Vol. 225 No. 11
Tairgim:
Go ndeonófar suim nach mó ná £1,004,000 chun íoctha an mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31ú lá de Mhárta, 1967, le haghaidh Tuarastail agus Costais Roinn na Gaeltachta, maille le Deontais le haghaidh Tithe agus Ildeontais-i-gCabhair.
Tá sonraí i dtaobh obair Roinn na Gaeltachta ar fáil anois sa Leabhrán Eolais a foilsíodh ar na mallaibh agus tá súil agam go mbeidh an leabhrán sin ina áis mhór do Theachtaí a bhfuil ceantair Ghaeltachta faoina gcúram acu. Faoi mar a léirítear i ndeireadh an leabhráin, caitheadh £824,510 anuraidh faoi scéimeanna na Roinne agus, sa tsuim sin, bhí—
£229,995 do scéimeanna tithíochta, £189,820 do scéimeanna feabhsúcháin sa Ghaeltacht,
£188,145 do scéimeanna cultúrtha agus sóisialacha,
£56,550 d'eagrais Ghaeilge agus £160,000 do Ghaeltarra Éireann.
Bhí caiteachas na bliana anuraidh roinnt mhaith níos airde ná caiteachas aon bhliana roimhe sin. Tugtar an méid a caitheadh faoi gach ceann de na scéimeanna ar chúpla leathanach sa leabhrán.
Nuair a bhí Meastachán na bliana seo caite á ullmhú dhá bhliain ó shin cuireadh isteach £50,000 le haghaidh scéim áirithe feabhsúcháin ach, faoi mar a thárla, níorbh fhéidir dul ar aghaidh leis an scéim i rith na bliana agus ní raibh cead ag an Roinn an soláthar sin a chaitheamh ar bhealaí eile. Lasmuigh den tsuim sin, áfach, caitheadh gach pingin dá raibh ar fáil sa Vóta: £907,512 glan-iomlán an chaiteachais anuraidh agus tá beagnach £100,000 níos mó ná sin i Meastachán na bliana reatha—a théann thar £1,000,000 den chéad uair.
Tá an soláthar le haghaidh na dtithe Gaeltachta ardaithe go dtí £250,000 i mbliana. Ba mhór an dul chun cinn a rinneadh anuraidh i gcúrsaí tithíochta. Tógadh 198 dteach nua, feabhsaíodh 314 eile agus cuireadh saoráidí sláintíochta—uisce, séarachas, seomra folcaidh—isteach ina bhformhór mór. Cuireadh méadú speisialta le haghaidh cuairteoirí le 50 teach agus tógadh 16 cinn de sheallaí saoire i gcaitheamh na bliana. Le seacht mbliana anuas tógadh beagnach 1,200 teach agus feabhsaíodh suas le 2,000 eile agus, d'fhonn gur fearr a d'fhéadfaí freastal ar chuairteoirí, cuireadh méadú speisialta le breis agus 200 teach agus tógadh 43 shealla saoire agus 4 bhrú; íocadh ós cionn £1,200,000 i ndeontais agus ós cionn £50,000 in iasachtaí sa tréimhse sin.
Soláthar £206,000 atá againn do na scéimeanna feabhsúcháin sa Ghaeltacht i mbliana i gcomparáid leis an tsuim £189,820 a caitheadh orthu anuraidh. Tá mioneolas faoi na scéimeanna uile sa leabhrán a luaigh me cheana. Ní miste a rá go bhfuil feabhas curtha ar na deontais fhorlíontacha le haghaidh athinmheachan talún agus foirgnimh feirme agus go bhfuil an deontas uasta dúbailte i gcás taitneamhactaí ilghnéitheacha. Chomh maith leis sin ba mhaith liom tagairt ar leith a dhéanamh do na scéimeanna nua a tugadh isteach den chéad uair i mbliana.
Nuair a bhíonn iascaire sásúil sa Ghaeltacht ag lorg bád iascaigh ón mBord Iascaigh Mhara agus nach acmhainn dó iomlán na héariaise íosta a chur síos, tig leis an Roinn anois teacht i gcabhair air agus deontas suas go 80 faoin gcéad den éarlais a chur ar fáil.
Nuair is mian le hiarratasóir cáilithe teach gloine aonair a thógáil dó féin sa Ghaeltacht, is féidir leis an Roinn anois deontas dhá thrian den chostas a íoc leis. Ní gá feasta gur ina ngrúpaí i dteannta a chéile i limistéir áirithe a thógfar na tithe gloine: tógadh dhá ghrúpa mar sin roimhe seo, i gCois Fharraige, Co. na Gaillimhe, agus i nGort an Choirce, Co. Dhún na nGall —tuairim 100 i ngach ceantar. Beidh comhairle theicniúil ar fáil tríd an tseirbhís chomhairleach áitiúil i gcomhar leis an Roinn Talmhaíochta agus Iascaigh d'fhonn a chur ar chumas na gcuradóirí barraí éagsúla a shaothrú.
Is fada atáimid ag iarraidh an chomharaíocht—comhar na gcomharsan—a chur chun cinn sa Ghaeltacht, mar is deimhin linn go bhféadfadh comharchumainn dea-eagraithe mórchuid maitheasa a dhéanamh, go háirithe i gcúrsaí talmhaíochta agus iascaigh. Anois is féidir leis an Roinn deontas reachtála, suas go £2,000 sa bhliain ar feadh cúig bliana, a thabhairt do chomharchumann Gaeltachta. Ina theannta sin, tig linn deontais, de réir tuillteanais an cháis, a chur ar fáil do chomharchumainn áirithe le haghaidh foirgneamh agus gléasra. Níl an chomharaíocht ach ag tosú go fóill sa Ghaeltacht ach tá muinín agam go rachaidh sí i méid agus i neart i gcaitheamh na mblian atá romhainn.
Tá cosúlacht ar an scéal go bhfuil forbairt mhór i ndán don chuartaíocht sa Ghaeltach ó tharla gur ansin atá cuid de na háiteanna is áille sa tír. Ní beag an tairbhe do mhuintir na Gaeltachta a dtéann de dhaoine ar saoire sna tithe chucu agus, dá bhrí sin, tugtar cúnamh ar leith faoi Achtanna na dTithe (Gaeltacht) chun seomraí breise a chur leis na tithe. Ní leor chor ar bith an roinnt bheag óstán agus tithe aíochta atá sa Ghaeltacht le freastal ar ghnó na cuartaíochta feasta. Anois, áfach, nuair a thugann Bord Fáilte Éireann deontais chun óstáin, tithe aíochta nó saoráidí eile do chuairteoirí a fheabhsú nó a chur ar fáil sa Ghaeltacht, tá ar chumas na Roinne deontais fhorlíontacha a thabhairt i gcásanna ina ndéanfar an bhainistíocht ar chuma a rachaidh chun leasa don Ghaeilge. Más Gaeilgeoirí na hiarratasóirí beidh deontas forlíontach na Roinne ar chóimhéad le bundeontas an Bhoird. Ba mhaith linn, ar ndóigh, go mbeadh oiread Gaeilgeoirí agus is féidir ag triall ar an Ghaeltacht mar chuairteoirí.
