andMr. McAuliffe asked the Minister for Local Government when work will commence on the erection of the bridge between Valentia and the mainland.
13.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Valentia Bridge.
12.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware of the urgent necessity for a bridge at Valentia Island, and that the people of Valentia are still waiting for work on this bridge to commence; and if he will state on what date and by what Minister approval was given originally to proceed with this scheme.
I propose with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to reply to Questions Nos. 12 and 13 together.
Approval to proceeding with the scheme for construction of a bridge to connect Valentia Island with the mainland was conveyed to Kerry County Council by letter dated 14th January, 1959, during the term of office of my predecessor.
The question of appointing contractors to undertake the work is at present under consideration by the council in the light of a letter issued by my Department on 9th September last. I understand that the council are in correspondence with the contractors who submitted the lowest tender for the project with a view to establishing whether mutually acceptable negotiations can be concluded to enable the project to get under way.
I should like to assure the council and the islanders that there will be no avoidable delay on the part of this Government in dealing with this proposal.
Would the Minister explain the cause of the delay between 1959 and September, 1966?
It is not the same cause as in 1956 when it was deferred by the Coalition Government.
Would the Minister also indicate the date on which the inquiry was held which started the proceedings in relation to this bridge?
The date of that inquiry I do not have immediately available to me but if the Deputy's suggestion is that the inquiry was commenced during the term of office of other than a Fianna Fáil Government I shall take the Deputy's word for it—but it was deferred in 1956. The application was deferred in 1956 and was agreed to about 1959 at the request of Kerry County Council after Fianna Fáil came back into office——
And took seven years to wake up.
We have been awake all those years since then.
It was started in 1956. The building of the bridge will be commenced in January, 1967, according to the Fianna Fáil candidate in the forthcoming by-election, but is this official?
Until I see that it has been said——
Mr. O'Leary
It has been said.
I do not know that it has been said and therefore I cannot comment on it.
Any biscuit factories?
There is no estimate of the votes.
There is no money.
Valentia bridge will be built when the contract documents, tenders and technical data awaited in the Department of Local Government have been submitted by Kerry County Council.
You have had seven years in which to do it but it took a by-election to get that said.
It did not. Deputy Sweetman, of all people on the Opposition benches, knows that his Government and his Department of Finance deferred the application for the loan moneys and the grant requested by Kerry County Council in 1956——
For a year—and you held it up for seven years.
——and that, in 1959, at the first time of asking while I was there as Minister, we gave the answer in the affirmative that we would give the grant and loan.
And held it up for seven years.
We have not held it up unduly for one day since then.
What happened since 1959?
If the Deputy will put down a full question to me on the matter, I shall reply to him.
Mr. O'Leary
Would the Minister arrange that the Fianna Fáil candidate in South Kerry will be informed of the exact position because there is a danger that the electors in the area may be misled?
There is no danger at all. They will not be misled. They know the form of Fianna Fáil.
Mr. O'Leary
The Minister is aware of the danger of the candidate being accused of unethical practices?
The Minister is aware that the Deputy is worried.
The fact of the matter is that I have every confidence that our excellent candidate in South Kerry is fully aware of the situation.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
I am calling Question No. 14.