This Estimate is one which affects most intimately the people of the country. On a previous occasion I adverted to the fact in relation to calling this "local government", that the word "local" should hardly be used. We go to great pains to pick the officials, and a great many of the senior officials are appointed through the Local Appointments Commission. These county managers, county secretaries, county accountants, county engineers and so on, are all men who have been chosen, evidently, for their ability. They, with the locally-elected representatives, are assumed to be capable of dealing with local administration. Yet, the extraordinary thing is that at all stages these self-same officials of the local body can rarely proceed to do anything considered necessary for the good of an administrative area without referring to the central agency here in Dublin.
It has already been mentioned here this morning that that certainly is one of the causes of apathy so far as the conduct of local affairs is concerned. It is another example of centralisation. Where government was decentralised, we have succeeded over the years in centralising authority here in Dublin. One would imagine that where sufficient safeguards exist, as they do by means of locally elected representatives and Local Government audits of expenditure, that would be sufficient without having to submit the various schemes, which are assumed to be prepared by competent officials, to a further long and tiring scrutiny here at central level. It leads to duplication and unnecessary expense.
Nowadays locally elected members are left with very little power. The County Management Act and the various regulations which bind them leave them with very little power beyond that of striking a rate and, even in that, they are not allowed the freedom they at times think they ought to be able to exercise. If the local authority feel that the rate ought not to be as high as it is sometimes struck, then the county manager can always appeal on that matter to the Minister. It can happen, as on occasions it has happened, that a local council is wiped out in these circumstances.
Figures in regard to housing progress were quoted this morning. I am sure they will be given again. They will show that, to say the least of it, there has been a tapering off in building. Before dealing with that, I should like to draw attention to a matter I referred to previously in connection with local authority housing, that is, the question of bedroom accommodation in these houses. I am sure that all Deputies and local representatives have been approached by people who ask for the provision of an extra bedroom in these homes.
Where young people, particularly in rural and city areas—mixed families— are growing up, we ought to be wise enough to ensure that the bedroom accommodation in such homes is such that the sexes can be properly segregated and that we shall not have young growing people in overcrowded conditions. I met in many areas cases where many children had to sleep in one small room. It is no credit to us that we should economise in that regard. It is something which vitally affects the health of the young people.
The Minister referred to the gaps which occur in development schemes in towns at the present time. In some of our villages and small towns throughout the country, we have dilapidated houses—houses partly demolished and unoccupied over the years. It is something which would add to the amenities of the village or town and certainly to their improvement, if these were built on when local housing schemes are in progress. If the site was sufficiently large previously to accommodate a house and if water and sewerage facilities are available, I can see no valid reason why it should not be used to help fill up the gap in the street and so remove an eyesore in many of our villages and towns.
With regard to the housing needs of the people, I can speak only for my own constituency. I can certainly say with emphasis that the housing needs there have not been filled. The county council recently went through the list of people who are seeking houses. They picked from the list of approximately 300 people somewhere in the region of 40 to 45 names. In due course, applicants for these houses will be submitted but a long time will have to elapse before the other applicants on that list can hope to be rehoused. That takes no account of those small-holders in rural Ireland the valuations of whose holdings range from £5 to £10 who are living at present in miserable homes. These people submitted to the local authorities voluntary sites for the erection of houses. These are being left on the long finger because, quite rightly, the local authority must first deal with those cases which are in the lower income group. I submit to the Minister and the Department that anybody in rural Ireland today on a small holding with such a small valuation is certainly in no better position than the person who has a flat wage of £5, £6 or £7 a week. We ought to do something to help to meet the case of these people in regard to houses.
Again, taking my own constituency, I cannot with any certainty say—and neither can the county council—that 300 is the number we would require for housing in the county. The Minister referred to a housing survey. I should hope that the housing survey which is about to be made will be widely advertised locally, and that local bodies, such as Muintir na Tíre. who are interested in social matters, will be able to submit, as they have on occasion submitted, the problem of local housing to the local authority. It is only in that fashion that we shall reach the position of knowing exactly what our housing needs are.
There is a further matter which, I think, is hampering the housing drive. I know that the local authority are finding it difficult to get contractors for rural housing. I know of a number of cases where these houses were advertised, not alone once but twice and three times. On the first two occasions, the local authority failed to find a contractor. In one case where a contractor was eventually found, the level of the expenditure on the house prevented the placing of a firm contract.
I am inclined to think that in cases where the matter is examined and reexamined, there surely is a good and valid reason why the price should be such and there does not seem to be any reasonable way of getting over the difficulty, unless there is to be a cutting down on the standard of the fittings provided or the case is to be shelved and we are to accept the fact that an individual cannot have a house. I suggest to the Minister that it is evident that something will have to be done to speed up the system of inspection which governs these matters. Whether it is that there are not sufficient inspectors charged with the administration of the scheme at the moment, I do not know, but there are unusual and long delays in the payment of grants for houses.