Is chun forbairt eacnamíoch na Gaeltachta a chur chun cinn a tugadh isteach gach ceann de na scéimeanna nua atá luaite agam tá dóchas agam go n-éireoidh go maith leo uile.
Soláthar £223,250 atá againn do na scéimeanna cultúrtha agus sóisialacha i mbliana i gcomparáid leis an tsuim £188,145 a caitheadh orthu anuraidh. Tá sonraí i dtaobh na scéimeanna seo fosta i leabhrán eolais na Roinne. Is ar an deontas £10 a chaitear beagnach leath an airgid. Tá feabhas curtha ar an scéim sin i gcaoi is go bhfuil an deontas ar fáil anois bliain níos túisce i gcás daltaí a shroicheann sé bliana d'aois idir 1 Iúil agus 1 Eanáir.
Maidir leis an scéim liúntas do dhaltaí Gaeltachta a chónaíonn as baile fad a bhíonn siad ag déanamh chúrsaí oiliúna ceadaithe eile, is maith liom é a bheith le rá agam go bhfuil na liúntais ar fáil anois ag cailíní chomh maith le buachaillí agus go bhfuil siad méadaithe ó £100 sa chéad bhliain agus £50 sa dara bliain go dtí £140 sa chéad bhliain agus £110 sa dara bliain agus go bhfuil liúntas nua £50 curtha ar fáil sa tríú bliain. Tá súil agam go mbainfear tuilleadh feidhme as an scéim seo feasta.
I gcás an chúnamh taistil do dhaltaí meánscoile agus gairmscoile, tá 18 meánscoil agus 16 ghairmscoil ag fáil tairbhe na scéime agus thuill ós cionn 900 dalta cúnamh fúithi sa scoilbhliain seo caite.
Tá líon na ndaltaí a théann go dtí an Ghaeltacht faoi Scéim na Scoláireachtaí Saoire ag dul i méid i gcónaí agus i mbliana tugadh amach ós cionn 8,000 deontas scoláireachta dar luach £5 an ceann. Chomh maith leis sin caitheann idir 300 agus 400 dalta in aghaidh na bliana téarma scoile sa Ghaeltacht faoi Scéim na Scoláireachtaí Cónaithe, is é sin an scéim faoina gcuireann an Roinn scoláireacht £20 an dalta ar fáil trí choistí aitheanta. Maidir leis na scoláireachtaí saoire sa Ghaeltacht a bhronntar mar dhuaiseanna ag Feiseanna, tá an deontas a thugann an Roinn méadaithe go dtí £15 an scoláireacht.
Ní leis an Ghaeltacht amháin, ar ndóigh, a bhaineann an fheidhm atá ag an Roinn i dtaobh cabhrú le caomhnú agus leathnú na Gaeilge mar ghnáthurlabhra. Dá chomhartha sin, tugtar deontais chun cabhrú le—
nuachtáin agus tréimhseacháin a fhoilsítear i nGaeilge agus, faoi scéim a feabhsaíodh go mór ar na mallaibh, nuachtáin áitiúla a léitear sa Ghaeltacht agus a fhoilsíonn nuacht reatha i nGaeilge,
gearrscannáin le tráchtaireachtaí i nGaeilge, agus
eagrais Ghaeilge éagsúla—ar a n-áiritear Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, Conradh na Gaeilge, an tOireachtas agus An Chomhairle Náisiúnta Drámaíochta.
Tá tábhacht ar leith i saothar na n-eagras Gaeilge agus táimid ag cabhrú leo chun a gcuid oibre a dhéanamh le héifeacht agus le heagar. Ní miste a lua gur glacadh le bunreacht nua do Chomhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge i mí Márta seo caite ina leagtar síos gurb "é is feidhm don Chomhdháil na heagrais Ghaeilge agus cairde eile na teanga a thabhairt le chéile ar mhaithe leis an gcuspóir náisiúnta an Ghaeilge a athbheochan".
Faoi mar is eol do Theachtaí, is é Gaeltarra Éireann an príomhghléas atá ag an Rialtas chun gníomhaíochtaí eacnamaíocha de chineál tionsclaíoch a fhorbairt i ngach limistéar Gaeltachta. Faoin Acht leasaithe a ritheadh anuraidh tá de chumhacht ag Gaeltarra dul i bpáirtíocht le tionsclaithe a bhfuil eolas teicniúil agus teacht ar mhargaí acu, scaireanna a ghlacadh i gcomhlachtaí agus deontais mhóra a thabhairt chun tionscail oiriúnacha a fhorbairt. Chomh maith leis sin, tig le Gaeltarra deontais suas go £2,000 a thabhairt chun miontionscadail shomhaoineacha a chur chun cinn sa Ghaeltacht gan dul i bpáirtíocht leis na daoine ina mbun. Ó bhí mé ag caint anseo cheana faoi chúrsaí Ghaeltarra, tá stiúrthóirí nua ar an mBord— daoine a bhfuil cáil orthu i gcúrsaí tionscail agus riaracháin — táthar tar éis Bainisteoir Ginearálta a cheapadh agus tá feabhas curtha ar an eagraíocht i gcoitinne.
Tá dóchas agam go dtiocfaidh leis an mBord ní amháin na príomhthionscail atá acu—an bréidín, na hearraí lámhchniotáilte agus na bréagáin bhoga—a fhorbairt go mór ach go dtiocfaidh leo fosta tionscail nua a bhunú as a gconlán féin nó i gcomhar le tionsclaithe eile agus go n-éireoidh leo ar na bealaí sin fostaíocht a chur ar fáil do bhreis mhaith daoine sa Ghaeltacht. Tá súil agam go mbeidh tacaíocht le fáil ag an mBord ón Dáil, ó mhuintir na Gaeltachta agus ó gach aon duine ar mór aige an tír agus an teanga.
Ba chóir gur léir, óna bhfuil ráite agam, ó na sonraí atá curtha ar fáil againn i Leabhrán Eolais na Roinne, ó na scéimeanna atá feabhsaithe agus tugtha isteach againn i mbliana agus ó na Meastachán atá faoi bhráid na Dála, go bhfuil tréaniarracht á déanamh againn chun leas eacnamaíoch, sóisialach agus cultúrtha na Gaeltachta a chur chun cinn agus chun cabhrú le caomhnú agus leathnú na Gaeilge mar ghnáthurlabhra. Is ar éigean is gá dom a thuilleadh a rá ag an bpointe seo faoi na seirbhísí atá i gceist sa Mheastachán ach, má bhíonn eolas breise ina dtaobh ag teastáil ó Theachtaí, déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall é a chur ar fáil dóibh.
