think that we should not forget the old policy of Sinn Féin. The least we could do is to provide ourselves with one suit in the year of our own tweeds.

Now, many people who are far removed from the tweed industry are slightly confused as to what type of industry it is, and at times they mix up the Donegal homespuns with the Donegal tweeds. Those people fail to realise that the old spinning wheel which was the foundation of the industry is now idle and silent. The old spinning wheel in the cottage is no longer in use nor is the black-faced wool shorn from the sheep reared on the mountain side, which went on the market in the name of Donegal homespuns.

That was the tradition that existed in Donegal in the old days when the Donegal homespun made from the black-faced wool shorn from the sheep was scoured and carded by the carders and spun on wheels in the cottages. The thread was sent up to the weaver from perhaps the same cottage and the final article was produced. The finishing process was carried out at the river bank. That was Donegal homespun, but that is no longer being produced. It had to give way to the more superior garment made from the machine spun thread of imported wool. The tweed which is now capturing the fashion markets of the world is no longer manufactured from home produced wool or from threads homespun in the cottage, as some people still seem to believe it is. That is to be deprecated. I fail to see the possibility of bringing that back owing to the present day vogue.

I would appeal to the Department seriously to consider making use of our black-faced wool and of the homespun yarn which we are capable of producing. It could be most successfully used for heavy materials such as rugs, blankets and carpets. I think that if the officials of Gaeltarra Éireann are going to do a really good job and are seriously to undertake the further expansion of the industry in the Gaeltacht, they will have to turn their minds to some industry which will use the black-faced and spun wool. By doing that, they will be giving employment to every woman sitting on the hearth in every cottage on the hillsides of Donegal and in many other counties. In that way, the spinning wheel will again come into use and will go into full production.

I would seriously appeal to the Minister to ask his Department to investigate the possibility of using our own wool and the old spinning wheel to provide an industry such as I suggest. Until we get an industry of that kind going we cannot really say that we have an industry which is 100 per cent. Irish.

There are other industries which I should like to see expanded. I would be failing in my duty if I did not exhort the Minister to pay immediate attention to the provision of better premises at Bruckless. You have there an excellent centre which has gained a reputation over many years. That, in no small way, is attributable to the efforts of one person who is now due to make her bow and exit from that industry at Bruckless, and who is deserving of passing mention in this debate. That was a business that was taken over from a private owner, but the amount of expansion which has been carried out is by no means in keeping with the expansion which it is capable of. When we were in government I think that we provided moneys for further extensions there. I see a figure here for general improvement and maintenance of £4,500, but possibly that may not be the appropriate heading that I wish to draw attention to. I should like, however, to see immediate action taken with regard to the provision of better accommodation at that centre.

The extension of the existing mill at Kilcar to Ardara and Carrick, which was mentioned by Deputy Derrig, is essential in order to embrace the entire area and some provision had been contemplated by us in that connection. There is a very old tradition of weaving and wool working generally in Ardara which could absorb at least three times the number of people who are employed there at the present time. It is a pity, especially at the present time when we can find a ready market for every bit we produce and when people with the skill are available, that one person should be unemployed there. Short of taking the risk of lowering the high standard of our material, we should not hesitate to ensure that the necessary expansion is brought about in knitting wear.

I hope it will not be again threatened as it had been, by the removal of quantitative restrictions. Recently it was threatened by their removal and was staggering for a time, but it is getting steady on its feet again. It will get on its feet when the people who are clamouring about the cost of living get to know that they can buy in Dublin a dozen pair of gloves made in Hong Kong at the price of one pair made in Glenties. They will begin to wonder why they cannot afford to buy the home produced article. Undoubtedly, they would bring pressure to bear on any Minister that would allow them to come in. If that principle were to be applied to every industry in the country we would soon be left without any at all.

I am sure the present Minister would never allow mass-produced articles of inferior quality to still the wheels of our little industries in the Gaeltacht. This applies more to the Minister for Industry and Commerce than it does to the present Minister but I am sure that any Minister must take the keenest possible interest in our native industries and I am sure that what I have mentioned will not be allowed to happen again.

I see provisions made under subheads of this Estimate in regard to marine industries. We hardly know in Donegal that such exist although we have as big a coastline as any county in Ireland and perhaps bigger than most. I wonder if the necessary emphasis is being given to see that the most is being made of our carrageen and other seaweed products and by-products. We have not sufficient technical staff available to fully develop that industry but it is one in which there is a wide field for expansion and every effort should be made to get into that field. I am glad to see that it is mentioned and I hope that greater effort will be made to extend it further than the western seaboard.

There is little else that I could deal with without dealing with unnecessary details but I would like to stress the particular note I have tried to sound in what I have said, that greater expansion should be attempted until we are sure that we are taking full advantage of the present boom period. There are other industries which are capable of being developed in Donegal, particularly those which make use of the black-faced wool which is so plentiful. The development of an industry in this wool would make the spinning-wheel turn again so that the Department ought seriously to consider making a study of that matter so that plans could be put into immediate operation.

There is another little thing which would be of help to our industries and I think we are entitled to look for it. Certain Government Departments have a good annual market for certain materials. Take the Army, for instance. I think all the material needed for the Army is produced in some way by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs but there is a very wide field there. I do not know who benefits by the production of these goods but I am sure that they are produced at home. I hope they are not imported but we would like that those orders, which it is in the power of the Government to give, should be given to the firms in the Gaeltacht, not necessarily to Gaeltarra Éireann, but if we do not wish to give them to private firms they should be given to Gaeltarra Éireann. There is a huge amount of material needed for the Army such as overcoating, uniforms, knitwear, gloves and blankets and also for the Post Office employees and other governmental employees. The annual sum spent on this clothing is a gigantic figure and it would considerably help industries in places like Donegal if we could get even a portion of those orders. I would appeal to the Minister to ensure that we will get our share, if not all of them, and I think we are entitled to all those orders.

I am sure the Minister's Department and those officials dealing with the tweed industry are alive to the necessity of making provision for the future. If the world market is properly organised now during the boom period it would ensure that if fashion left us in the lurch in the morning we would still be able to sell a great amount of material. The Irish abroad, particularly in America, provide a market that has never been fully tapped and the contacts we are now making with these countries, as a result of the good quality of our materials, should be used to get our Irish abroad, who are generally well off, to spend some extra money and get them to take a greater interest in the products of their own country. If we could get each of them to buy even a small quantity of our material we would be providing a very wide market for our people.

I think someone said in this House, or I read it a good many years ago, that if every Irishman in America was to have the button of his cap covered with Donegal tweed it would keep every available weaver in the country employed. That may be an exaggeration but it is an indication of the wide market that is there. I hope we will take advantage of the present boom period to ensure that that market is now built up so that when this boom passes, and it will eventually pass, we will still have an expanding market and be able to maintain an increasing output for our own industries.

If there is one thing that those who come from Gaeltacht counties must be interested in it is the Gaeltacht industries. We are glad to see that they are prosperous now and their prosperity indicates to us the good they can do in stemming the tide of emigration. It seems obvious to us that further great work can be done if these industries are still further developed. I am sure that those Deputies who come from counties not interested in Gaeltacht industries would not for a moment grudge any money this House would provide in order to stem at least the tide of emigration from the western seaboard.

