asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware of the delay in payment of supplementary grants by Donegal County Council; the date of the last payment of such grants by that authority; and if he will take steps to ensure that no such further delay will take place.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Donegal Housing Grants.
21.
I am aware of the delay in the payment of supplementary grants by the council. No payment on foot of grants has been made since 28th January last.
The council were notified in March of a capital allocation of £115,000 for grants in 1966-67. The issue of loans of £40,000 and £60,000 from the Local Loans Fund was sanctioned in April and May, respectively, as an interim measure. Temporary difficulties have arisen in connection with the making of draws from these loans due to the current banking situation, and steps are being taken to resolve the difficulties involved.
I should like the Minister either to confirm or deny now if, in fact, supplementary grant applications have been with Donegal County Council since September, 1965, and I should also like him either to confirm or deny whether applications passed for payment—in other words, there was no impediment in the applications —have been on the files of Donegal County Council since September, 1965?
I have not got that information and I am not aware that that is so. The information I have got as a result of inquiries in relation particularly to this question is that no demands have been made since 28th January. I have not got the information the Deputy has suggested.
The Minister is a representative of the same constituency as I am——
We all know that.
——and it must have been brought to his notice by constituents of his that claims by qualified applicants are outstanding since September of last year. Surely he will be brave enough either to confirm or deny at this stage that applications have been with Donegal County Council since September of last year. It is scandalous to use as an excuse at this late stage the bank strike.
I am not using the bank strike at all. If there are excuses being made, they are being made by Donegal County Council and not by me. The Deputy has asked me to confirm from my own information as a representative in Donegal that applications are outstanding since September last. If there are applications since September, that is quite possible, but it does not indicate that there has been any delay. I take it what the Deputy is trying to get me to say is that I am aware that payments due since September have not yet been made. So far as I am concerned, I am not aware of any such payments being delayed for any reason whatsoever since last September.
If I bring——
Question No. 22.
——to the Minister's attention——
I cannot allow this to go on all day. There are many more questions on the Order Paper.
——a specific case, will he have it examined?
Question No. 22.
Certainly.
And will he then admit——
Question No. 22.
——that he has been lying to the House since——
Question No. 22.
If the Deputy furnishes me with evidence of which I have not been aware up to now, how can he make out now that I am lying? I do not know.
The Minister well knows. He knows more about the Department of Local Government than the Minister for Justice knows about his Department.
(Interruptions.)