Before I reported progress, I was referring to the dangerous condition of some of the crossroads at the entrances to the city of Galway. I explained that I felt in duty bound to raise this matter here before a fatal accident occurred at one of these crossroads. I mentioned Moneenageesha Cross and New Cemetery crossroads in Galway. Traffic engineers in Galway have built a new road leading from the Headford Road to New Cemetery Cross. This road, I understand, is not yet a road approved by the Minister. I understand also that speed limits do not apply to this road and certainly they are not being enforced there at the moment. Cars can travel at any speed on this road across what used to be the main road, the Galway-Tuam Road at the top of the New Cemetery cross and on down into Moneenageesha. There are five roads coming together at this point and there are four islands recently erected there by the traffic engineers of Galway County Council. I call it a maze and I say again that we in Galway are suffering from a maze craze undertaken by these engineers which is causing confusion to motorists, cyclists and even pedestrians at these corners. Several people in the area have approached members of Galway Corporation, members of Galway County Council, every local engineer and person in high authority in the city and they have all failed to bring about any kind of improvement at both of these corners.
I have here a letter from a gentleman living in Renmore, Galway. I shall read part of the letter to give an idea of the situation which exists:
People living in this area have tried in vain to have speed limits and proper signposting of this dangeropus crossroads introduced but have been unable to contact any authority which will accept the responsibility.
That is the position existing there.
I appeal to the Minister to send down special engineers to Galway to solve this problem immediately before we have anything like an unfortunate fatal accident at these crosswords. I do not like to criticise Galway County Council engineers because I feel we have a first-class set of engineers there and great work is being done by the county council but, in the matter of making these crossroads safe, they seem to act very slowly. The Minister accepts a certain amount of responsibility in promoting a road safety campaign. It is completely contradictory of what he is trying to do to allow these engineers to cause such confusion, through the erection of mazes at our crossroads in Galway city.
Over the past few years, more than one person has been killed at a bad bend at Grattan Road in Salthill. There was a bad accident there some years ago and there was a public outcry at the time to take an elbow off the corner and make it safe. The man who owns the land to be taken over there came to me over 12 months ago and asked when this might be taken over because he had not grown potatoes on it for two years before that, thinking that the council would take the land from him. I can safely say to that man, that unless the Minister acts, he can grow potatoes there for the next five years or until the next fatal accident takes place.
We have a very serious situation in Galway city regarding dangerous crossroads. One which I have mentioned to the Minister on several occasions is Madden's Corner where an accident occurred only last Sunday night. I had intended to mention these few points about our dangerous road conditions here last week and I did not get the opportunity. Last Sunday night, since then, I was passing by there in the evening and saw two beautiful new cars in bits. Thanks be to God. I do not think anybody was seriously injured but there was a tremendous amount of material damage to both of those cars and we fail to see why something is not being done to make them safer.
To refer again to New Cemetery Crossroads, how anybody could negotiate a corner with four islands on it and five roads leading into it is beyond me. I could possibly make a suggestion from my experience abroad: it would seem quite simple to have a roundabout at this corner or, if not, traffic lights. I appealed, through a three-part question last week, to the Minister for Justice to get the Garda authorities in Galway to have consultations with the local authority to try to have this problem solved and get something done about it as soon as possible. I know, from the Minister's answer, we have the goodwill of the Garda in Galway in this matter. I know from past experience that that is as far as it will go, unless some higher authority steps in. I feel I have said enough about this and I sincerely hope the Minister will take special not of it and have something done very soon because not a week goes by but some unfortunate tourist or even local person has to explain how he got into an accident at that corner. I doubt if the county engineer himself could negotiate it, without hitting something.
A further problem we have in Galway city is sewerage. This is a matter which has been left lying for over 30 years, I am assured. Unfortunately, it falls upon the present generation to solve the problem. The problem is not diminishing in any way but has grown tremendously over the past few years, and we are now left with the situation where our main sewerage in Galway is not capable of carrying the load which it was built to carry. This is affecting us in two ways. It is causing unhealthy conditions and, in addition to that, nobody can get permission to erect a new house in Galway city at the moment because our county medical officer, a responsible man, has decided that he cannot allow the building of any more houses which would mean the connecting up of new pipes to the present sewerage, which is inadequate and incapable of carrying its present load. I blame the local authority for not having acted in this matter before now. I must mention this here because these things can be let go from year to year and at the moment it is causing a housing problem, where people with the land, with the money to build, cannot build on the sites they have, because they will not get planning permission. The county medical officer says that he cannot be responsible for the addition of any more points to the sewerage system.