Gearóid Mac Phartaláin:

Aontaím leis an gcaint a rinneadh cheana agus, dar ndóigh, leis na rudaí atá ráite ag an Aire mar gheall ar thionscail na Gaeltachta. Cuireann sé an-áthas orm ar fad go bhfuil rath ar an tionscal seo le blianta beaga anuas. Tá súil againn go léir gur mar sin a bheidh an scéal go ceann i bhfad agus go mbeidh ar chumas pé Rialtas a bheas ann, nó ar dhreamanna príobháideacha, tionscail níos fearr ná iad a bhunú.

Tá dul chun cinn inste ag an Aire mar gheall ar beagnach gach rud a bhaineas leis an bhFo-Roinn seo. I gcás ceann nó dhó acu tá mé ag ceapadh gur ceart dúinn bheith cúramach. Cuirim i gcás, ceist seo an bhréidín. Nuair chonnaic mé an figiúir atá sa leabhar, go raibh £40,000 sa bhreis á sholáthar i mbliana le hábhar a sholáthar don tionscal seo, bhí sort aimhris orm i dtosach gur i ngeall ar an bpraghas níos aoirde a bhí le fáil ar na rudaí seo a bhí an scéal amhlaidh. Bhí sé sásúil a chloisint ón Aire gur i ngeall ar an méadú a bhí ar an tóir orthu a bhí an scéal amhlaidh.

Dar ndóigh, tá figiúir eile a thugann lide dhúinn faoi sin. Faoi Mhír D. 6 tá laghdú £2,000 ar chostas na fógraíochta. Arís, bhí sort aimhris orm go raibh an Roinn seo ag éirí ar nós cuma liom i dtaobh earraí na hEireann agus earraí na Gaeltachta a fhógairt sna tíortha coigríche. Míníodh é sin arís, gur i ngeall ar an tóir mhór atá ar na hearraí seo atá an scéal amhlaidh agus go bhfuil na hearraí seo beagnach á ndíol féin, as a maitheas féin agus as ucht, bfhéidir, ganntanas earraí de gach aon tsórt. Arís, tá sin sásúil. Nuair a bhíonn "sellers market" ann—sin focal a chualamar minic go leor i rith na hEigeandála—tá an baol i gcónaí ann go laghdófar ar fheabhas na déantúsóireachta agus ar fheabhas na margála agus go mbeidh an tAire, an fo-Roinn agus gach duine atá freagarthach, ar a suaimhneas, agus go gceapfaidh siad go bhfuil na hearraí seo a ndíol féin. Ní dóigh liom go mbeadh sé ceart ná cóir ag na hoibritheoirí, na stiúrthoirí agus na hoifigigh a bhfuil baint acu leis na tionscail seo cúrsaí déantúsóireachta do ghabháil go réidh.

Ar aon chaoi, is maith an scéal é ag gach taobh den Teach seo nach rud obann é seo—nach rud é a tharla le fíor-dheireannas. An scéal maith seo atá innste ag an Aire is breá gur rud é a bhí ag fás do réir a chéile le blianta beaga anuas. Is fearr an scéal a bheith amhlaidh ná fás obann, ar nós díol na mbeithíoch le tamall anuas, agus go bhfuil an scéal ag éirí níos fearr dá réir a chéile. B'fhearr liomsa an do-réira-chéileacht sin ná aon fhás obann.

I wish to endorse what other speakers have said in expressing satisfaction about the steady and continuous improvement in the benefits which are administered by this sub-Department and to endorse the view also that the direction of the services must inevitably earn its own share of the praise for the progress that has been made as well as the other favourable circumstances in relation to easier marketing which have been mentioned.

With regard to specific services, I would like to support what Deputy Derrig said in relation to Gaeltacht housing, that it is reasonably satisfactory. Some of these households have availed themselves of the sanitary facilities which are now supported by free grant. In that connection, I should like to inquire whether Gaeltacht Services have ever had any contact or collaboration with the tourist board in relation to a provision in one of the Tourist Acts whereby loans would be provided to enable people in the Gaeltacht areas to improve and extend their houses so that they might take advantage of at least some of the tourist industry and at the same time that the facilities for people living outside the Gaeltacht to spend holidays in the Fíor-Ghaeltacht and improve their children's knowledge of Irish would be increased.

I am not aware of any extended use having been made in the Fíor-Ghaeltacht or Breac-Ghaeltacht of the provisions which were then provided under the Tourist Act. Perhaps the housing services of Gaeltacht Services might, in fact, be better able to administer such a service. Whoever might be chosen to administer it, it seems to me that the idea is a good one, a laudable one from any aspect from which one might look at it, and I would ask the Minister to try, either through the agency of his own Department or through that of Industry and Commerce, to see that it is revived and put into effective use.

There has been a very satisfactory increase in the number of houses provided under the Gaeltacht Housing Section, but I am sure the Minister, and certainly his advisers, are aware of one governing factor in relation to this matter and that is that the county council gives as much money again by way of grant as is given by Gaeltacht Services. Instead of a man having to depend on a £250 grant he now gets £500. The Minister's Department in recent months have in fact sent some of their officials into the various Gaeltachts to clear up whatever arrears of work existed there at the request and for the benefit, so far as I know, of the county council housing schemes. Galway County Council issued a notice about six months ago that they would not entertain any further applications for housing grants after March this year, but would deal with all applications received during the last financial year. I have not seen any late development in relation to this matter, but the public are entitled to expect from the notice that has been given, that no further supplementary grant will be paid by Galway County Council.

That being so, the Minister, I am sure, must expect that expenditure on the Gaeltacht Services will drop; I cannot see how it can possibly increase because I know from my own experience that very few Fíor-Ghaeltacht applicants will undertake the building of new houses on a grant of £250 if the county council, as is apparently its intention, is going to stop giving these supplementary grants.

The increase in the amount provided for grants under this Estimate is to be welcomed, but I hope that the Minister will, by legislation if necessary, see that these moneys will be spent. What I refer to is this: If in fact the Galway County Council puts into effect a notice it has already given that supplementary grants will cease, that the Minister will increase the grant now payable to Fíor-Gaeltacht applicants so that this desirable work of Fíor-Ghaeltacht housing can be continued. I do not have to tell him that very few people will be able to undertake the erection of houses if the supplementary grant is not available.

In relation to that, there is one other big difficulty for a number of people— I do not say it applies in all cases, but it does apply in a number of them— and that is the ability of applicants to get the initial quantity of materials which enables a man to begin building operations. They go into Galway and have the official sanction in their pockets and ask to be given on credit a certain quantity of materials. In recent times the builders' suppliers have been refusing these quantities of materials unless they receive a down payment of £100.

I think I am right when I say— although my statement has been denied officially recently—that the practice used to be that once a man was given a housing sanction an official of the housing section placed the order with the supplier and because an official placed it the goods were sent out to the applicant who was able there and then to start operations. As a matter of fact that was the big attraction of a Gaeltacht housing grant as compared with a local government housing grant and it was not the difference in the amount of the grant which is only about £15. The real attraction was the facility afforded in the delivery of the stuff on the site on the order of Gaeltacht Services.