Cloisimid an óráid chéanna ó bhliain go bliain, gan d'athrú uirthi ach anseo is ansúd. Nílim sásta ar chor ar bith leis an méid atá déanta ag an Roinn seo ó 1956, an bhliain a chuireadh an Roinn are bun. Níl ann im thuairim anois ach codanna de Rannaí eile—an Roinn Oideachais, an Roinn Rialtais Áitiúil, maille le Bord Iascaigh Mhara agus mar sin de.
Níl an Ghaeltacht ag dul chun cinn. Níl méadú ar bith ar líon na ndaltaí a chuireann isteach ar an deontas £10 agus nílim sásta leis sin. Tá beagnach laghdú de 1,000 nó mar sin le cheithre bliain. Cén fáth? Ní dubhairt an Rúnaí Parlaiminte rud ar bith faoin cheist sin. B'fhéidir go bhfuiltear ag chur isteach ar an deontas agus nach bhfuiltear in ann é a ghlacadh. Sé mo thuairim gurab í an Roinn Airgeadais a chuir a ladhar fhuar sa scéim sin agus go bhfuil riaradh an deontais faoi stiúradh na Roinne Airgeadais agus nach bhfuil an focal deiridh ag Roinn na Gaeltachta ar chor ar bith.
Ina fhocal scoir dubhairt an Rúnaí Parlaiminte:
Is ar éigean is gá dom a thuilleadh a rá ag an bpointe seo faoi na seirbhísí atá i gceist sa Mheastachán ach, má bhíonn eolas breise ina dtaobh ag teastáil ó Theachtaí, déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall é a chur ar fáil dóibh.
Cúpla seachtain ó shoin, fuaireas mar do fuair gach Teachta eile agus daoine eile nach iad, is dócha, leabhrán eolais faoin dteideal Roinn na Gaeltachta. Tá gach rud sa leabhrán sin. Is maith an leabhair é agus tá go leor eolais ann fé mar adeirim. D'fhéachas ar leathanach 20, alt 4 —Báid Iascaigh. Bhí mé ag cruinniú coicís ó shoin i gCuan an Fhóid Dhuibh agus bhí trácht ar Bhord Iascaigh Mhara, ar bháid agus ar iarratasóirí agus ní rabhthas sásta ar chor ar bith. Féach ar na coinníollacha atá in alt 4, mír (2) den leabhrán:
Sula gceadófar deontas faoin Scéim seo, ní mór—
(a) an t-iarratasóir a bheith ag lorg bád iascaigh de shaghas áirithe ón mBord Iascaigh Mhara,
(b) an Bord a bheith sásta an bád a thabhairt dó ar théarmaí fruilcheannaigh an Bhoird, agus
(c) Roinn na Gaeltachta a bheith sásta gurb í an Ghaeilge gnáththeanga an iarratasóra agus nach acmhainn dó iomlán na héarlaise íosta a íoc.
Is deacair an rud bád a fháil faoi na coinníollacha sin. An bhfuair duine ar bith bád in áit ar bith faoin scéim sin go fóill? Is maith an scéim í ach is deacair bád a fháil fúithí. Tá an scéim ró-cheangailte le Bord Iascaigh Mhara agus muna mbíonn breis deontaisí le fáil, ní féidir iad uilig a shásamh.
Nílim sásta ar chor ar bith agus níl muintir Chuan an Fhóid Dhuibh sásta; níl muintir Dhaingean Uí Chúise sásta. Níl eolas agam faoi áit ar bith eile ach b'fhéidir go bhfaighidh an tAire an t-eolas. Chonnaic mé fógra ins na páipéirí inniu ag lorg stiúrthóirí nua do Ghaeltarra Éireann. B'shin í an chéad uair a thug mise faoi deara go raibh na fógraí seo i mBéarla. Is maith an rud é sin mar go dtí seo sílim nach raibh deis ag gach duine a bheadh oiriúnach cur isteach ar na postanna a fógraítear.
I do not propose to continue to deal with this Department solely through the medium of Irish because in that way it becomes a sort of secret and the rest of the country seems to regard efforts in that direction as efforts to hide something from them, and the people in English-speaking homes are entitled to see in our Official Reports an account of the Gaeltacht because the Gaeltacht of course is being subsidised, to some extent, under different headings from the moneys provided by the taxpayers as a whole. In any event, as I have mentioned before in this House—and in fact it was stated against me at the time I was being appointed Minister for the Gaeltacht that I said it—I am still an unrepentant bilingualist. I am all for bilingualism, trilingualism and as many languages as one can possibly have, being reasonable in one's approach towards the use of all of them and prepared to use them properly.
The Department of the Gaeltacht, as I said, was set up with great hopes for the future of the Gaeltacht. It was not exactly the kind of Department that I envisaged, although I belonged to the Government who set it up. I am on record as saying at that time that I believed that the future of the Gaeltacht and the prospect of the language becoming stable, becoming and staying a living language, or even spreading depended upon the economic viability of the people in those areas, and that if these areas were not viable and providing a livelihood for the people in them, then the question of the language became, to them, at any rate, a matter of cynicism and in the case of emigration, in many cases of which we have heard, a positive drawback. Some of the people themselves have complained about it.
It is interesting to note in relation to, say, Achill Island, which the Parliamentary Secretary visited some time ago, so he knows exactly the places I am talking about, that a portion of Achill Island running from a place he visited, Darby's Point, right down to Saula, as you cross the bridge, is in the Gaeltacht. When you proceed further down, to Bunacurry and Keel, into the tourist areas, these are not in the Gaeltacht. The Keel-Dooagh area is thriving and the other areas are not doing that well. The Parliamentary Secretary must have seen in Augleam and Saula, along that area, the vast number of houses that are closed and people gone way. That is due to the fact that there was not work there and I think that as a measure of goodwill towards the people in the Gaeltacht something should be provided, not something for nothing, but to give them an opportunity of earning. an opportunity of working. If they do not accept it, then the Parliamentary Secretary, the Government, the Opposition nor anybody else cannot be blamed, but do not keep them in a state of perpetual grouse that something is promised and never comes off.
The Parliamentary Secretary has visited that particular area with a view to seeing about safe berthing and landing facilities being provided in the area. I know that some time later some people visited it and a survey has been done, but these things take too long, become worn out and people get tired and sad and weary and become cynical of the whole thing.