On a previous occasion the Minister was good enough to step in and help in the situation, provided certain things were done in the meantime. At that time they had stopped building and he allowed it to go forward on the understanding that certain small jobs would be done. Those small jobs were not done and the county medical officer has been forced to stop building again in certain areas in Galway city. We could do with the employment. We have people who are anxious to build, and men who are anxious to get work on buildings sites, but buildings is stopped because of a lack of sewerage. As I said, that is a very dangerous situation for a city like Galway which is so dependent on its tourist trade. We do not like to advertise that our sewerage is inadequate but certainly if no action is taken we will have to mention it, mention it very often, and keep on mentioning it until some action is taken. Even if a start were made, we would be satisfied.
The Planning and Development Act, 1963, has been the cause of many headaches to elected representatives. Certainly I am among those who have had to suffer from the possible maladministration of this Act. It is very essential in this country, as in every country, that we should be able to control development and have some central authority which will have a say over the future layout of building. This is the situation in a city like Galway. If you wish to build a house and go out to the Spiddal Road 11 miles outside the city, you cannot build on the left-hand side. If you want to build a house on the right-hand side, you must buy two acres of land and freeze it, and only then will you get permission to build one house. If you go to the local authority and ask where you can build a house, they will tell you they are keen to give planning permission in the Knocknacarra area but then they tell you there are no public services there and you cannot get permission to build there.
If you go over to the other side of the city, you are told that vast areas of land are reserved for the industrial estate which we are still awaiting. So many different sites have been mentioned over the past 12 months that no one knows yet where this industrial estate will be. Difficulties have been put in the way of many small farmers. They have been stopped from building houses on their own land on the understanding that their land was to be acquired for the industrial estate, although in actual fact the industrial estate may never be on their land. If you go in a circle from the Salthill side to the Oranmore side, you will find it very difficult to get planning permission because of the lack of public services, sewerage and water.
We get a little frustrated with this Planning and Development Act, even though the Minister has been very kind to anyone who as to appeal. In most cases he has allowed the appeal on certain conditions which I think is a very reasonable manner of dealing with them. We find it very difficult to understand why we should have to wait between 12 and 18 months for a decision on an appeal to the Minister. We have been told that he is inundated with appeals and cannot get around them too quickly, but this is an emergency situation. It is affecting employment, the building industry, and the housing situation in my city. It is a matter of the utmost importance. If they are short of engineers in the Minister's Department who are capable of inspecting the sites, I can tell them that several engineers in my city have been let go from their employment and forced to emigrate through a lack of building in that area. The Minister would be well employed in taking on these men and giving them that job. There is no shortage of engineers in the country. We could then get our building programme moving in Galway.
We are damned with this Planning Act. I do not know whom to blame. Possibly the local authorities are too cautious and will not assume too much responsibility because the Act is new. If there is any doubt they pass it on to the Minister. This is causing delays of from 12 to 18 months and I find it very hard to understand why such inconvenience should be caused to a person who is keen to go ahead and build his house.
I referred last week in a question to the Minister to the lack of public toilets in Connemara. This is very serious. Some people may think this is a parish pump matter to raise here, but it is more serious than that, because we are very dependent on our tourist trade and its development. We are glad to see so many tourists coming to the Galway region and staying there in hotels. We are also glad to see tourists coming on bus tours. That is the difficulty. There are no facilities in Leenane and Clifden and other towns and the bus conductors are placed in an embarrassing position. The Minister for Transport and Power is charged with responsibility for tourism and he has said that the lack of public conveniences is a serious matter which is affecting our tourist trade. The Minister for Local Government has also a responsibility in this matter. Each item which affects the general economic development of the country is a matter in which he should take an interest, and if he sees that the local authorities are slow to act, he should bring to their notice the serious situation caused by the lack of such facilities as I have mentioned and urge them to rectify the situation. Couriers on CIE buses have said that it would be a great blessing to them if public conveniences were provided in the small towns in Connemara.