I have been told by some official source—I cannot recollect which—that that was not the practice at any time, but I have been inquiring in my constituency, and I have been told by people who have had some contact with this problem that it was so. However, I do not want to argue on that minor point, but I would like the Minister to say that in the administration of this very useful service whatever improvements have been found in practice to be necessary will be introduced and applied. That is one difficulty which I have outlined for the Minister and it is a very real difficulty. It seems to me he will have to increase the Gaeltacht housing grants if the county council supplementary grant is withdrawn and it therefore seems that a larger increase than £10,000 will be necessary.

I do not think the Minister will have any difficulty in having a proposal of that kind adopted by the House. I commend these remarks with regard to Gaeltacht housing to his favourable and early consideration. Perhaps he might verify by inquiring from the county manager or the county secretary of Galway and other Gaeltacht county councils what the intention is in each of these counties and he would then be better able to decide what changes, if any, it would be necessary to introduce into Gaeltacht housing administration.

I have been very interested in the remarks of Deputy Derrig and Deputy J. Brennan about the tweed industry. My only regret in regard to it is that it seems to be concentrated in one area. Deputy Brennan had a complaint somewhat similar in relation to marine products industries and he seemed to think that we had a monopoly of them down South. Perhaps Gaeltacht Services may be regionalising their various industries and if that is the case and if they have good reason for it I would not offer too great an objection, but I think, seeing that there is a boom—as has been admitted on all sides—in tweed and that there is a good demand which, so far as anyone can see, is likely to continue, the Minister should seriously explore the possibility of extending the tweed industry to other areas and continue the good work, which was more evident in previous years, of training apt and likely young lads in, say, weaving and spinning.

With regard to the knitting side of the industry, I want to express a complaint on behalf of some of the girls engaged in the industry. Where there is not a finishing machine, after the girls have spent their day on the knitting, they take home the work they have produced during the day in the knitting centre. The finishing is done by hand very often up to 11 o'clock and 12 o'clock at night in districts which have not yet got the benefit of rural electrification. The work is very severe on the eyes of even these youngsters and it does have the effect of extending the hours of operation by anything from 30 to 40 per cent. I think that is too long and I know that it has had the effect of sending some of these girls off to other employment elsewhere.

It is the "elsewhere" that we always object to and the great advantage of these industries was that there was not any "elsewhere" necessary, that they had it right near their own homes, and that that most undesirable form of emigration, namely, of young girls, was checked to some extent. I want to appeal as strongly as I can to the Minister to ensure that no one who wears a pair of socks made in a Gaeltacht knitting centre will be able to say that he is wearing a pair of socks produced by sweated labour or labour that is over-worked and under-paid.

I do not want to suggest that this position which I have outlined is typical or general. I came across it in just one or two centres and the explanation given is understandable— that it is not easy to get these finishing machines. It may have been righted since I last got the complaint, and, if it has, I shall be very glad to hear it, but I would ask that the Department do everything they can to get an adequate supply of these machines as quickly as possible, so that none of these girls will have to work a half hour after they leave the centre unless they so choose themselves.

In connection with knitting, on one or two occasions, I have asked that home work be provided for girls or for girls who have been employed and who have got married and want to continue their earning, that some system might be devised to foster home work of that kind and that the marketing facilities of the Department be made available to them. I know that it is not easy for the officials to organise a developmen of that sort without help, but now that Bantracht na Tuatha, the Irish Countrywomen's Association—and I am sure there are other bodies that would also help—are in existence in a great many of these areas, their services might be requested to help in the extension of this employment in the knitting industry. It is well to know that these girls and young married women are prepared to carry on this work and to do it in their own time, without being herded into a centre supervised by a Departments appointee. Such a development would produce very good results, and, if there is a book in these goods, as has been said, it seems to me that the present time might be opportune to try out a development along these lines.

I should like the Minister to say what finished articles are made from the semi-processed raw materials which we send out from our marine-processing factories. We have only one under official control in Kilkerrin, but none of us not intimately associated with the Department is aware what the final products produced from these raw materials are. I have no doubt at all that the Minister's advisers have examined the possibilities of carrying on these further processes here in Ireland, and that, if it is possible to carry out all the stages of processing to the final finished articles, the Department officials are well equal to the task of taking advantage of any favourable conditions which would help to bring about that desirable position; but it would be well if the Minister would inform the public, through the House, about the difficulties of having these raw materials processed to the last stage, because there is a good deal of comment on the fact that we half process sea-rods and other forms of seaweed and send out a very useful and valuable raw material to other countries and that they, in fact, reap the big harvest from their exploitation.

Would the Minister inform myself as to how the Spiddal toy factory is getting on? One unit of it, which was located at Casla, some miles further west, was accidentally burned down some years ago, and all the activities then concentrated in Spiddal. I am aware that one part of the process there was dropped and that there is only one kind of toy being made there now, or at least one type of material being used in the making of these toys, and that the lead article has been dropped altogether. Perhaps the Minister would give me some information about it.

Under sub-head G, Miscellaneous Services, there is a reference to boat-building and repair, that is, loans for boat-building and repair. I should like to request that the good offices of this Department be used to try to induce the Department of Education to initiate a scheme under their vocational education services for instructing young men and boys in boat-building and boat-repairing. Only one stretch of the coast has been brought to my attention in this connection but the educational services in the matter might be of interest in other stretches of the coast as well. I am referring now to the South Connemara coast, west of Spiddal.

From time immemorial, there has always been a big traffic in turf across Galway Bay. Prior to the advent of the lorry, North Clare used to get its turf supplies from Connemara in "hookers". The trade to North Clare has practically disappeared with the advent of the motor lorry but the Aran Islands still depend on the availability of "hookers" to get their supplies of turf. We who represent those areas would wish to avoid the necessity of calling in Bord na Móna to supply the Aran Islands with the turf produced in Attymon. That would mean much longer land transport to the waterside than is now the case and, in any event, the direct personal contact between buyer and seller would undergo a very big change. Each of these householders in the islands has his own supplier. They know each other for a long time and the trade is well established by practice and tradition. Inevitably it must cease if the number of boats along the Connemara coast is not maintained.

I have been told that the number of boatwrights has dwindled away—and when I use the word "boatwrights" I am to include men who are capable of carrying out repairs on these boats. I have been told that there is a real need for instruction—which need not be for over a very long period—in that particular subject along certain sections of the coast. The matter is apposite because under "Miscellaneous Services" there is available assistance for the purchase and repair of turf boats. If the knowledge of building and repairing these boats disappears the desire to buy one of them would also disappear because nobody is going to undertake the maintenance of a boat if, in fact, he knows nothing about it.

When I was referring to the desirability of establishing the manufacture of the goods marketed by Gaeltacht Services in the homes I should have adverted to item 1 under sub-head G, Loans for the Purchase of Machines and Equipment for Rural Industries. I should like to suggest that the facility provided there would be advertised and made available to as many applicants as possible, if the Department can get the machines. From my inquiries, I seem to have the impression that it is not easy to get them. However, if they become readily available I would ask that a serious effort be made to increase the home use of such machines.

