asked the Taoiseach what measures, if any, were taken by the Government to aid those in distress owing to the recent bad weather conditions; and whether any measures of aid, whether by compensation or otherwise, will be provided for those who suffered losses through the bad weather conditions.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Weather Conditions: Distress Relief.
10.
The reports received by the Minister for Agriculture do not suggest that there have been serious losses of stock in any areas up to now. If further reports indicate that such losses have in fact occurred, or if a continuation of the bad weather should increase the risk of losses, the Minister for Agriculture will introduce a scheme of interest-free loans for the purchase of replacements similar to that which was operated on occasions in the past. The Ministers for Finance, Transport and Power, Local Government, and Defence will deal with aspects of the matter with which they are concerned in reply to various Questions appearing on the Order Paper today.
Because I consider that the splendid efforts of responsible public officers and their staffs in keeping essential services provided during recent weeks has received inadequate recognition in the press, I am availing of this opportunity to express proper appreciation of them.
I particularly wish to commend the efforts of the local authorities who were, naturally, the immediate organisers of the large-scale remedial measures necessary in the localities affected by the severe weather. The reports which I have received indicate that they tackled their problems promptly and vigorously, used considerable initiative, and invoked the co-operation, which was readily forthcoming, of other organisations in a position to help, including the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, the Forestry Section, the Gardaí and Army and some voluntary organisations, clubs and individuals.
As a result of their efforts it can be said that, while the prevailing conditions caused general discomfort and inconvenience, no section of the community was at any time in a position of grave distress, there was no shortage of essential supplies in any part of the country, health services were provided on a fairly satisfactory basis and, so far as can be ascertained, no person requiring urgent medical attention or medical supplies was unable to obtain them.
It will be appreciated that snowfalls of the kind recently experienced occur very infrequently in this country. A number of suggestions which have been transmitted, as a result of this experience, by local authorities and other bodies have been noted for consideration.
Does the Taoiseach not consider arising from the suggestion or proposal made in this House in 1957 and in 1958, in connection with hardship that is likely to arise as a result of weather conditions, that, in the national interest, it would have been far better to expend the £1 million spent on Baldonnel and on purchasing the Vampire jets——
This is a speech.
——on the purchase or acquiring of a helicopter for the use and protection of the people of this State?
This is a speech, not a question.
I am not sure whether I am correct or not but was the Taoiseach purporting to answer a number of questions together, or only No. 10?
No. 10.
Does the Taoiseach not feel, in retrospect, that it was unfortunate that the Government themselves did not take some initiative to coordinate the efforts of the various authorities who were left to grapple with these local problems, or some initiative on their part to offer to the local authorities and others concerned the collaboration of the Army to meet the emergencies that arose, on lines similar to those adopted in 1954 when there was co-ordination between the local authorities, the appropriate Departments of State and the Army, with immensely satisfactory results not only in the relief brought but in the assurance to people who were at that time suffering that no effort would be left unmade to bring them relief in the shortest possible time?
There is a question on the Order Paper addressed to the Minister for Defence dealing with that. No request was made to the Army which was not met and there was full and effective co-ordination between the various authorities concerned in this matter. I would advise the Deputy not to believe all the scare stories that appeared in the newspapers.
I did not believe the scare stories. I would further ask the Taoiseach: is it not desirable, when people are suffering, not only to bring them physical relief but the reassurance quickly that whatever relief is necessary will effectively be brought? It is true that nobody died, thanks be to God, but many people must have apprehended for hours or days that they were going to die and nobody seemed to have much care for them. Is there not some value in indicating at once that all the resources of the State will be deployed so that nobody will be left to die and that the people will be protected from greater hardship?
I think all the people in the areas concerned fully appreciate the energetic and effective steps taken by the public authorities to assist them.
(Interruptions.)
They are equally aware that the Government did nothing.
Did any Minister leave his warm fireside——
Did the Deputy?
It is not much consolation for the people to hear the Taoiseach thanking those people who used their initiative, the local authorities and such people. The question asks what the Government did by way of help for these various people.
The primary responsibility rested, in each area——
No.
——on the local authority and they got all the advice and assistance they required from any Government Department they approached.
I do not know whether the Taoiseach or members of the House are aware that some 500 miles of road in Wicklow were cleared due to the efforts of the local authority within the county and all they had to do was to ask the county engineer——
Is the Taoiseach not aware of the fact that the daily Press publicised a lady being taken to a maternity hospital and being dragged six miles on a piece of corrugated iron?
Two pregnant women were removed to hospital; one was five months pregnant and the other was six months pregnant, and there was no great urgency.
(Interruptions).
A Deputy
That is debatable.
Is the Taoiseach aware, as indicated by Deputy Brennan, that tremendous work was done by the local authorities, by volunteers and volunteer organisations, but that nothing whatever was done by the Government?