The Minister referred to swimming pools. He knows that swimming pools have a special place in my heart. Last year I was a bit disappointed that he did not accede to my request and meet a deputation from the Irish Amateur Swimming Association to discuss his plans for swimming pools in Ireland. They are a very responsible body, representing the four provinces. They meet fairly often in Dublin to promote swimming and lifesaving. The Minister brought out his plan which is known as the "Blaney Pool". This body which is responsible for 90 per cent of the competent swimmers in the country wanted to meet the Minister to discuss the question of swimming pools. Unfortunately, he did not think that would serve any useful purpose. I want to ask him now to consider that decision and to meet a group representative of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association before they hold their annual general meeting within the next month or so.
It is all very well to say: "Provide cheap swimming facilities and the children will be taught how to swim and everyone will be happy" and to come up with a plan costing £16,000. I have swum in this pool: the children of Longford enjoy it and I am sure their parents are very happy that they have facilities in the town for their children to be taught how to swim. But you cannot compare Longford with Dublin or Cork or Galway. The Minister himself has told us in Galway that we can expect the population to be 52,000 in Galway by 1980. If that is so, we are certainly not going to build a pool now that will accommodate the population we expect to have in the near future.
There are many technical points on which I do not want to speak concerning the pool in Longford which is certainly a great asset to that town but I put it to the Minister: does he not think that bigger pools are necessary in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway? If he does not, let him meet responsible representatives of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association and if he can prove his point—fair enough: we will accept it. It would be a nice gesture even at this late stage if he would agree to meet them. The main point they are anxious to discuss is the provision of bigger pools in the four centres I have mentioned. Any town of 5,000 or 10,000 population that does not build a "Blaney Pool" or cannot afford it is not worth its salt. The Minister has shown them how. If they cannot raise £16,000 they can throw their hat at it.
Shortly after coming to this House, I mentioned to the Minister here the necessity to extend the postal vote. It was discussed at various stages and eventually a Fine Gael Private Members' Bill was brought in and I was very pleased to hear the Minister say that he accepted the idea that extension was necessary and that he would look into the matter and would probably set up a group of people to make recommendations on it. I am sorry he did not mention it in his speech but I should like him to refer to any progress there has been on these lines when replying. Several types of people were mentioned by different Deputies but it is up to the Minister to say how many he will be able to include. Certainly, commercial travellers should be seriously considered and the postal vote extended to them.
The Minister referred to the fire services. At present I understand there is no central training establishment where firemen can be completely trained but we have chief fire officers who are usually qualified engineers and there is a move now to appoint in each fire brigade a fire prevention officer. But from people who know I understand that due to lack of suitably trained men, it has been found necessary to appoint engineers to these posts and that some of the men who are appointed, although qualified Bachelors of Engineering have had no previous experience in fire prevention and as they progress in this work they tend to leave the service for greater pay. I suggest that a course should be established which would be suitable for technicians or boys who can get the group certificate in the technical schools and that there should be a central training establishment where they could be trained in fire prevention and go on from there to become second officers and station officers. Through that system we could build up a fine fire prevention system.
Many young engineers leaving the university have approached me about the use of aerial surveys by the Department. These young men feel that they are qualified to do the work carried out by aerial surveys which are expensive if speedy and that potential employment is being denied to them through the use of consultative aerial survey firms. I should like to ask the Minister whether he feels at present when our building programme is not expanding at the rate we would like to achieve and where the engineers, especially the younger onces, are forced to emigrate, that some of the jobs that are being done by aerial survey could be done by young engineers and that they should not be denied this opportunity of employment at home. I do not think we are in such a great hurry for those surveys.
I should like to direct the attention of the Minister to a problem in the Aran Islands and that is the question of the Aran Islands lifeboat and the shipway there which was provided very many years ago by the former Royal Lifeboat Society. The slipway was built for a smaller boat and when the new lifeboat there is being used they have to get half the village to push it up the slip.