I think I can finish very shortly by one reference to sub-head H— Appropriations-in-Aid. Item 1 gives receipts from sales of products of rural industries as £500,030 and under the same paragraph at (a) workers' wages are given as £131,300. I should like to suggest to the Minister that the gap between these two figures might be reduced. I think a serious effort ought to be made to ensure that the actual workers get a larger proportion of that £500,030 than the £131,300 which the Minister now reports. I do not want to offer uninformed criticism now but it does seem to me to be a matter that requires careful and sympathetic consideration—and sympathetic consideration in so far as these hand workers are concerned. If the Minister can improve the share which the workers get out of these appropriations he will confer a very real benefit on the persons for whom, primarily, these industries were established. I commend that matter to the Minister's careful consideration and I have no doubt but that it will get it.

Notice taken that 20 Deputies were not present; House counted and 20 Deputies being present.

Cormac Ua Bhreasláin:

Níl rún agam cur isteach ró-fhada a dhéanamh ar am nó ar obair na Dála, ach ba mhaith liom cúpla focal a rá ar an Meastachán seo le haghaidh Seirbhísí na Gaeltachta. Tá a fhios ag achan duine gur ceist náisiúnta í ceist na Gaeltachta. Má táimid le slánú a dhéanamh ar an nGaeltacht, rud nach féidir le muintir na Gaeltachta a dhéanamh iad féin, caithfimid cuidiú na Roinne, agus cuidiú níos mó agus níos feárr, a thabhairt dóibh go ceann mórán blianta.

Tá a fhios againne, atá inár gcónaí sa Ghaeltacht agus a tógadh sa nGaeltacht, gur ceist aimhréiteach do Rialtas ar bith í ceist na Gaeltachta. Ba mhaith liomsa a rá fosta gur dhein achan Rialtas, ó cuireadh an Stát ar bun, a ndícheall leis an Ghaeltacht a neartú agus le cuidiú leis na daoine ansin ar achan dóigh.

Mar dhaoine atá inár gcónaí ansin, tá a fhios againn nach bhfuil go leor déanta, go bhfuil an imirce ag dul ar aghaidh blian ina dhiaidh bliana. Tá a fhios againn go bhfuil daoine óga ag imeacht agus, i gcás cuid de na seandaoine atá fágtha sa bhaile, nach bhfuil siad ábalta aon obair a dhéanamh, agus mar sin go bhfuil siad san ag dul anonn go hAlbain nó go Sasana go dtí a ngaolta.

Tá an Stát seo ar bun le mórán blianta anois, ach tá an scéal céanna ag dul ar aghaidh blian in ndiaidh bliana. Tá a fhios againn nach bhfuilimid ag déanamh go léor don Ghaeltacht. Tig linn níos mó a dhéanamh leis an cheist seo a réiteach. Tá a fhios againn gurb é an cuspóir a bhí iomhainn, tráth, an Ghaeltacht a leathnú amach ar fud na tíre, ach tá fhios againn nach ar an dóigh sin atá sé ag dul ach go bhfuil an Ghaeltacht ag éirí níos bige ó bhliain go blian agus nach mbeidh sé i bhfad go dtí nach mbeidh Gaeltacht ar bith fágtha sa chuid sin den tír.

Is é mo bharúil go gcaithfear comhcheangal níos fearr a bheith againn anseo le obair na Gaeltachta ón Roinn agus ón Rialtas. Ba cheart iad uilig a bheith ag dul ar aghaidh le chéile. Tuigimid go cruinn nach dtig le Seirbhísí na Gaeltachta—maith agus tá an obair atá deanta acu agus maith agus tá an obair atá siad a chur rómpu —nach dtig leo an Ghaeltacht a shlanú iad féin. Barraíocht na dtionscal atá ar bun sa tír seo cuireadh sna bailte móra iad. Dá gcuirtí níos mó tionscal sna háiteanna iargcúlta, sna ceantracha Gaeltachta, sílimse go mbeadh an scéal níos fearr anois.

Bhí áthas orm go raibh an tAire i ndan a insint dúinn go bhfuil méadú mór ar thionscal an bhréidín i dTír Chonaill. Ba mhaith liomsa comhghairdeachas a dhéanamh leis agus le oifigigh na Roinne as an dea obair atá déanta acu, le roint bhlian, leis an tionscal a cur ar aghaidh. Tá súil agam go leanfar leis an obair sin. Is tionscal a é atá ag tabhairt oibre do na céadta den aos óg i dTír Chonaill.

Cuireann sé pléisiúir orm go bhfuil na figiúirí i mbliana níos mó na bhí blianta eile. Tá súil agam go mbeidh an obair seo ag dul ar aghaidh.

Bheirimse mo bheannacht don Mheastachán seo agus tá mé cinnte go ndéanfaidh an tAire atá anseo againn anois, go ndéanfaidh seisean an obair chomh maith le hAire ar bith eile. Fear é a bhfuil fonn air aire a thabhairt do Sheirbhísí na Gaeltachta agus tá fhios agam go ndéanfaidh sé achan rud le saol na ndaoine a dhéanamh níos fearr.

This Vote for Gaeltacht Services provides the Deputies with an opportunity of saying a few words on the position of the Gaeltacht. It provides them with a few hours on one day in the year of expressing their sympathy and of expressing their desire to see the Gaeltacht improved. However, the speeches which have been made here for many years past have been of the same type as those which are being made to-day. During that time, Governments have come and Governments have gone, but with all the expressions of sympathy that have been made in the House and with all the good work that the various Ministers and Departments have done to save the Gaeltacht for the nation, unfortunately the position there is worse to-day than any time during the past 50 years.

I am casting no reflection whatsoever on the present Minister for Lands because I know he is as interested in affairs of the Gaeltacht as any Minister who went before him. Each one of them in his own way did his utmost to give us a better type of life in the Gaeltacht areas, to help the people there, but the position to-day is not a good one. We in Donegal have as much migration—perhaps more —to-day than we had 50, 60 or 80 years ago. The young people are going away from their homes in hundreds and, unfortunately, the older people are going also. They are now setting up homes in Glasgow, Clydebank and various cities throughout Britain. The migration to-day is of such a magnitude that it should be one question that every Party must consider carefully in order to find out what can be done to save the Gaeltacht.

We to-day enjoy freedom in the Twenty-Six Counties. Men on all sides of the House have contributed much to give us that freedom and freedom has come to us because men were imbued with the love of the language, the love of Gaelic culture and everything else that is to be found to-day only in the Gaeltacht. If we have our freedom to-day it is certainly due to a large extent to the people amongst the rocks and the hills and glens of the Gaeltacht areas around our coast who imbued those men with the desire to go out and achieve freedom for our people. It is a sad commentary that freedom having been achieved, those people should have to close their doors, should have to leave their homes and seek work across the water and after so many years of native Government it is a sad reflection on all the Governments that have been elected by our people.