On this question of the provision of boats, as I am dealing with berthing and landing facilities, 80 per cent of the deposit is payable by An Bord Iascaigh Mhara. Many people are dissatisfied with that position: it is too involved. You are giving Bord Iascaigh Mhara the right to refuse the applicant, assuming he is satisfactory in every way to the Department of the Gaeltacht. I am certain the Department would do its best to facilitate applicants of that kind, but they have the right to veto. They have the right to say: "He is not the kind of person to whom we should give a boat." I know of one such application made within the past three weeks. The man was turned down. He was an Irish speaker, a fisherman, a person entitled to get the boat and the Department of the Gaeltacht were satisfied but Bord Iascaigh Mhara said no.
Until this Department becomes completely autonomous, in so far as we can use that word about a Department, until it reaches the stage where it is not relying on any semi-State body or any other Department to do its work for it, it cannot be effective. It must have responsibility virtually for the whole of the activity in these areas over which it exercises vigilance—I was going to say jurisdiction but of course it does not. The Gaeltacht fishing is very important. It is important in all of the areas that are within the Gaeltacht within the limitations of the 1956 Act. I cannot see any reason why major fishing centres could not be started in certain of these areas and helped and promoted in every possible way. It is the only way to get a bit of activity going.
One of the methods is the provision of proper fishing vessels. I do not mean little slips and little bits of board that go out into the sea, and off which you could not commit suicide, as Lennox Robinson said. I do not mean the old Congested Districts jobs at all. Considerable effort is being made around the coast in providing these smaller ones but I think there should be major ones built because this is the only hope for the western seaboard. When I talk about the western seaboard, I include from the tip of Donegal right down to West Cork. It is true they have a very good one in Killybegs but that does not assist the Gaeltacht of Mayo or Galway, or indeed County Kerry or West Cork. These major ports cannot cost that much and anyhow we cannot be counting the cost because the Gaeltacht is disappearing, in my view, so rapidly that we cannot count the cost needed in the last effort to save it.
Gaeltarra Éireann do a good job. They are doing a better job now than they used to do. I am glad to see in today's papers that they are looking for managers in the separate departments, tweed, linen, knitwear and such things and that they are offering a pretty decent salary, plus a car. That is a good thing. It is important to give security to the person coming in— make sure that person is good and then give him the salary and perquisites that will enable him to stay. I think that is being done according to the advertisement in today's papers and I am happy about it. I agree with the Parliamentary Secretary that the new man looking after the affairs of Gaeltarra Éireann is excellent, is well recognised in industry as being a forward thinker and go-getter and I hope Gaeltarra Éireann will continue to prosper as each year passes under his guidance. I did not speak here last year. I cannot recall the date but it was a matter of regret to me that Mr. Fitzpatrick passed away suddenly from Gaeltarra Éireann. He had such long experience and was doing such a very good job and his work was appreciated all the more by reason of his temporary absence from it.
Gaeltarra Éireann have had their ups and downs, and are still having more downs than ups, perhaps. There must be some method of saving money at whatever end it is losing heavily and I hope the Board, as at present constituted, will look into the matter and see to it that these losses will not continue to be losses of the same order more or less year after year. If it is not possible to reduce these losses and if Gaeltarra Éireann is to be regarded as a social amenity, then that should be reflected in better wages for the people working in the various centres.
The products of this industry are very good. They are known all over the world and it is really a pity that some method cannot be found to spread this work further and further in the Gaeltacht areas and even outside them. I am not a believer in a system of demarcation lines as a result of which people of the same economic standing receive different treatment; one will benefit and another two fields away will not. I do not think that is right, or equitable, or just. It is not the kind of way in which we should try to advance the language. Neither do I think that the way in which various schemes are administered within the Gaeltacht itself is the way to advance the language.
I have adverted already to the £10 deontas. That, I think, is governed by the cold hand of the Department of Finance. So much is allotted and the inspectors go to the various Gaeltacht areas and say: "I have so much to give out and that is all I can do." I came across a case recently in which someone complained: the person who examined her child in a school in the West spoke Donegal Irish and the child could not follow him. Not alone was the child deprived of the £10 deontas but the entire family was likewise deprived. This has become a kind of income. It is looked on as a regular income during the school days of the children and the situation is very difficult when a child is deprived of the deontas; a child may be shy, or the youngest may be absent and immediately becomes suspect, of course. The children are deprived of the £10 deontas. There are other anomalies. A child gets the deontas every year during his or her school life. He or she enters for a scholarship to a secondary school, is examined by some inspector and gets less than the required 85 per cent. What kind of consistency is there in that? All it means is that expenditure is being kept down all the time.
These are the things that are irksome and make for a great deal of dissatisfaction in the Gaeltacht. These are the things I come across in my ordinary work as a Deputy. Indeed, there is another rule—I do not know whether it is in the Department of the Gaeltacht or the Department of Education—whereby, if a teacher, a garda, or even a doctor goes to a Gaeltacht area with young children who attend a Gaeltacht school and become proficient in Irish, those children will not be eligible to enter for Gaeltacht scholarships unless they have spent longer in the Gaeltacht than they did in whatever area they originally came from. There is no incentive in that kind of thing. Indeed, it shows a lack of incentive.
I have known this to happen. Because a child was a couple of months longer in the midlands than she was in the Gaeltacht, she was not eligible for a Gaeltacht scholarship. I do not like using the word "scholarship" because the Minister for Education has some sensitivity to it. But there is no incentive in the sort of situation I have outlined. It is no incentive to those families who return from England or America and settle down in the Gaeltacht, as they occasionally do, to become proficient in Irish because they cannot gain from that proficiency. That is the system I see being operated. I do not know what can be done about it but there should be some sort of uniformity in relation to interviews and examinations.
I did not hear a word in the Minister's speech about the provision of light and power in the remoter Gaeltacht areas. There is, of course, a scheme of bottled gas. That is all right for an island. I can understand it there because the cost of cable would be prohibitive. I have, however, come across villages in the Dingle Peninsula and in areas in my own constituency in the Gaeltacht in which there is no electric light or power, mainly because of the high cost of the ESB service charge. Here is an opportunity for the Department of the Gaeltacht to do something to assist these people. This kind of assistance is what would really impress the people in these areas who are deprived of amenities through no fault of their own. They have lived there all their lives, generation after generation, and they have kept Irish there. Surely it is not too much to ask that they should be helped in the way I suggest?
I do not know whether these people could afford this bottled gas; I think the grant is too small. It barely covers the cost of installation. Assistance in getting electric light and power ought to be the real aim. After all, bottled gas is only an emergency thing. It is only where some extreme difficulty arises that bottled gas comes into the picture. Once people were linked up with electric light and power, I do not think they would mind the charges. We have heard complaints recently about the increases in the charges, but I think it is a good service and reasonably cheap. It should be provided in these Gaeltacht areas and the Department would be helping the people very much if it exerted some influence on behalf of these people with the Electricity Supply Board or used some of its own resources for the purpose of alleviating their plight. They would appreciate that very much.