In regard to these inspections, I have always accepted the view that the intention of this legislative body in passing housing legislation was to induce people to build homes for themselves and to improve the lot of our people in the matter of houses. For that reason, as I mentioned on a previous Vote, I should hope that the emphasis would be on assisting people rather than in finding fault and attempting to find reasons for not paying the grant in the strict letter of the law. It would seem that at the present time grants are permissive but not inducive. They may be paid but in many cases minor faults hold up the payment of the grants to people who badly need them, who are very much in need of the money to meet their commitments to the builders or to the merchants who provided the materials.
I should like to congratulate the Minister on the introduction of the second grant for the reconstruction of houses. It is something which will help in great measure. Everybody knows that in the early stages when the grants were very small, we had not got the extension of rural electrification and water schemes. With the advent of these facilities, a great deal could be done to make rural homes brighter and healthier and more conducive to keeping people in the rural areas.
There is one aspect in regard to reconstruction which I should like to mention. There is a scheme of loans by the local authority and there again there is undue delay. An applicant for a loan from the local authority at present has to submit his application and fee and then a series of letters passes between them. The local engineer will be asked to call. There will be questions about the applicant's means and so on, and by the time all this is done, the applicant for the loan has probably completed the work and has done so through some other agency than obtaining the money from the local authority. There again, administratively, we ought to try to shortcircuit this amount of what we might call red tape, green tape or whatever coloured tape you wish. Certainly that type of slowing up for the sake of creating an adequate file on the case should be curtailed.
In some villages and rural towns, there are tenants, some of whom have been in their houses, and their parents before them, for many years. I have one case in mind at the moment where the landlord is not prepared to provide an additional room or rooms. Unfortunately, in this case, the family have had to suffer the hardship of seeing two members having to go to sanatoria with tuberculosis. I want to ask the Minister whether such people can qualify for reconstruction grants, where the landlord is prepared to grant the necessary permission. Can the tenants claim a grant for reconstruction both from the central authority and from the local authority? If that could be done, it would be a great help to such people.
I must say that the roads in the county are very good and compare very favourably with any roads in this country or any other country. Recently, I was speaking to some people from abroad and they were really pleased with the standard of our roads. The main roads are really fine and a practice which has helped immensely to reduce the number of traffic accidents is that of lining the roads and inserting devices to keep separate lanes of traffic. I wonder if, when roads are being reconstructed now and in future, we should not adopt something in the nature of the continental practice of putting a separate bicycle laneway or even to indicate, on main roads, by a phosphorescent mark the portion of the road to which cyclists should keep. I think it would add to the safety of our roads, and it would not cost anything, if it were incorporated when laying new roads or improving existing roads.
The Minister mentioned a case for special consideration for road grants. I should like to direct his attention to the western portion of my constituency which contains the Shannon Estuary. Over the years, we have been importing quite an amount of the country's oil needs through Foynes and the county council have had to bear the cost of the upkeep of the roads in the area which carry a large volume of heavy tanker traffic, constantly travelling to Shannon Airport. I believe we should be entitled to special consideration in regard to this matter if consideration is to be given to grants for special cases in future.
Deputy Corish referred to the question of machinery. It is something which has really become a problem. We are constantly complaining about people leaving the land and constantly complaining about the lack of employment. Yet, at the same time, we import expensive machinery and export vast sums of money for that machinery, and we do that to displace workers. I cannot see any benefit whatsoever to the ratepayers in that, and I have yet to see the rates being reduced by a single penny because of the employment of expensive machinery. My experience is that in the county council the engineering staff prepare their machinery list and receive an allocation of money. They are constantly preparing for the time when this machinery will need to be replaced.
The effect of using machinery like this over the years and displacing workers has not meant any reduction for the rate-paying community. At the same time, we see people leaving the countryside who previously obtained employment on road making. I believe there is no reason why we should displace labour in such a fashion, at least on the county roads.
I went to the trouble of getting the figures with regard to road work in my own constituency. I think it is significant that at the end of March, 1956, 536 persons were employed on road work and at the end of March, 1960, 376 persons were employed on road work. To my mind, that is deplorable, locally and nationally. Not only are we removing these people from the country, but we are losing the money which they would earn and spend in the villages and towns—particularly the villages—where they live.
I join with Deputy Geoghegan in regard to the matter of the transport of chips and road-making material over the roads from centralised quarries. A stop should be put to that by the Department. The local authorities do not seem to be able to affect, in any way, the transport of those chips or the employment of the workers on the local bodies. In my constituency, there are quite a number of quarries where employment could be given in places like Glin, Rathkeale, Newcastlewest, Drumcollogher and Pallaskenry, to name but a few. They have been closed, and road-making materials are being brought across the county, sometimes a distance of 35 or 40 miles. The roads have been seriously damaged by that action. I cannot see where any saving arises from that centralisation.