The people of the Gaeltacht do not want to leave their homes. It has been said very often that the youth like to go across the Channel and to foreign countries. That may be the desire of a small number but the majority are as fond of their homes as the people of Dublin, Waterford, Limerick or any other city. I would go further and say that they have a greater love of their homes than any other people in this country because all down the centuries they have set their roots deep in the rocks and glens and hills and they have held on despite the economic pressure that has certainly been their lot since the first day their ancestors went into those barren parts of the country. The nation owes much to them and I feel that the nation has not done and is not doing enough to stem the tide of emigration, to give them a better standard of living and to keep our people at work at home.

Much has been done. Every Government that has come along has certainly helped, in many ways, in the setting up of small industries in various parts of the country. The toy industry has been successful, and we are glad to hear from the latest figures of the Minister that this industry is going ahead steadily. The knitting industry, the homespun industry, and all the others have contributed a good deal and have helped in giving hundreds of our young people work at home. But I do not think the Gaeltacht will be saved by the establishment of small factories giving work to a handful of boys and girls here and there, and that we must have a bolder outlook than we have hitherto had if anything effective is to be done for that part of the country. In respect of giving work to the girls, desirable as that may be, I think the Department must embark on a bold policy in order to provide employment for the natural breadwinners of the family, the men and the boys. Until that is done we will have the men and boys going across the water to get employment while some of the girls remain at home and work in the Gaeltacht factories.

During debates in this House Deputies have expressed the opinion that independent boards should be set up to look after various important problems and schemes in this country. That was evident on the Vote for Forestry the other night and I feel that if boards are to be established the Government should certainly consider the establishment of an independent board for the Gaeltacht. Again I cast no reflection on the officials of the Department who have worked very hard all down the years and have made a success of their venture within the circumscribed limits that have been laid down by this House. The officials naturally are able to do so much but outside that they cannot go and many people feel the only hope for the Gaeltacht area is an independent board that will grapple with this serious subject in a much bolder manner than it has been grappled with since the State was established. We feel that if that were done perhaps something tangible would result from their efforts.

We in the Gaeltacht had hoped that a Minister for the Gaeltacht would have been appointed just as there is a Minister for Industry and Commerce, a Minister for Education and other Ministries. We were promised that some years ago and it was hailed with satisfaction in the Gaeltacht areas but so far I have seen no indication that the Government intend to implement their promise.

I welcome the increase in the provision for rural industries; the increase of £28,000 for materials for the tweed industry; £11,500 extra for knitwear; an extra £2,500 for embroidery; and £3,500 extra for the toy industry. That is a step in the right direction and will help even in a small way in the rural areas and the Gaeltacht areas and I hope that trend continues. As I have already said we were glad to hear from the Minister that the sales of homespuns are increasing and that there has already been an increase as regards the knitwear, toy and embroidery industries.

There is just one statement of the Minister's with which I do not agree and that is the decrease of £2,000 in the provision for advertising and publicity. If our industries are going ahead fairly well at the moment, if there is such an improvement in our homespun industry, this is not the time to cut advertising. It would not be the policy of an ordinary business concern, if their sales were expanding, to cut advertising at that particular time. Rather would it be their policy to add to their advertising commitments because only in that way can we hope to envisage any success over the years. I would ask the Minister to reconsider that decision of his and to increase the advertising and publicity provision by at least £2,000 and show that we have some faith in the industry and some faith in the future.

I am also glad that Gaeltacht housing has been so successful. That is one of the Department's sections that is to be congratulated for doing great work in the Gaeltacht areas, and satisfactory progress has been made all over the country. The new departure under recent Gaeltacht Housing Acts in regard to the provision of grants for additional accommodation to houses in the Gaeltacht as well as the installation of sewerage and water facilities has been a great help to the people there.

There is one industry in the Gaeltacht that has not yet been fully implemented and that is the tourist industry. The efforts of the Department of Lands in providing better houses for the people and providing extra grants for extra accommodation for visitors and for the keeping of students who go to the Gaeltacht, has certainly been appreciated by the people. It has meant that hundreds of families who otherwise would have emigrated to Scotland and England have remained at home. Tourist industry is growing in the Gaeltacht because it is in the Gaeltacht we have the most beautiful scenery in Ireland and it is to the Gaeltacht areas the people would go, as Deputy Derrig said in his speech, if those amenities were provided. It is possible for the people now to obtain grants for the installation of water and sewerage facilities and in a great number of the Gaeltacht areas that has already been done.

If the Gaeltacht is to survive, and I am sure it is the wish of every Deputy and Party in the House that it should, the Government will have to take the matter firmly in hands to ensure that the running sore of emigration, which has continued year after year, will stop, and so that we in this country will be able to provide work for our people and that the young men in the Gaeltacht will have as much interest in their own country as they have at the moment in the economic affairs of Scotland and England. It is a sad reflection that so many of our young people grow up, and know more about the economic advancement of cities in Scotland and England than they do about the affairs in their own country. They feel that, having been brought into the world in the Gaeltacht areas, their only outlook is to get out of them as soon as possible.

I suggest that much more effective steps must be taken in the future if the Gaeltacht is to survive. The position there could not be more serious than it is, and in a few years, unless drastic steps are taken to remedy the present situation, I am of the opinion that the necessity for bringing this Vote into the House will not arise at all.

Mr. O'Connor:

I propose to be very brief in the remarks which I have to make on this Estimate. I have listened with interest to the debate which has taken place during the past few hours in regard to the position in the Gaeltacht areas. I was agreeably surprised to learn that in some of the Gaeltacht areas, certain types of industry are flourishing. Part of the constituency which I have the honour to represent comprises the Gaeltacht areas of Ballyferriter, Dunquin, Caus and Feonagha. There is a definite problem in those areas, and I would appeal to the Minister and to the Department to investigate the conditions there.

I know from my own knowledge that no attempt whatever is being made— that is from the departmental point of view—to maintain the people in those areas. No attempt is being made to establish industries there. The people have been left to fend for themselves. From my investigations, I find that they are living principally on the dole, and are fashioning their lives on it. The result of the situation there is that the young people are emigrating. In doing so they are at a decided disadvantage because, although most of them have English, they still find it hard to understand English-speaking people at the other side or to be understood themselves.

In my opinion emigration will solve the problem in those particular areas. It has solved it to a certain extent. I think that, with a good energetic approach, what remains of the population there could be maintained if some attempt were made to establish some type of industry. Deputy Breslin, when speaking of the position in his constituency, referred to the fact that women and girls employed in certain type of industry there were able to earn some money, but mentioned, and rightly so, that as regards the breadwinner of the family no provision was being made to put him into employment. If the Gaeltacht is as important to our nationality as we are told it is, I think that a more vigorous effort should be made to maintain it, even if that involves some cost to the taxpayer. I do not think the taxpayer would begrudge any expenditure that would have to take place in those Gaeltacht areas.

In the areas which I have mentioned, emigration is a very real problem. The young people are leaving. The old people who remain in the family homesteads have, eventually, to be transferred to the county home which is 70 miles distant. At the age of 75 and 80 they are transferred into absolutely anglicised surroundings. They do not live long in those surroundings and die of broken hearts. At the meetings of our local authority, I have time and again raised the question of establishing a home for these old people in the Dingle area, but I have not succeeded in my effort.

