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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 4 Nov 1959

Vol. 177 No. 5

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Roscommon Drainage Problems.

47.

asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state the number of occasions from 1st March, 1958, to date on which he received requests from the Roscommon County Council to meet a deputation to discuss drainage problems in the county; and why he did not accede to any of the requests.

Six such requests were received during the period mentioned and the reasons for refusal to receive a deputation were made clear in written replies to the Roscommon County Council. They are, briefly, that the Department's Vote includes no provision for grants for new projects under the Local Authorities (Works) Act, 1949, and that in the absence of such provision no useful purpose would be served by the reception of a deputation.

In view of the fact that no less than 17 times, not 6, within the past 18 months the Minister was requested to receive a deputation from Roscommon County Council to discuss these serious problems that have arisen in connection with drainage, would the Taoiseach now say whether he is prepared to take the necessary steps to curb the arrogance of this Minister?

That is a separate question.

I was ruled out of order when I tried to put a question down to the Taoiseach on this. I want to find out why it is that a responsible authority like the Roscommon County Council is told in a contemptuous fashion through the post, no less than 17 times in the last 18 months, that this Minister will not receive a deputation to discuss the serious drainage situation in that county. May I now ask the Taoiseach whether he is prepared at this stage to ensure that the deputation are received and that due consideration is given to the very special case they are prepared to put?

While the Deputy may be correct that there were 17 items of correspondence in relation to this matter, I repeat——

I have them here.

So have I. I repeat that there were six requests contained within 17 documents submitted to my Department over the time from 6th March, 1958, to 18th September, 1959. As regards the Roscommon County Council being treated in any contemptuous manner by myself or my Department, I believe the receiving of deputations from public bodies, whether they be county councils, urban councils, or borough corporations, on matters on which the Minister can do nothing and knows in advance he can do nothing, is not only being contemptuous towards those people but involves a waste of public money in bringing them to the Department.

Furthermore, this matter of the Local Authorities (Works) Act had been discussed at a deputation received by me from the General Council of County Councils and the situation was set forth for those people representing all the county councils in the country. The fact that a single county council should feel that the General Council was not speaking fully for them is a matter for regret and one which I fail to understand.

My attitude in this matter is not in any way derogatory to the Roscommon County Council or to the representatives of the people who form that council but, from my point of view and that of the general public, it is simply a matter of common sense that bringing people along to talk about something they want which I cannot give is a waste of their time and a waste of public money.

If what the Minister has suggested were correct, I should be prepared to let the matter drop there, but the Minister has on a number of occasions in the course of his replies suggested to the county council that he would receive a deputation, first, on the 16th April, 1958 and again on the 6th May, 1958. He was reluctant at that stage to receive a deputation but would receive them at a later stage. In view of those two statements, would the Minister now reconsider the position and meet the members of the county council before the position in the county becomes any more serious than it is? He knows to what I am referring.

In regard to the suggestion that there is an outstanding obligation or commitment on my part to receive the county council on this matter, if the Deputy had put that point in his question, or even put it in his first supplementary, I could have dealt with it at the time. It is still possible that I may receive the Roscommon County Council but at this moment, from the facts before me, the situation is unchanged. That does not say that it will not change.

May I take it that the Minister is prepared to give further consideration to the matter?

Is it a fact that representatives of the Roscommon County Council may be received after the next Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis when this matter will be fully considered?

May I ask the Minister to reply? Is he prepared to have this question reconsidered? I do not want to delay the house but I feel that if I get an answer it will relieve the feelings of the members of the county council and the people in the county who are in a desperate plight.

It is not a question of reconsidering the position. It is a question of continuing to give further consideration to the matter. That is, at the moment, being done.

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