At the outset, let me congratulate the Parliamentary Secretary on the splendid work he has done since taking over this very important office, the Office of Public Works. In any dealings that I have had with the Parliamentary Secretary personally he has been most co-operative. He has given great attention to detail. I have much evidence of that and wish to thank him sincerely for it because, as I have said, he presides over a very important office, which covers a very wide field of activity. Personally, I think it is a Minister who should be presiding over the office. Consideration should be given to the feasibility of having the office raised to a Ministry.
I intervene in this debate because I am mainly interested in the very important problem of drainage, particularly in regard to four rivers. My main interest is, of course, in the Shannon, which has a catchment area of some 4,554 square miles; in the Suck, which has a catchment area of 618 square miles; in the Killimor, which has a catchment area of 150 square miles and the Dunkellin-Killimor, which has a slightly smaller catchment area of 149 square miles.
The importance of drainage has been recognised in this country for many years. In 1955 or 1956, the Government invited Mr. Rydell to report on the question of drainage, special emphasis being laid on drainage of the river Shannon. Mr. Rydell made certain recommendations at that time. He recommended that certain investigations be carried out. On 6th June, 1961, a joint report on the first stage of those investigations was submitted by the Office of Public Works and the Electricity Supply Board.
I do not wish to quote at great length from this report, which makes many recommendations. One could speak all day on these recommendations. I should, however, like to refer to the speech made by the Parliamentary Secretary when introducing the Estimate for the Office of Public Works on 17th May, 1962, where he stated:
Perhaps it would be well to recount briefly the various stages in the development of a drainage scheme. The catchment has to be surveyed, the data obtained, plotted and studied, and a design of works evolved. This work must be carefully done by skilled men and the time consumed on it is unavoidable to get good results without wasteful expenditure. A formal scheme is then prepared. This is a comprehensive document embodying detailed maps and showing the works proposed to be carried out and proposed interference with properties. The scheme has to go on exhibition locally and notices must be served on the persons whose property will be interfered with. Persons affected may lodge observations within a month. The local authority has three months in which to lodge observations. All observations have to be considered by the Commissioners who then have to consult with certain other Government Departments. Finally the scheme is submitted to the Minister for Finance for confirmation. All these steps can take several years for a large scheme and even for the small intermediate schemes, up to two years are needed. The reason I go into detail in this connection is that, first, I had to obtain this information for my own benefit and, secondly, I appreciate the fact that there are many new Deputies here to whom this explanatory statement may be of assistance.
That statement was made on 17th May, 1962. I do not for one moment suggest that no progress has been made with regard to this very serious problem of flooding on the Shannon since 17th May, 1962, but I sometimes feel that we are not putting enough effort into all this. In my opinion, there is nothing so important as drainage. If we are to have increased productivity, better grass lands, a prerequisite is a very ambitious drainage programme.
Several damaging ill-effects result from excess water. First of all, excess water results in the exclusion of air, which considerably reduces microbe activity, nitrate and root activity. It results in a decreased feeding area. This is a point that it is well to note: it takes five times as much heat to raise the temperature of water one degree as it takes to raise the temperature of an equal amount of soil. Excess water in soil reduces soil temperature. Dry soils have a good crumb structure. Wet soils never have. This is a very important point. One can go as far as to say that there cannot be early growth without good crumb structure in the soil.
I appreciate that the problem of flooding on the Shannon cannot be successfully dealt with overnight. It will be many years before the problem is solved. Indeed, it is quite possible that it will never be solved to the full satisfaction of everybody concerned. I think Mr. Rydell said that in his report. I cannot get the reference just now but I think he did point out that it would not be an economic proposition to carry out all the recommendations he made. However, in some way, at least, I disagree with Mr. Rydell because I believe that no matter how much money is spent on drainage, it is money very well spent, indeed.