I want to say to the Minister that I have no solution for this problem. In my opinion, however, no effort is being made by this Department to solve, or to offer a solution for, the unemployment problem in those areas. I would earnestly appeal to the Minister that he should make some effort to solve it.

The people remaining in those areas are obliged to fashion their lives on the miserable pittance which they receive in the form of dole from the employment exchange. That, surely, is a tragedy—to see the grand old Gaelic stock reduced to that position. I have already said that emigration is surely but slowly solving this whole problem. I would say that in five years' time there will be no problem in those areas because emigration will have solved it. If the Minister and his Department have a solution for it, I would suggest to him that he should apply it as quickly as possible.

Mr. Blaney:

In the statement made by the Minister in moving this Estimate, there seemed to be an air of satisfaction expressed in regard to what is being done and what has been done over not only the past year, but in the years gone by. While I will give the Minister and the officials of his Department full credit for doing well that which they are doing, like all the other speakers from both sides of the House I am very far from satisfied that we are doing enough, or nearly enough, to remedy the problems outlined or to maintain and expand the Gaeltacht. I think it is true to say that we are not primarily motivated with the idea of merely maintaining the Gaeltacht; the hope is that in the maintenance of the Gaeltacht and in the building up of the areas that remain we will in time spread out from those areas and gradually make them bigger and bigger until such time as the ideal will be reached wherein these areas will expand in all directions until they have covered the entire country.

Now, while the Department is doing well that which it has undertaken in relation to the Gaeltacht, we are very far from maintaining, never mind expanding, the Gaeltacht area. Like Deputy Breslin, whom I heard speak a short time ago, my experience is the same as his in regard to the Gaeltacht in Donegal. We have at the present time a greater emigration, if anything, than we have ever had from these areas. The most noticeable change in the emigration pattern to-day as compared with ten to 20 years ago is that, in the past—and I remember this quite well in the Gaeltacht areas close to me —it was the younger people or possibly the breadwinner of the family who went away and the parents and the wife stayed at home. Those who went away, too, stayed away only a few months and then returned home again.

The present pattern is, as Deputy Breslin pointed out, quite different. That trend has changed and we now find, if the breadwinner goes across to England or Scotland, another member of the family shortly joins that first emigrant and, in a very short time, the home is locked up; the locks are put on the doors; the windows are barred and the family has departed, not for a month or a year, but for good.

That is the picture in the Gaeltacht near where I come from, Fanad and Rossguill. I know these two areas intimately and have observed the trend there over a considerable time. That is the picture, and a very, very sad picture it is.

What then, may we ask, can we do about it? The Minister will say that small factories are being and have been established here and there throughout the Gaeltacht areas and that they have proved successful ventures. Admittedly, successful weaving industries have been established in certain areas, but could we not get down to establishing the weaving industry in all the Gaeltachts? Could we not develop the toy industry to the extent where we would have a demand for toys from more factories other than those we have already established? Could we not give to other Gaeltacht areas which have no industries the factories that would be required to meet that development?

In my own county I know that, so far as weaving is concerned, there appears to be a demand sufficient to induce private individuals to establish weaving industries, particularly in the Rossguill peninsula; and in Downings we have a man who is doing his utmost to try to get a weaving industry established in the area. As the Minister and his Department can well understand, there is no tradition of weaving in that area to-day—if there was a tradition there in the past it has died out —and his difficulties are almost insurmountable. In the light of that knowledge our local vocational committee has recently endeavoured to establish a weaving class in which, although it may be of short duration, some of the fundamentals and some of the rudiments of weaving technique will be imparted to the people interested in the Downings area so that the individual to who I have referred, who is making an effort to establish weaving in that district, will have hands not completely devoid of technique.

I cannot understand why, since the market appears to be there—and not only there but expanding—in such a Gaeltacht area as Rossguill, where there is absolutely nothing to provide employment for the people, the Department could not come in at this stage and make an effort to develop a weaving centre in the district.

Over the years different Departments have been more or less dabbling in the Gaeltacht. I use the word "dabbling" deliberately. We have had efforts made to preserve the Gaeltacht, such as that made by the Department of Education in giving grants to members of Irish speaking families. Recently we have had the Undeveloped Areas Act which was directed in the main not only to the Gaeltacht areas, but to the congested areas. That Act is administered by the Department of Industry and Commerce. If all the efforts and resources of the different Departments interested in the Gaeltacht could be co-ordinated we might achieve some measure of success. If not alone the experts administering these different measures but the money these efforts are costing the various Departments and the State generally could be brought together under the one head so that all efforts towards helping the Gaeltacht would flow from that head, then we could really make a start which would give promise of a successful conclusion.

I do not believe that, despite the methods and the manner in which we are doing things at the moment, good as they are in their own way, we shall ever reach the goal which has been the aim of this House for many years, namely, the expansion of the Gaeltacht until it spreads out and covers the entire country. Working as we are at the moment, I do not think we shall ever attain that ambition. Even though the work being done is good, the proof is there that all efforts so far have been a dismal failure.

Should it be our last effort, I believe that we should try now, immediately, to bring all the resources together, resources which in the past have been operated by various Departments of State, properly co-ordinated under either a Minister or a Government sponsored board to look after the Gaeltacht and whose job only it would be to look after the welfare of the Gaeltacht and the people in the Gaeltacht. If such a board or ministry were established many things, in addition to weaving and toy making, could be brought under its purview.

I see every reason why, for instance, the glasshouse scheme administered by the Department of Agriculture should be in the hands of a Minister solely in charge of development in the Gaeltacht. It is known as the Gaeltacht glasshouse scheme so that it is a name tied up with the Gaeltacht and its functions are centred in the Gaeltacht. There is every reason why that scheme should be taken up by the proposed board or new ministry and it should, and could, be extended in a way that is not realised at the present time by this House. Such a scheme could give much employment and prosperity to those engaged in it. All we have got to do is to walk through the streets of Dublin at the moment and look at the cost of lettuce. That lettuce could be grown in our Gaeltacht glasshouses. We could have our own lettuce plants supplying our own market and in that way we would be getting good money for the Gaeltacht and at the same time repaying the people of Dublin by giving them an adequate supply of these early vegetables in the late spring or early summer.

That scheme could be extended very much now due to the fact that rural electrification has now become available in those areas. In the past they had to depend on cold houses, glasshouses without heat, as to provide heat would have been too costly. With rural electrification going through the country and private houses being connected we now have a golden opportunity for the full development of this glasshouse scheme which should be handled by a board whose sole responsibility would be the welfare of the Gaeltacht.

In addition to that scheme there is another scheme which is already being dealt with by the Department for Lands. I refer to seaweed meal. So far as I know and can find out, this seaweed meal has turned out to be quite a good proposition, but from inquiries which I made a year or so ago it would seem that not many men in my part of the country, along the seaboard of Donegal, would be induced by the price offered to go in for it in any permanent way. If it would be possible to give a little more money for the seaweed that is available on the coastline for the purpose of that seaweed meal scheme, I would recommend such an increase.