With regard to tourism, the Gaeltacht areas are all beautiful areas. I do not think there is any area that has not got its full quantum of scenic beauty. There is a lack of motels and guesthouses and I am glad to note the Department is showing an interest not alone in chalets and guesthouses but also in the erection of hotels proper. That is really what is needed —good sizable hotels in these areas, one or two carefully sited and, of course, built by local people, helped by the Department. I am glad to see that the Department give half as much to such a place in the Gaeltacht area as do Bord Fáilte and, if certain conditions are complied with, they give the full amount.
It is very hard on the Department; I can appreciate their difficulty in not knowing whether or not these conditions will be complied with afterwards. All they can do is accept an undertaking from people that they will do that and I think now, like the bodies, they should not exercise too heavy a veto at the beginning and should at least give it a try. If it will not do good one way, it will do good some other way and, while the promotion of the language is a desirable objective—the fostering of it—the economic side of things in these areas is also a worthwhile consideration and is probably one of the areas in which they can be assisted. I think it would be well worth while paying the full grant for a proposed hotel or guest-house even if it only kept a few girls at home from the native Irish speaking areas who would be working there and who would use Irish.
I understand that in certain other areas in relation to tourism, certain objections to camping sites have been made by people interested in the Irish language that they would destroy the language. I am sure the Parliamentary Secretary knows of that. This instance I quote happened in County Kerry— we are all learning an awful lot about the areas in which we are working at the moment—but I was quite amazed to find that somebody, an interest from outside with certain native connections, could go into a Gaeltacht area and cause such a fuss as to prevent, or certainly delay, a camping site being built where upwards of 100 caravans would be sited, where they would be buying their vegetables, spending their money locally on food and helping to develop the place. It was objected to because it would destroy the Gaeltacht atmosphere of the place. If we do not allow such developments the atmosphere will go anyway. It has gone in places with which I am familiar. The houses have closed and people have gone away because there is nothing there to attract them. You must take this chance. That is something which will not be confined to those areas for ever. If this objective of making Irish the spoken language of the people, or at least the language they will all be able to speak either amongst themselves or to people who address them is successful, it will not be confined to those areas alone. Those areas are certainly a reservoir from which we may draw but they are reservoirs which are rapidly drying up owing to the economic position.
I came across another example. I hope the Parliamentary Secretary will forgive me for talking so much about South Kerry but I came across another example down in the Maharees where a co-op was established, where onions are developed and this is absolutely tremendous. The people there, around the Castlegregory area, informed me that no influx of tourists, visitors or children would have kept these people in the Maharees but they are now doing extremely well there. I think the person who told me was a supporter of Mr. Begley; it was probably done when Deputy Dillon was Minister for Agriculture, but that is an example of the economy of a place being boosted, something which was local, something for which there was a local nucleus, a local buntús. They had their agency for the growing of onions in the Maharees; it was developed, a co-op was started and they are now, I understand, a thriving community.
There is an area in North Mayo, incidentally—in the Gaeltacht area too —which was a very famous place for the growing of early potatoes and, owing to the alleged incidence of black scab about 35 years ago, exports were stopped; these people used to have their early potatoes on the London market before the Jersey Islands when they were free so to do. It is probably something the director in the western region should look at and see if it could be developed again, something in which he should take an interest.
We had a Land Act recently that made provision for the partitioning and fencing of commonages. About a fortnight ago, I was at a meeting in Augleam in the heart of the Gaeltacht where they have their maps ready, their log splitting done and the Land Commission was going to charge them. I do not know what exactly it was; Deputy Calleary was there the same night. What struck me, as I am sure it struck him, and as was said by almost everybody—it costs so much to bring one family up from any of these areas, not necessarily a Gaeltacht area, to Meath or Kildare, and that money could easily be got from that. The Department of the Gaeltacht has a duty to the people in that area to see to it that the Land Commission fences it properly and to see to it, in that way, that production will be increased because, when people get this addition—in some cases, ten or 12 acres of land—it will increase the number of cows and will substantially add to the amount of milk being sent to the local separating station in the area which was set up a few years ago. That is another thing the Department of the Gaeltacht should interest itself in. It should see to it that the Land Commission do it and that these people are not punished by a very heavy head rent over a period of 35 years for the fencing of these commonages. It is a big problem and will occur in all that peninsula under the vigilance of the Department of the Gaeltacht. The director was there that night; he has all the details and I am sure he will give a favourable account of what the people want.
All the year round holidays in the Gaeltacht are an excellent idea. Probably the Department could concentrate a bit more on the cookery end in this regard in the local vocational schools, and concentrate, too, on the preparation of food from the raw materials available. Nobody wants any—for want of a better description, I will have to call it "shop stuff"—cakes and things bought in shops. What people want is what the people themselves can have: their own food, their brown bread, milk, potatoes, their fish —if they can get it locally—and even the local meat which is famed, of course, in most of those areas. You have the mutton of Kinbay, the lamb of Aran, and all those things could be well developed and looked after. The danger in regard to the Department of the Gaeltacht is that it is becoming a little bit of everything, but not fully authoritative. I understand the difficulties in this regard, but someone should make a break from that over these areas, and there should be power to encroach upon other areas of a kindred nature.
They should exercise the whole power of the Department to carry out all the schemes for which they are responsible. There is too much overlapping. The minor employment and bog development schemes by the Board of Works should not have been dropped. A vigilant Department of the Gaeltacht should have been able to see that that did not happen, or that a substitute was provided that would not cost the people so much. These are the people for whom the Department are responsible. These are the beautiful tourist areas, but there are many bad roads. I know the Department spend money on the roads. I know they give grants here and there for certain roads, but they should concentrate on the smaller roads and the cul-de-sac roads in the Gaeltacht villages.
Recently I was in Porturlin in North Mayo, which is Fíor-Ghaeltacht, and the roads were dreadful. The same is true of many other places. So far as I can see, the trouble is that the Department has not got any real power. I know that is the way it was set up, but with the passage of time and with the gaining of experience, it is possible that there could be some amendment along the lines I suggest. For example, Gaeltarra Éireann is a pretty autonomous body at the moment, but it is probable that after a while it will have far more autonomy.
There is another matter to which I want to refer, and again I can see the Department's difficulty in this regard. For one reason or another, a schoolgoing child fails to satisfy the inspector and does not get the deontas of £10. The father and mother are native Irish speakers but the child, through no fault of the parents, is not quite proficient. The child is mixing with other children. That can happen. The father applies for a Gaeltacht housing grant, and because the child is not getting the £10 deontas, the father will not get the grant. That is the situation as I know it to be.