I am also interested in the river Suck but I fully appreciate that you cannot tackle the Suck flood problem until you have first tackled successfully the Shannon problem. Mr. Rydell recommends in his report that the Suck be diverted and he even recommends that a canal be cut at the lower part of the Suck reducing the amount of water flowing into the Shannon. Some people may think I am emphasising this matter too much but a large part of my constituency is affected by this flooding. When I came in here in 1958, I was invited to Clonfert, which is part of my constituency and also to Meelick and I saw the most terrible sights imaginable. I saw thousands of acres of potentially good land under water. All one could see was miles and miles of water dotted with cocks of hay.
That land was useless after the floods subsided and was useless the following year. Lands that are subject to much flooding are likely to be breeding grounds for fluke and worms which kill many of our cattle and sheep. I come from a county that at one time produced one-third of the total sheep population of the country. That proportion has now dropped to about one-fifth and in that area people have great difficulty in keeping the number of sheep they would like to because of the flood problem. I would ask the Parliamentary Secretary to do his utmost to ensure that there will be no undue delay in putting into effect many of the recommendations contained in this report.
Another river in which I am interested is the Killimor, with a catchment area of 150 square miles. Work on it was started a few years ago and I must compliment the Parliamentary Secretary and his engineering staff on the wonderful work they are doing down there. It is very much appreciated by the people whose land was previously affected by flooding from this river. While the machinery is down there the Parliamentary Secretary should issue a directive requesting the drainage of more small rivers that are related to the Killimor catchment area. There may be a very good argument against this but there is also a very good case to be made for it. It can be appreciated that when you bring large machinery into an area and it is working there it is easy to extend the activity of the machines to smaller drains not included in the catchment area but not too far away.
Day after day I get letters from people asking me to have their particular drains included in the Killimor catchment area. I can do nothing but pass the letters on to the Parliamentary Secretary who gives them every consideration but sometimes he finds it impossible to accede to my request. He has satisfied a great number of people in this locality and they certainly appreciate it.
The problem of spoil is one which we cannot avoid when tackling a big job. So far I have not had many complaints but there have been a few, usually from people with very small holdings. I should like that in these cases spoil should be kept to the lowest possible minimum. In some of these areas the farms are very small; they cannot be ranched and the farmers go in for a very intensive type of farming. Some of the lands are used for the production of celery and other crops of that type which can be sold to a processing factory which has been set up near Banagher. When the Corrib-Clare was being drained there was a very big problem with spoil and people wrote to me regarding compensation. So far I have had only one or two complaints from people affected by the Killimor river drainage.
People listening to me may think that flooding is the only problem in Galway but we have another river there with a catchment area of 149 square miles which requires to be attended to. This is the Dunkellin river and I am glad to see, from page 15 of the Parliamentary Secretary's brief, that it is hoped to begin the survey and design work on this scheme this year. It causes a lot of flooding and as this is a sheep area it reduces the number of sheep farmers are able to hold. The flooding is at its worst at New Inn and the contiguous area. It is, however, encouraging to note that a beginning is to be made this year on that river. It is very welcome news.
On page 17 of his brief, the Parliamentary Secretary points out that, excluding civil servants, the Office of Public Works gives direct employment to about 2,800 men whose wages bill amounts to about £1,200,000. That number should be greatly increased and I would ask the Parliamentary Secretary to do all in his power to initiate further drainage activities so as to employ more in this very important national work.
I feel the extra £50,000 allocated this year to the Special Employment Schemes Office is far too small. For a long time last year people came to me to say they had made applications to this office to have certain roadworks carried out but that nothing had happened. It was brought to the attention of the Parliamentary Secretary and this year £50,000 extra is being given. It is a step in the right direction but I hope it is only a start. I would ask the Parliamentary Secretary to have the amount allocated under this head considerably increased when he introduces his Estimates next year. It is the experience of Deputies that every day people come complaining that their applications in respect of roadworks and drainage schemes have not been attended to. Finally, I should like to thank the Parliamentary Secretary for the personal attention he has given to all matters I have brought to his notice at all times.