I would also be inclined to turn over the question of the fish meal plants and the fish canning industry to this proposed board. As we see it at the moment, this scheme is being handled by An Bord Iascaigh Mhara, and handled well by them, but I think that they are not handling it so well as far as the Gaeltacht is concerned in so far as we find that their bias is away from the Gaeltacht. Perhaps I should not say that there is any bias, but they are not using the ports available around our coasts in a manner that could be the most helpful to the Gaeltacht, and they have not made any effort whatever to set up either a fish meal plant or a canning industry in any of the Gaeltacht ports. It is fairly true to say that the fishing ports of our county, Downings and Bunbeg, not only should have lent themselves to this development, but from the point of view of the fishermen would have been ideally situated and would have been much more suitable than where the port was set up, in Killybegs. That question could very well come within the province of any new board or ministry charged with the welfare of the Gaeltacht.

In part of the Fanad Gaeltacht we have very large deposits of granite and, prior to the war, this granite was being worked and exported to Britain and was in very big demand, particularly in London. Since the war several efforts have been made to get this industry under way again. I have been very interested in the matter and I know from my investigations that a good market is available for granite in England at the moment, a market at a profitable price. I got this information by going over there occasionally, but I know that one of the stumbling blocks is that it is impossible to get people with sufficient capital interested in the development of these quarries.

It is unfortunate and sad to see these granite quarries lying idle all through the Fanad Gaeltacht while we have the young men and women either migrating or emigrating and the houses being closed within sight of the quarries. Those quarries have been closed for the lack of finance despite the fact that in England and in London there is a satisfactory and profitable market waiting for their products. I believe that this is a matter that should be put under the protection of some board that would have the power, control and finance to go ahead and do a good job which would be profitable not only to the people of the Gaeltacht but to the national income and national economy.

You may well say that the setting up of such a board or ministry would constitute certain difficulties which would have to be overcome, not the least of which would be the question of finance. As I have already said, if the moneys being expended directly or indirectly by the various Departments dealing with the Gaeltacht were all brought together you would find that you would have a fairly substantial sum to work on. If that was not sufficient you have in the National Development Fund powers enabling the Government to advance from that fund sufficient money to carry on until your next Budget is being considered.

In addition to that, you would and could have brought within workable conditions the Undeveloped Areas Act. Surely the fruits of that could be utilised to the benefit of the board or ministry? I could visualise the board or ministry setting up these industries and not merely asking or encouraging private individuals to do so. They themselves should do it. They have done so with regard to the toy factories. The glasshouse scheme could be expanded and extended in all the Gaeltacht areas. The board could develop the granite quarries in the Fanad peninsula and all other matters which might be found useful. The board or ministry should be aided and helped by the provisions of the Undeveloped Areas Act. In that way they would get from the Act the same facilities as a private company or individual who proposed to set up an industry in any of the congested areas.

If those things were done, and done immediately, there would still be hope that the Gaeltacht could be saved. I say "hope" because it is only a hope. We have not been realistic enough. I think we have not been close enough to the happenings in the Gaeltacht over the years to realise just how the Gaeltacht has been dwindling. It may not be dwindling so far as area is concerned; it may not be dwindling so far as the number of people in it at any given time is concerned but when one goes to the Gaeltacht one sees that there is a lack of life there and a lack of spirit in the people in contrast to the position which obtained years ago.

I can remember the manner in which crowds of boys and girls could be found at the crossroads in the Gaeltacht night after night enjoying innocent games and pleasures. That enthusiasm helped to maintain the Gaeltacht and retain in it the young people. If you go out to-day to any of the Gaeltachts I know of in County Donegal you will not find, except by accident, more than two people at any crossroads at any time. That in itself is a much more telling picture than any record that anybody can produce in this House.

The young people are dispirited. The young people who can leave have left. They may come home for a few years but eventually all of them are a total loss to this country. We have got to face up to the fact that the Gaeltacht is dying and dying fast. Despite what may appear on the surface at the moment, despite the fact that there are houses in the Gaeltacht that appear to be occupied, anybody who knows the Gaeltacht inside out will realise that the Gaeltacht is dying. People should not be taken in by outward appearance. The final death knell of the Gaeltacht will sound some day and that day may not be very far away unless the Government and all the members of this House get together and hammer out a plan in a last and final effort. We must put everything we have got into the effort to stem the flood of emigration and bring back prosperity to the Gaeltacht areas. We have got to do that if we want to save the Gaeltacht.

I have no doubt that the Minister and all members of this House, however remotely connected with the Gaeltacht, or even if they are not connected with the Gaeltacht at all, are agreed that the Gaeltacht should be saved. We know what the Gaeltacht and all it stands for has meant down the centuries. Knowing that, we should deal with it in a manner befitting such an important task. I do not make any apologies for saying that in the past we did not deal with the Gaeltacht in that light. We have not treated it with the respect, the enthusiasm and courage that we might have. It is true to say that the many other big problems that had to be solved over recent years since we got a national Government were a heavy burden on the Government of the day. They may have been misled into believing that what they were doing for the Gaeltacht was sufficient.

It is now clear that it is not sufficient and will not be sufficient in the future. We must do more. I commend the suggestion of a board to the Minister. It is not my suggestion but that of many people who have studied the Gaeltacht problem from A to Z and who know all about the Gaeltacht—far more than I do. A board or a special ministry should be set up. If that course is adopted the various jobs of the other Departments now being carried on either directly or indirectly to help the Gaeltacht should be turned over to this board. Any legislation required to set the board or ministry going to establish industries in the Gaeltacht should be passed in this House and I believe every Deputy in this House would welcome such legislation.

The Minister is a West of Ireland man himself and has a good understanding of the problems involved. In asking the Minister to get his Government to consider the matter I know I am asking someone who is sympathetic to this matter and who understands it as well as it can be understood. In asking him to bring the suggestion before the Government I know that he will be one of the strongest advocates of the proposed plan.

If that cannot be done, then some reliefs might be given in the very near future to the Gaeltacht areas in my own county. Relief could be given to the weavers and dyers immediately under the present system. I would ask the Minister to do something in that respect and request his Department's officials who are aware of developments to do something about it in Glenfin and other places where there are still the remnants of the Gaelic people. There are also there public spirited people who are trying to establish a weaving industry in that area to stem the flood of emigration. There is this question of the granite quarries. That may not at the moment be the Minister's responsibility. At the same time I feel that if the Minister could not do something himself he might use his influence with the Department to try and have something done in this connection.

There is nothing in the Fanad, Rossguill or Glenfin Gaeltachts except what the people scratch from the soil. The people in those areas have been worked hard in the past. They have not had life easy. The younger elements see how easy life is across the water. Can you blame them if they leave? I certainly do not. If we want them to stay we must make their lives at least livable in the conditions in which we put them.

We can help now because there has been a great godsend in rural Ireland, that is rural electrification which is now being extended in the Gaeltacht of my county and will in itself be a tremendous help to make life more bearable. In addition to that and the help of extending water supplies and sewerage schemes under the Department of Lands and other Departments and the building of new houses and the extending of houses—in addition to all those if we cannot find work for the people, them all we are doing in building and electrifying and in giving water and sewerage to the Gaeltacht will be lost together with the Gaeltacht itself and all that it has stood for down through the years.