Everything that County Wicklow or any other local authority asked for by way of aid, they got. The Deputy's attempt to make Party propaganda out of a national difficulty is contemptible.
Would the Taoiseach say whether or not during that period the Government contemplated the hire of a helicopter?
There is a Question on the Order Paper dealing with that.
What more potent evidence is there of the anxiety of people who felt themselves deserted than that a family, if the Taoiseach's statement be true, should start out to drag, on a sheet of corrugated iron——
I do not believe that is true.
Of course it is true.
——women who were in fact in no emergency but whose distracted families felt there was danger?
That is not so.
Is this something that causes the Tánaiste to laugh?
I am laughing at the Deputy.
I do not think it is funny that women who were five or six months expectant should be dragged through the snow on sheets of corrugated iron because their families lost their heads. They would not have lost their heads if the Government had made it clear that help was coming and would effectively be brought to them.
The report on that instance is:
Much publicity was given to the removal of two maternity cases in West Wicklow to Baltinglass Hospital. It must be made clear immediately that neither of these was an emergency case. One woman was five months pregnant and the other was six months and they were removed to hospital because they lived in places in which the roads had not yet been opened up and consequently they were afraid of being cut off from medical attention.
Hear, hear!
It was decided by their medical advisers that the women would be better off in hospital. When brought to hospital they did not require any special medical attention. It was not possible, however, for the Council's ambulance to reach their homes and consequently both persons had to be taken a distance of about five miles to meet the ambulance.
Is the Taoiseach aware that one local authority dismissed all their outdoor staff, all their road workers?
I am not so aware.
Westmeath County Council have done so. Instead of clearing the snow off the roads, they dismissed all their workers.
Is the Taoiseach aware that there was a lack of co-ordination between the local authorities and the Army? I know one case in County Dublin where four families had the road cleared to the entrance of the place where they reside. Then because the local authority had no adequate machinery, they requested Army help. The Army said they could not come out because they were not requested to do so by the local authority. Surely there is a lack of co-ordination there?
There is no lack of co-ordination. In fact, the Army have no road-clearing machinery. Whatever help they could give was given within their resources.
They have picks and shovels.
Picks and shovels were not the answer.
The Army were anxious. to help, if given the chance.
We had Deputy Dillon stunting in the Shannon Valley in 1954.
We got the people out and we looked after them.
There was nobody stunting down in Wicklow or Waterford.
If I was stunting, then I was stunting with better effect than the Parliamentary Secretary was in Dungarvan. The Parliamentary Secretary was nearly "stunted" into the sea there.
Is the Taoiseach aware that the unfortunate woman involved in all this has got more than her fair share of publicity? She is evidently not going to escape publicity in this House either because some people want to gain a few votes. This woman was brought down without her having been visited by a doctor and without any SOS. I was in Blessington the evening she came down. In actual fact, I took a patient out of the ambulance and brought him to Dublin so that the ambulance would go up for this woman. I am sure this woman has got publicity that she never wanted.
That is not what the Taoiseach said. The Taoiseach says there was.
This is just another O'Higgins stunt.
(Interruptions.)
The Tánaiste may laugh at this, but there are people who will have the laugh on him when the time comes.
(Interruptions.)
11.
asked the Taoiseach whether he has received from the Secretary of the Waterford Junior Chamber of Commerce a protest on behalf of his members against the failure of the Government to organise and provide relief for the inhabitants of the isolated districts of County Wicklow who were cut off by the snow of December 1962 and January 1963; and if he will give an assurance that the Government will undertake to provide the means of giving relief in similar emergencies and not leave it to private efforts to provide the help that the people who live in isolated districts everywhere through the country are entitled to get in such circumstances.
The answer to the first part of the Question is in the negative; I did, however, receive, from two members of this House, letters which they themselves had received on the matter from the Secretary of the organisation mentioned. I do not accept the implication in the second part of the Question.
12.
asked the Taoiseach if he received any representations urging that action be taken by the Government to relieve the hardship caused in many areas in Wicklow by the recent severe weather; what reply was sent by him to such representations; and what action was taken by him in the matter.
I received a communication from the Deputy. As the text of his letter had appeared in the daily newspapers of the same date, I did not consider it necessary to forward it to the Minister concerned.
Would the Taoiseach not agree that even as a matter of ordinary courtesy and to show some interest, at least, if not activity, in the problem created, he might have had the courtesy to send a reply to the representations made to him?
As the Deputy's letter appeared in the newspapers before I got it, I regarded that as demonstrating that his purpose was served.
With your permission, Sir, I should like to raise this matter on the Adjournment.
I shall communicate with the Deputy in the course of the afternoon.