I can understand the link, but it is a very severe punishment on the parents, just because the child fails to reach the standard of proficiency required. It is fair enough if the child does not get the deontas, and if it is a just examination, but why punish the father if it is not his fault? I fail to see how it can be his fault in an average household where the father and mother speak Irish, but if for some reason which cannot be attributed to them logically, the child does not qualify, it is a very big fine if the father does not get the housing grant. That is a very big punishment because it can amount to £900 between the grant and the loan. They may be living in bad housing conditions. It may also be that if he applied for it the previous year he would get it. That is where it is illogical and unreal.
I understand that it is a tie-up and I appreciate the reason for it, but I think the tie-up should be used only to facilitate the housing people. They should be able to say: "Here is a case where the child gets the deontas", and give the grant straight away. If the applicant has a schoolgoing child who does not get the deontas—and some schools do not go in for this as much as others—the inspector turns it down. I do not think that is just, or right, or fair, and I should like the Department to have another look at it. If the father and mother are proficient, and if a lack of proficiency on the part of the children cannot be attributed to them, they should get the housing grant. We must house these people. We cannot punish them for technicalities of that kind. I know this to be quite common in my own constituency. I have shoals of letters about it. Nothing can be done under the present regulations, but the regulations should be relaxed or not operated as rigidly as they seem to be.
All in all, Deputies and the public should be grateful to the Parliamentary Secretary for going to the trouble of getting out this booklet. It is an extension, I suppose, of the idea of getting out a booklet about social welfare showing the people what their rights are and what advantages are to be gained by knowing about the various schemes and plans for their betterment. I wonder if a copy of this booklet has been sent to the principal teachers in the Gaeltacht schools, and to the priests in the areas, and the local councillors. Those are the people who should be equipped with this kind of knowledge. I made a similar suggestion in relation to the booklet on social welfare, and it is even more important that this booklet should get into as many hands as possible in these areas.
I do not know whether it is since the last debate on this Estimate that the new secretary has come to the Department. I should like to welcome him to it. I should also like to express my regret on the retirement of Mr. Glynn, the assistant secretary of the Department, who brought to it a great fund of knowledge from his Land Commission experience, and a great knowledge not only of Irish but of the people in the Gaeltacht from whom he came himself.
In conclusion, I wish this Department better and better luck. I hope it will continue to prosper and get more money from the Government, and get down to some of the things I have suggested and which I hope will be accepted: major fishing places, more tourism, less rigidity with regard to housing grants, particularly where the parents are proficient, and above all, have their stiúrthóirí examine local conditions to decide how best they can make a particular area more viable economically by using local raw material and by directing the people's energies more in that direction.
As I have said, this is not a Department which creates any great revolutionary changes from year to year. There may be a change of a few pounds but the same speeches are heard. This is necessarily so. It is a small Department, not an easy one to work, one in respect of which none of us should be satisfied with the progress made during ten years. Greater allocations should be made to this Department. One must think of how difficult it is to get a £10 deontas for a Gaeltacht child, how difficult it is to get a few pounds grant for somebody in the Gaeltacht. These are our people. In these terms we must think of the ease with which we can give out hundreds of thousands of pounds to projects, the success of which may not be assured. We must decide that the economic viability of our own people in the Gaeltacht communities is something we should never neglect.
It is for that reason that I urge the Parliamentary Secretary and the Department to exercise their influence with other Departments, particularly when they are about to introduce legislation or make regulations on matters affecting the Gaeltacht areas. The greatest vigilance must be observed by the Department and the Parliamentary Secretary in this respect. If he does so, his efforts will meet with good results.
Níl mé ach díreach tar éis an páipéir seo, oráid an Rúnaí Parlaiminte, a léamh agus ar an ábhar sin ní raibh morán seans agam mo óráid a dhéana tré Gaeilge, mar ba mhían liom. Na rudaí atá le rá agam, caitfidh mé iad a thabhairt as Béarla agus sin cúis bhróin dom.
Deputy Lindsay, I think, put his finger, perhaps unwittingly, on the key to the problem of the Gaeltacht and the restoration of the language when he said that this Estimate follows a pattern long laid down. It does not represent any revolutionary departure from previous procedures and he inclined to the view that that is necessarily so. I should like to take issue with him on that. I wish to say of the administration that for people who so loudly and at times vulgarly assert their love of the language, there appears to me to be nothing in this Estimate to give any hope of great advances from the present position of what can only be described as stagnation in relation to the revival movement.
All of us appreciate very well that it is imperative that national policy should be so designed as to entice, to induce, the largest possible number of people, particularly the young people, to remain in the Gaeltacht areas. Quite apart from the language question, we have a duty to endeavour to reconstruct the economy of these areas which have been notoriously depressed for many decades. There is a double obligation on us to foster the prosperity of the Gaeltacht as evidence of our earnestness in the matter of the language revival and, as I say, it does not appear to me that this Estimate or the Government's policy hold out any great hope of improvement in the position vis-à-vis the language and the economic advancement of the people who live in these districts.
I have long felt that the only sure way in which people living outside the Gaeltacht areas can be brought to practise the language is by affording them an opportunity of living for some period, no matter how short, even a holiday period, in a Gaeltacht area. It has been found in practice throughout the world that the best way of learning any language is to live among the people who speak nothing but that language. I appreciate it is not a feasible proposition to suggest that the entire population outside the Gaeltacht areas should be moved in but it surely is a reasonable idea that a Government, if they are in earnest about the propagation of the idea of our Gaelic language and culture, should facilitate in a far greater degree than they are now doing holidays in Gaeltacht areas, from Donegal to Dingle, in West Cork and indeed in Meath, for the largest possible number of our children so that they may live among those who use the language as the natural vernacular.
There has been no real effort in this direction, in my view. The Gaeltacht itself and the idea of revival have been used during the years as a device for attracting votes and it appears to me that this Government, this Administration, have accepted the position that they can do little or nothing more than has been done in the past in regard to the Gaeltacht areas. It would have been of very considerable interest if the Parliamentary Secretary had indicated what the population trends are in so far as Gaeltacht areas are concerned. Is it not a fact that the young men and women of these areas, despite what is set out here in these pages, are left, in the main, in regard to grants and so on, with little alternative to the emigrant ship and this quite aside from the economic history of migration which we all know has been part of the history of the country for so long. Is it not a fact that large numbers of people born into households where the Irish language is the natural language, the language of the cradle, grow up to manhood or womanhood and then must take the long road to Britain as their generation has done before? In many cases they are lost forever to this country. Is it not a fact, in other words, that all the talk which has gone on in regard to the language revival ultimately depends for its validity upon the economic conditions of the people who live in those areas?
It is accepted that certain steps have been taken to try to promote horticultural activities, such as the glasshouse scheme and so on. Those do not appear to have been sufficient to stem the flow of emigration to which I have referred. In fact, nothing which has been done so far has really made any impression on the steady drain of population from the Gaeltacht areas. The population trends are not revealed in the Parliamentary Secretary's statement. It would have been useful if they were because we would then have been able to examine just what has happened as a result of Government inactivity over, say, the past quarter of a century.
