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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 12 Jul 1962

Vol. 196 No. 13

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Belderrig (Mayo) Pier.

32.

asked the Minister for Local Government (a) the total cost of the provision of three trial pits at Belderrig pier, County Mayo, (b) the reason for excavating these pits, (c) the results obtained, and (d) the name of the body or Department providing the money for the trial pits.

With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 20, 21, 23 to 26, 28, 30 and 32 together.

The material necessary to enable these Questions to be answered in full is not available in the Department. The county council will be asked to furnish the information which will be sent to the Deputy as soon as possible.

I hope the Minister will make sure the information is obtained.

I shall get the information.

Is it intended to publish the replies in the Official Report?

It will not be published in the Official Report, if the information is sent on to the Deputy.

Is it intended to be published in the Official Report?

Why not?

Who wants the information?

Do I understand the Minister to say that the information will not be published in the records of the House? If I put down a question later on, will it be published in the records of the House?

It will. The only difficulty is that we may not be here to answer it at the time it is available.

Hear, hear!

I can send the information to the Deputy as soon as I get it but I do not think I will have it before the House adjourns. Therefore, if we are to hold it until the question is repeated, it will not be possible——

Do not spoil it, now.

Does the Minister for Local Government not accept the principle that all replies should be inserted in the records of the House?

I am going only by the regulations of the House. I have not got the information. I am seeking to get it. It will take some considerable time to get it. When I do, I propose to send it to the Deputy who has been interested enough to ask the question. If the Deputy wants it published in the records of the House, the question is repeated and it goes on the record.

The Minister usually asks that the Question be repeated, if he has not the information.

I am not concerned about that.

This could happen in respect of a number of Questions on the Order Paper, if the practice is allowed to continue.

If the Deputy asking for the information is satisfied——

No, it is the property of the House, once it goes on the Order Paper.

It is not there to go on the Order Paper.

The information is the property of the House.

22.

asked the Minister for Local Government what steps, if any, he can take to ensure that road improvement schemes in County Mayo including general improvement, rolling and tar-surfacing will, in future, be carried out at a cost per mile which is proportional to the increases in the cost of materials, wages, salaries, etc., as compared with those obtaining in the financial year 1959-60.

The costs of carrying out the annual road improvement programmes of all road authorities including the Mayo County Council, are kept under constant review by my Department. On the spot consultations and inspections by the engineering staff of my Department with the engineering officers of the road authorities are regular features of this review.

I am aware in particular that the current level of county road improvement costs in County Mayo is higher than in other areas. This is an aspect of the council's operations to which particular attention has been given in the past and which will in the future also receive full consideration.

The Deputy may rest assured that all possible steps are and will continue to be taken by my Department to secure whatever reductions are practicable in the cost of these works.

27.

asked the Minister for Local Government if plans for the improvement of the road from Eskeragh to Bellacorick in North Mayo were submitted to his Department for sanction; and if he will state the reason why these plans were not carried out as originally submitted.

Mayo County Council submitted proposals under the Main Road Improvement and Tourist Road Grants, 1961/62 for the improvement of a section of the main Eskeragh-Bellacorick road at Bellacorick at an estimated cost of £12,140. Following examination of the council's programme of works it was suggested by the Department that those funds should be transferred to extend a scheme which the council had proposed to carry out at Boughadoon on the Boughadoon-Belmullet road in the same area. The reason for this suggestion, which was adopted, was that the Boughadoon-Belmullet road, although a main road, was mostly unrolled and in a very poor condition, and it was felt that it should be given priority over the other scheme which was not so urgent.

29.

asked the Minister for Local Government what steps are being taken to restore two bridges at Bangor Erris, County Mayo, on the Bangor-Ballycroy road to a condition suitable for the traffic normally expected to cross these two bridges.

On 31st May, 1962, Mayo County Council were notified of the allocation of a special Road Fund grant of £6,750 towards the cost of replacing the two Owenmore River bridges at Bangor Erris on the Bangor-Ballycroy road. Plans for the work were received in my Department yesterday and are at present being examined.

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