When I heard of the introduction of these Bills, I thought it was a rather inopportune time for the Minister to bring forward legislation concerning industrial development. We know that Britain and Ireland are trying to get into the Common Market and the outcome of the negotiations could not be foreseen in the past few weeks. Possibly a clearer light has been thrown on the issue to-day. I thought that with the changes that our entry to EEC might bring about, it would be advisable for the Minister to hold over any Bills dealing with industrial development until we were definite as to whether or not our application for membership of the Common Market is likely to succeed. Undoubtedly, such an event would have a very big effect on our industrial development.
It is more than 11 years since the Minister for Industry and Commerce, who was then Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach, introduced the Undeveloped Areas Act. He made a lengthy statement on what he thought that Act would bring about. He foresaw then that the face of the undeveloped areas would be changed within a reasonably short period, within, I am sure, the eleven years that have now elapsed, and that so many industries would spring up in those areas that full employment would be achieved there and the need for emigration could be completely wiped out.
In fact, very few changes have taken place and they are confined to a limited number of areas. The West Cork Deputies were persistently agitating for more consideration for their constituency in which there were some areas undoubtedly the most underdeveloped in the country. While we are thankful for the few industries we have got in the past few years, it is very little compensation when one looks at the expenditure under the Act since it was introduced.
There is mention now of grants not exceeding £500,000 and £250,000. I think if we encouraged smaller industries in the undeveloped areas, catering perhaps for not more than 40 or 50 workers and requiring only small capital and if these were based on a solid foundation and deemed economic, it would be a better way of meeting the situation than waiting for a big foreign industrialist to come along to initiate a project involving a capital expenditure of, perhaps, £1,000,000.
I am sure the Minister and the House are disappointed so far as foreign industrialists are concerned. Some years ago, it was thought that while Irish people might not take much action, we would have a number of foreigners coming in, particularly from West Germany and the US and, to a lesser extent, from Britain, to establish industries here and solve all our problems. The number who have come has not measured up to our expectations. They are few and far between. In the past 12 or 18 months, the prospects of getting these industrialists to come here to establish industries were, I think, on the decline.
The previous speaker said this Bill is bound to have an adverse effect on the undeveloped areas. That is obvious. When the Minister introduced the Undeveloped Areas Act in 1951 it was specifically to attract industrialists to those areas with a view to providing much needed employment. The Minister is now twisting the other way. Under the Industrial Grants (Amendment) Bill he is giving grants which are almost as attractive as the grants under the Undeveloped Areas Act. If we do succeed in getting foreigners to establish industries here in the future, it is unlikely they will set them up in the more remote parts such as the seaboard of Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Kerry or West Cork when the concessions given by the State are almost as good in the more favoured parts of the country.
That being so, it is little use for the undeveloped areas to be looking forward to the establishment of industry by foreigners. Having regard to the many statements made in the past, particularly those by the Minister, about the disadvantages of life in the undeveloped areas and seeing it is unlikely that we can attract foreigners there, could we not do something ourselves? Could we not devise some suitable projects and establish them in the undeveloped areas just as well as any gentleman coming from West Germany, Britain or the United States? We have embassies in all those countries. We have a whole-time special agent in West Germany. I do not know if we have a second one there. He is searching for suitable industrialists to establish subsidiary companies here.
What about having a co-ordination of the different Departments of State dealing with the undeveloped areas? What about having the heads of Civil Service Departments devising schemes to establish industries in suitable locations in the undeveloped areas, industries established by Irishmen for Irishmen, instead of waiting for the strangers to come and do it? Anyone who has read " Aesop's Fables " knows the position of the man who waited for the stranger to come and do his work. It was not done. The same thing can be said of developments in the undeveloped areas. If we are to wait for the British, the Americans and the West Germans to establish industries and brighten the lives of the people living in those areas, I am afraid we will have a long wait. A few places may be fortunate but, generally speaking, within the next 20 years I cannot see the problem solved to any appreciable extent if we are waiting for outside bodies. We have here employment giving bodies such as the Department of Local Government, the Office of Public Works and the Department of Industry and Commerce. Furthermore, the Department of Social Welfare has big obligations in such areas in regard to the payment of benefits of one kind or another to those unemployed. That is essential so long as people are unemployed in those areas.
It would be much better if the money so paid out were channelled into some kind of industrial project. Instead of unemployment benefit being paid in a particular area, some industry could be established. This would be more welcome to the workers than going along to the employment exchange every Tuesday and Wednesday and signing for unemployment assistance or benefit. The money expended on such benefits is of such a size that it would go a long way towards meeting the cost of industrial projects in some places. The trouble is to find an industry that would be soundly based, likely to continue and prove an economic proposition. But have we not a plentiful supply of highly-paid senior officials in the various Departments who have the knowledge and technical capabilities of devising schemes for suitable industries to meet the needs of these areas? Surely we could have a coordinating committee from the Minister's own Department or from such bodies as An Foras Tionscal or other kindred organisations to develop suitable schemes for different localities? Until we do that, the outlook for the undeveloped areas will not be very bright.
I think the best service I can do the undeveloped areas is to appeal to the Minister to forget about foreign industrialists for a while and to think more in terms of providing sound industries established by our own people. There need not be much delay. The position so far as our commitments with foreign countries are concerned is relatively clear. We must continue planning for the future.
In the Minister's Department, no notice is taken of the principal industry in this country, the agricultural industry. Earlier this evening, the Minister stated he would be prepared to give a grant of £1,000 for every man employed. The Minister, on page 7 of his statement, says he is prepared to give a grant, apart altogether from the amount put up by the industrialist concerned, of £1,000 to any firm that will be able to create employment for even one worker. We have in the rural parts of this country—and I would say that the undeveloped areas could be said to compose the rural part of Ireland—several people capable of managing land who at the moment have not got any land to manage. If they had such an outlet for their produce as vegetable processing factories, they and their families could make decent livelihoods. Particularly in the midlands, in fact throughout the country, we have land which is not being utilised by the owners and the unfortunate thing about it is that it is the best land that is not being utilised.