Mr. Blowick:

Deputy Brennan appears to think the prosperity Gaeltarra Éireann is enjoying at the moment is a temporary boom. I do not think that that is so. I would be rather inclined to regard it as being steady in that there is no likelihood of its being a boom and then falling on evil days again. No doubt Deputy Brennan has in mind the experience that that Department suffered during the war, but these were exceptional circumstances. The machinery was not available and, above all, replacements of machinery were not available and the emphasis was more on quantity than on quality during that period. Naturally this resulted, in the years following the war, in a building up of material which was easily outclassed in the market by the commercial firms. The position at the moment is very good in all branches of the industry and that, I think, is principally due to the complete reorganisation that took place here some years ago. It is now that the benefit of that reorganisation is taking effect.

Taking the tweed side of the business alone, I think that the officials who are responsible for new designs and patterns are completely reorganising that tweed business so that the demand exceeds the supply. I think that is a very heartening feature. The same thing applies to every other branch, to toys and to seaweed as well. The picture is very satisfactory and I think I would be misleading the House if I even hinted that this was just a temporary boom, because while the quality of output is maintained there is no doubt whatever about the success of the whole project.

Deputy Derrig was anxious to get the percentage of tweeds supplied for home consumption. At the time he was speaking I interjected to give him the figure which I thought was 50 per cent. Actually the percentage supplied for home consumption is 58 per cent. against 41 per cent. or a little more supplied for export. After supplying the home demand not alone for tweeds but for machine knitwear, hand-knitted gloves, embroidery, toys, shopping baskets, rugs and so on we are sending staff as far away as to the Argentine, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Kenya, Luxembourg, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States of America. The United States of America bought £11,100 worth from us last year. When I see Switzerland making purchases of toys it certainly makes me think.

There was quite a number of queries regarding seaweed products. The Bill that went through the House here— last October or November, I think—to expand the capital of that particular branch of the industry is just now coming into effect and a complete re-equipment and reorganisation of the little factory at Kilkerrin is under way at the present time. It is hoped that it will be in production in August or in September next.

One Deputy raised the question— why should we not do the whole processing at home? I think I explained on former occasions that we have not the secret of doing that. That belongs to a partner in the English side of the company, and apparently the secret of converting the ground sea-rod meal into alginic acid is one which we have not got, and apparently those who have it are guarding it very jealously.

Somebody asked what articles are made from the ground sea-rod meal and for what purposes it is used. It is used, for instance, for stabilising ice cream, creaming latex rubber, manufacture of jellies, pastes and lotions, textile printing, dental moulds and surgical blocks, etc. These are some of the things that are made by this particular branch, and I would like to inform the House that the price of sea-rods and seaweed will be increased, or is increased, this year, and while the quantity that was for sale or gathered last year was small—due, I believe, to the excessively wet season—we hope it will be up this year, first because we hope for a dry summer, and secondly, because the price has been increased.

I want to tell Deputy Brennan that the output at Kilcar has been doubled in the last two years and that the demand is still in excess of supply. He was anxious that Gaeltarra Éireann should not go into competition with private firms. We cannot help that. We want to sell our products to the best advantage. It is not our wish to go into competition with private firms because we would be very slow to injure them in any way as they are doing a good job of work too, but we must keep our workers employed and sell to the best advantage the products of these workers. There is no way of getting round that, and if that is regarded as competition we cannot help it. The only other way to deal with the difficulty is to close down and surely it is not proposed to do that?

He mentioned the fact that some of Fogra Fáilte's publications had a statement that Gaeltarra Éireann was the sole producer of homespun tweeds. Gaeltarra Éirenn had nothing whatever to do with that particular statement, and I might inform the Deputy that it has been corrected since.

Deputy Bartley mentioned the fact that Galway County Council has intimated its intention to stop the supplementary housing grants to those who are building houses with housing grants in the Fíor-Ghaeltacht. I think that is bad and I have not the slightest doubt that if the county council carries out that decision it will mean the virtual cessation, not alone of Gaeltacht, but of local government grant housing all over Galway. I did gather from the Deputy's remarks that this might not be a firm decision of the council's as yet and let us hope that the new council that will be elected in a few weeks' time will revoke that decision and decide to go back to the old system of giving supplementary grants, because it is quite clear that there will be a steep drop in the building of Gaeltacht houses and local government grant houses in County Galway otherwise.

In County Mayo, where I am fairly familiar with the conditions that exist, I believe that many houses that are being built or are to be built would not be tackled by the people if they did not get the supplementary grant from the county council. I would ask Deputy Bartley to use his influence with Galway County Council so that they might reconsider the decision regarding supplementary grants.

Sanitation grants are being availed of in increasing numbers and it is nice to see people who are building houses taking advantage of them. As a matter of fact, it is much easier and cheaper to get sanitation and water installed when the house is being built than to have it patched on to the house which is already erected.

Deputy Derrig said he would like to see an expansion of Gaeltacht Services industries and that there were plans for that in existence before the change of Government last year. There were suggestions, but no actual sum was sanctioned up to June of last year, but there is a fairly large sum of money available from the National Development Fund. It will require very careful examination to see how best that expansion can be carried out. Inquiries are going on and have been going on for some time past, but are not yet complete. I am not yet in a position to make a definite statement on the matter until these inquiries are complete and then I shall be only too glad to give the desired information to the House.

Deputy Brennan mentioned that he would like an extension to the Bruckless lace centre. As a matter of fact a considerable sum has been sanctioned for an extension to that particular industry and the work will be put in hands at the earliest possible moment.

I think it was Deputy Derrig who mentioned that a showroom would be a big advantage for displaying the various products of the Department. A sum of £400 has been sanctioned for the equipment and furnishing of a showroom in the central marketing depot in Dublin—and personnel are being trained——

Mr. Derrig:

Will the people go there—will they know where to go?

Mr. Blowick:

We will try to put up finger posts to direct them. Most of the foreign demand for tweeds is in Germany and Austria with some in the United States. I think it was Deputy Brennan who asked if we were sure that some of the tweeds that were classified as being for our own market were not exported. I am not sure; in fact, we know some of them are exported by those who buy from Gaeltarra Éireann but we do not know what quantity—it has never been checked. About 58 per cent. of these tweeds are sold at home and 41 per cent. or thereabouts are exported.

Deputy Bartley mentioned the "old system," as he described it, of the Department's purchasing housing materials for those who want to build houses. I am informed that the materials were never ordered by the Gaeltacht Services Division. It was always left to the person who got the grant to deal directly with the builders' suppliers himself or with his contractor. A letter from the Department to the person who applied for the grant to the effect that the grant was sanctioned was usually considered sufficient bail, so to speak, to the builders' suppliers to supply the man with the materials and in certain cases the Department paid the grant direct, on the grantee's instructions, to the builders' suppliers in question.

I think I have dealt with most of the points that have been raised and I am very glad to be able to report good progress in the work of the past year. I think I am not being over-optimistic when I say it is anticipated that by the time the Estimate comes before the House this time next year there will be a still further tale of progress to be reported.

Vote put and agreed to.