I feel that if we are to save the language—most people in this House will agree that that is very desirable and most people in this country have the same view that it is desirable that we should not turn our backs on our cultural heritage—there must be a revolutionary approach to this whole question. There must be an assembling of energy and idealism to attack the problem. The people, for too long, have been led into a situation wherein there has been bred a cynicism about the language. For too long they have been encouraged, by what has been said around them, in the view that there was a certain exclusiveness, a certain amount of what might be called mandarinism, by which I mean that limits were set to the number of people who were given the full opportunity to learn the language. For too long the people have been looking at the situation and, as I say, they have been, to some extent, disillusioned by those who preach revivalism. There must be a new approach entirely if we are to achieve any success and if the language is not to die. The approach has to be based, necessarily, on the level of the people living in the Gaeltacht areas and the people who are getting their living there.
I mentioned the desirability of giving the children of the nation, who never meet a native speaker, the opportunity of living for a time in the Gaeltacht. This is something which the Department of Education could very well have a hand in. I agree with Deputy Lindsay that it is not sufficient merely that this small Department should be saddled with the entire task. If success is to be achieved in the matter of the Gaeltacht and the revival of the language, it will need the co-operation of every Department of the Government. It will need the development of a fire and zeal among all the members of the Government. Unfortunately, I see no sign that there is any anxiety to develop such a zeal. The Gaeltacht is trotted out as something for use at election times. I am not at all convinced it is not being used here today even in that sense. We know it has been referred to by Deputy Lindsay with regard to South Kerry where there are Gaeltacht areas. It may be thought that by having this matter discussed here certain electoral advantages will accrue tomorrow week. Whether they do or not is something with which I am not concerned.
We need to attack this whole problem, as I have said, with considerably more energy. I ask the Parliamentary Secretary, whom I have no doubt is sincere in his desire to see the language revived, and probably in his desire to do his best for the Gaeltacht, to try to develop co-operativism among his Government members towards this end. Co-operativism is mentioned in his statement as the probable solution of the economic problems in the Gaeltacht. There is a need for it in the Cabinet as well as in the Gaeltacht so far as this matter is concerned.
It is a good thing that the question of a co-operative movement is mentioned. The statement of the Parliamentary Secretary suggests that there are hopes for its development in certain districts in the Gaeltacht. We on these benches have been talking about co-operativism all the days we have been here. Those who went before us from the days of the foundation of the State talked about the ideal of co-operative effort and indicated the view that only by this method could the distressed areas of this country make any economic progress. For many years, the whole idea was denigrated and reviled, when it was not ridiculed. There were those who said you cannot get Irish small farmers to agree to the extent of forming a co-operative. Those who examined the problem in detail in the past saw that the only method of trying to deal with the economic conditions which exist in such profusion along the west coast can only be based on getting neighbour to co-operate with neighbour because of the peculiar facts of agriculture in those districts and the historic poverty and means of production with which those areas have been associated.
In my few words on this Estimate, I do not lay claim to being an authority on this matter. I have not had the opportunity of spending much time in the west of Ireland but I have met a great number of people from the west of Ireland and I have spent some little time there. Most of the people from the west whom I met I met on building jobs and in the factories in Britain when I worked there. They were Gaeilgeoirí ón gcliabhán and I have some little appreciation of their problem. My simple comment on this statement is that it is not enough from this Government. Much more is called for, much more is needed, and if it is not forthcoming, then the inevitable process which seems to be under way will be inescapable, and that is something which none of us who is sincere about the ideal of the language want to see, the disappearance of Irish and the eventual total disintegration of the Gaeltacht areas.
Ba mhaith liom rud nó dhó a rá ar an Meastachán fíorthábhachtach seo. Deinim comhgáirdeachas leis an Aire agus leis an Rúnaí Párlaiminte as ucht na hoibre atá á déanamh acu chun leas na Gaeltachta agus leas mhuintir na Gaeltachta a chur chun cinn.
Aon rud a dhéanfaimid chun an Ghaeltacht a chaomhnú is céim mhór ar aghaidh í ní hamháin ar son mhuintir na Gaeltachta ach ar son na teanga chomh maith. Ní mór dúinn gach iarracht a dhéanamh chun na cuspóirí atá againn i leith na teanga a chur i gcrích agus níl bealach is fearr chuige sin ná féachaint chuige go mbeidh gach áis is fearr ná a chéile ag muintir na Gaeltachta chun feabhas a chur ar a saol. Chuige sin tá Rionn na Gaeltachta ag déanamh a cion féin agus molaim gach duine go bhfuil baint aige leis an obair thábhachtach seo.
Tá a fhios ag an saol an spéis atá ag an Rúnaí Párlaiminte i muintir na Gaeltachta agus ina leas. Ní mór dúinn go léir cabhrú leis.
Tá ceist agam le cur ar an Rúnaí Parlaiminte—ceist a bhaineann le Cill Rónáin. Do rinneadh an cheist seo a phlé cheana agus táim deimhin go bhfuil a fhios ag an Rúnaí Parlaiminte cad tá i gceist agam. Nuair a bheidh sé ag tabhairt freagra ar an ndíospóireacht tá súil agam go dtabharfaidh sé dhom an t-eolas atá ag teastáil uaim.
Ba mhaith liom tagairt a dhéanamh do choláiste áirithe i nGaillimh. Bhí suas le céad páistí scoile ann gach seachtain i rith an tsamhraidh ag foghlaim Gaeilge. Táim cinnte, nuair a bheidh níos mó eolais le fáil ar an scéal, go mbeidh ar chumas an Rúnaí Pharlaiminte níos mó airgid a thabhairt don scéim sin. Tá a fhios agam cad a cheapann sé mar gheall ar pháistí scoile agus a dtabhairt go dtí an Ghaeltacht agus an Ghaeilge a mhúineadh dhóibh. Ba mhaith liom dá dtabharfadh sé níos mó eolais dúinn mar gheall ar Thaidhbhearc na Gaillimhe. Tá roinnt eolais agam féin air mar bhíos im aisteoir ann ar feadh tamaill. Chítear dom go bhfuil ganntanas airgid ar cur as don Taidhbhearc agus tá sé an-dheacair do na stiúrthóirí a gcuid oibre a dhéanamh gan breis airgid. Oibríonn siad leo ó bhliain go chéile gan a fhios acu cad é an teacht isteach a bheidh acu aon bhliain. Tugadh breis airgid dóibh anuraidh— £1,000 nó mar sin—agus sílim go bhfuil £3,500 a fháil acu fé láthair ach ní mórán é sin.
