asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware of the urgent necessity for the establishment of industrial concerns in County Roscommon with particular reference to the towns of Roscommon, Boyle and Castlerea, and, if so, whether he will direct the attention of the Industrial Development Authority towards the problem of remedying this great need.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Need for Industries in Roscommon.
As the Deputy will appreciate, the establishment of industries is primarily a matter for private enterprise and local initiative. If he, or the local interests concerned, will let me have particulars of the facilities for the establishment of an industry at any of the towns to which he refers, including information as to factory sites and an estimate of the capital available locally for investment in industrial projects, I will arrange, through my Department and the Industrial Development Authority, to have these towns brought to the notice of parties who submit proposals to me and who have not already selected a location. The Deputy will realise, of course, that the claims of other towns with facilities to offer are also brought to the notice of industrial promoters.
I may add that any proposals coming before me for the establishment of industries in County Roscommon will receive the most sympathetic consideration. Any groups interested in setting up industries in that area may, of course, apply to An Foras Tionscal for assistance under the Undeveloped Areas Act, 1952.
It might be appropriate at this stage to say: "We heard it before, Joe," but surely the Minister is aware that the information with regard to site, money available, and so forth has been supplied to the Industrial Development Authority and to An Foras Tionscal on many occasions within the past four years. Apart from that, is the Minister serious when he suggests that private enterprise is going to solve the problems that exist in towns such as Roscommon——
The Deputy is raising another matter.
Would the Minister not consider utilising the Industrial Development Authority—on the same lines as the Development Council is being utilised in the North under the guidance of Lord Chandos—in order to ensure that industrial development will take place in the West and that the unfortunate men and women there will not have to emigrate, depending, as they have to at present, on the whims of private enterprise to set up industries?
The Deputy seems to be suffering from amnesia. He does not seem to have read the question which was put down, which was:
"To ask the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware of the urgent necessity for the establishment of industrial concerns in County Roscommon with particular reference to the towns of Roscommon, Boyle and Castlerea, and, if so, whether he will direct the attention of the Industrial Development Authority towards the problem of remedying this great need."
I have told him I was aware of the necessity for establishing industries in Roscommon and elsewhere and that I am doing my best in that respect. I have told him that I would bring the needs of Roscommon to the notice of the Industrial Development Authority. These are the two questions I was asked and these are the two questions I have answered, and not the question which the Deputy apparently forgot to put down.
The Minister has mentioned An Foras Tionscal in his reply and has also mentioned that if people in these areas "and the Deputy" would make available particulars with regard to the sites and money available he would do all he could, but these items of information are already available in his Department and were made available four years ago. On many occasions in the last four years efforts have been made by the Development Council in both Castlerea and Roscommon to get assistance from An Foras Tionscal and in view of their failure, I am asking the Minister to forget private enterprise and to get State help for these areas.
In view of what the Deputy says, it is clear that the question only had a propaganda value for him.
Is the Minister aware that when this important Bill was being discussed in 1942 and when an amendment was put before the House specifically for the purpose now mentioned by Deputy McQuillan, Deputy McQuillan did not even stay in the House to support it?
That is the greatest untruth mentioned in this House for a long time.