I hoped that in regard to the allocation of moneys from the Road Fund, the county engineers would get assistance from the Department with regard to the boreens. There are quite a number of boreens in the county areas which have not yet been taken over by the county councils. Very often as many as eight, ten or twelve families live down these boreens. They were built of course in olden times and they never came under the care of the county councils. The people who live down these boreens have to contribute with everyone else to the rates; yet they find themselves having to maintain the boreens. At this stage of progress in the country, we ought to be able to do something for them and especially now, when there is to be a reappraisal of the allocations from the Road Fund, something ought to be done in regard to these link or minor roads in the various county areas.
I wonder would the Minister also consider, now that we are to have that reappraisal, trying to induce the local authorities to use the opportunities which present themselves to brighten up some of the places where there are wonderful scenic views, and where there are bare patches, perhaps flowers or shrubs could be provided. Perhaps that could be done through Bord Fáilte, with the co-operation of Muintir na Tíre and the I.C.A. If we could induce such people to take an interest in these matters, it would not only beautify the countryside, but would be an added stimulus to our tourist traffic. That is done in countries abroad and it is the responsibility of the local authorities. In England, the Lake District is a fair example, and it is done on the Continent. In the cities and in towns where there are corporations, public parks are maintained out of the rates, and I believe that if something of that nature could be provided arising from this reappraisal, it would be very desirable.
The growth of the rates is a matter with which the country is very concerned. Deputy O'Malley referred to the fact that increased employment is the answer to a reduction in the rates, and there is a certain virtue in that argument. The more people there are in employment, the more readily they will contribute to the public services provided locally. We are constantly passing legislation in this House the implementation of which is then passed to the local authorities and we are creating for them the need to raise more money for the administration of these schemes. Some are excellent schemes, but the local authorities have no option but to raise the necessary funds to implement decisions taken here.
It is, therefore, misleading to speak of the Government providing money. The Government provide no money. It is the people who provide the money all the time, and it would be well for the people to realise that we have no secret hoard of money from which to provide for these matters. Everyone should understand that money provided either locally or nationally has been contributed by the people.
Deputy O'Malley mentioned the collection of the rates on an instalment system. That would seem to me to be a suggestion worth adopting because, again, in the rural areas, we can never be sure how well off we shall be six months ahead. If this system of monthly instalments of rates being collected by the rate collectors could be accepted, I am sure it would be a help in a great many cases.
There is one disappointing factor in regard to this Estimate. I refer to the provision for the library service. I notice the amount is the same this year as last year, and I think I am correct in saying it was the same last year as the year before. This service adds considerably to the enjoyment which people derive from reading, and has contributed very considerably to the educational facilities in the countryside. It is an amenity which people have now come to expect from the local authorities. Therefore, with the growth in the reading public, I thought the Minister, on this occasion, might have seen fit to increase the allocation in order to enable the local authorities, the library service and the librarians to expand the excellent service they are already giving to the public. I cannot speak too highly of this service, a service which I should like to see expanded, because I believe it could be of great benefit to the people.
The Minister referred to the problem of water supplies which are very necessary and desirable. I think that at present in rural areas in my constituency no fewer than 280 pumps are required. Of that number, from time to time about 80 have been adopted or moved for adoption by local councils. So far as I am aware, not a single pump was provided or constructed in the past couple of years. Provision was not made for such a service at the time of the striking of the rate.
Deputy Geoghegan referred to rural electrification. Much could be done for the rural community by the provision of water supplies of a purely local nature centred on a group of houses and a good well. Grants are payable to the farming community in respect of the provision of a water supply. If grants were payable in respect of the type of service I have suggested it would relieve the local authority of the necessity for making this provision.
The Limerick county manager had a water survey carried out over a period of two years. It was then considered by the local authority. It revealed that the cost would be absolutely prohibitive. I think it worked out at £300 or £400 per house in a rural area. Where water schemes exist and where, without undue expense, they could be extended to the farming community within a radius of a mile or so, the project should be considered. Taking the long view, it would not fall heavily on the local authority, because the people would pay a good annual rent. I do not see why a grant up to a maximum of £100, or portion of it, for installing a private water supply should not be payable to the local authority in respect of a scheme such as I have indicated.
I am glad the Minister referred to caravan sites. I do not intend to deal with the matter now, but I hope the problem of people on our roads who are moved from place to place will be considered in conjunction with the provision of sites and all other services such as fresh water supplies, sanitary services, and so on. I trust a solution will be found satisfactory, both to the users of such sites and to people who feel they are being imposed upon, in respect of the use of such places.
It seems that revaluations are constantly taking place. Whether or not a person has carried out an improvement to his property, inevitably a revaluation seems to take place.