Dúirt an Teachta Ó Duinn rud éigin mar gheall ar an dtoghchán ach níl aon bhaint ag an gceist seo leis an dtoghchán. Nílmuid ag brath ar cad a dhéanfaimid ach ar cad a dheineamar san am atá caite. Nílmuid ag cur dul amú ar bith ar na daoine. Táim cinnte gur ó na daoine féin a thiocfaidh athbheochan na Gaeilge. Is oth liom nach bhfuilimid ag fáil níos mó cabhrach ó Fhine Gael ach is léir go bhfuil siad i gcoinne na teanga. Bhí sé sin le feiscint ón mhasladh a thug Seanadóir áirithe don fhógra a bhí ar mo ghluaisteán an Domhnach seo caite. Sin é an saghas ruda a bheitheá ag tnú leis ó Fhine Gael.
Ainmnigh an Seanadóir.
An Seanadóir O'Quigley.
Cathain a thárlaigh sé?
Maidin Dé Domhnaigh seo caite.
Is mór an trua é sin.
Deireann Dream an Lucht Oibre go bhfuil siad ar thaobh na teanga ach ní bhfaighimid mórán cabhrach uaidh sin. Is deacair an rud atá le déanamh agus obair an-mhall atá ann. Ní mór dúinn gan dul róthapaidh ach ins na blianta atá le teacht tá súil agam go mbeidh feabhas ar an scéal agus go bhfeicimid an athbheochan.
Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis na Teachtaí a labhair ar an Meastachán seo. Dúirt an Teachta MacLoingsigh agus Teachtaí eile nach raibh siad sásta leis an méid atá á dhéanamh. Más é a bhí i gceist acu nach bhfuil dóthain á dhéanamh, aontaím leo ach caithfidh siad a admháil go ndearnadh a lán i rith na bliana seo caite. Níl aon dabht mar gheall air sin. Ní leor dar leo an méid a rinneadh ó bunaíodh an Roinn agus níl siad sásta leis. Níl mé féin sásta go dtí go mbeidh forbairt eacnamaíochta na Gaeltachta ar aon chéim leis an bhforbairt in aon chuid eile den tír. Beidh a fhios ag gach duine a léann an leabhrán atá curtha amach agam go bhfuil mórán á dhéanamh; ach nílim sásta leis an méid atá déanta agus táim i gcónaí ag iarraidh níos mó a dhéanamh.
Tá sé le feiceáil go bhfuil scéimeanna ann i mbliana nach raibh ann bliain ó shin. Feicim daoine i mo cheantar féin nach eol dóibh i gcónaí cad iad na deontais atá le fáil acu. Sin í an chúis ar chuir mé an leabhrán seo amach. Tá súil agam nuair a bheidh an leabhrán sin scaipthe—agus Tá sé á scaipeadh faoi láthair—go mbeidh eolas iomlán ag na daoine faoi na deontais go léir atá le fáil. Tá súil agam fosta go mbainfidh siad níos mó úsáide as na scéimeanna atá ann nuair a bheidh an t-eolas sin acu.
Labhair an Teachta MacLoingsigh mar gheall ar an Deontas £10. Is é an riail atá ag baint leis sin go gcaithfidh an Ghaeilge bheith mar ghnáththeanga ag muintir an tí. Caithfidh tú d'aigne a shocrú faoi riaradh scéime den saghas seo. Má bhítear ró-bhog ní chomhlíonfar cuspóir na scéime. Is chun cabhrú leis an nGaeilge a choinneáil á labhairt sna tithe a ceapadh an scéim.
Dúirt an Teachta go raibh daoine ann ar diúltaíodh deontas faoi Achtanna na dTithe (Gaeltacht) dóibh de bhrí nár thuill na páistí sa teach an Deontas £10, cé go raibh an Ghaeilge ag na daoine féin. B'fhéidir gur fíor é sin ach sílim go gcaithfimid a admháil má labhartar Gaeilge i dteach mar sin go mbeidh líofacht ag na páistí chomh maith leis na tuismitheoirí.
Thagair an Teachta MacLoingsigh do na rialacha maidir le deontais a chur ar fail d'iascairí. Dúirt sé go raibh an scéim casta. Ní shílim go bhfuil. Ní dóigh liom gur cheart dúinn mar Roinn coinníollacha nach mbaineann leis an nGaeilge a leagan síos a chuirfeadh isteach ar scéim atá á riaradh ag Roinn eile Stáit. B'fhéidir nár íocadh aon deontas go dtí seo faoi Scéim na mBád Iascaigh toise nár ghlac an Bord Iascaigh Mhara le hiarratasóir éigin. Ach ní bheadh ar ár gcumas a rá an mbeadh iarratasóir faoin scéim oiriúnach ó thaobh na hiascaireachta de agus, mar sin, fágtar faoin mBord Iascaigh Mhara an taobh sin den iarratas a mheas.
Maidir le cúrsaí cuartaíochta, tá a fhios againn a thábhachtaí atá siad ó thaobh na Gaeltachta de. Tá na háiteanna is deise sa tír sa Ghaeltacht agus ba mhaith liom dá dtéadh tuilleadh daoine go dtí an Ghaeltacht chun a laethanta saoire a chaitheamh ann. Táimid i gcónaí ag iarraidh ar eagraíochtaí ar nós Conradh na Gaeilge, Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge agus ar eagraíochtaí eile a bhfuil baint acu leis an teanga daoine a chur go dtí an Ghaeltacht ar a laethanta saoire. Is léir an bhéim a chuirimid ar an gcuartaíocht nuair a fheicfear tuairisc sa leabhrán seo ar na deontais atá le fáil, cuir i gcás, deontais le haghaidh seomraí breise, deontais le haghaidh seallaí saoire agus na deontais nua atá á gcur ar fáil le haghaidh tithe ósta, tithe aíochta agus mar sin de.
Má éiríonn leis an bpolasaí atá ag Fine Gael, tá eagla orm nach mbeidh an líon mór páistí a théadh go dtí an Ghaeltacht ag dul ann a thuilleadh. Ní thig le páistí an Ghaeilge a labhairt ná grá a bheith acu don Ghaeilge mura dtéann siad go dtí an Ghaeltacht. Is cuid de na daoine óga sin a chuidíonn go mór ina dhiaidh sin leis an nGaeilge a chur á labhairt ar fud na tíre.
Labhair an Teachta Ó Duinn í dtaobh comharchumann. Nuair a bhí mise ag dul thart sa Ghaeltacht, b'fhacthas dom nárbh fhéidir forbairt fhiúntach a dhéanamh ó thaobh na talmhaíochta gan na comharchumainn seo a bheith ann. Ba léir chomh maith mura mbeadh daoine a mbeadh fios a ngnó acu i mbun na gcomharchumann go dtitfidís as a chéile. Ar an ábhar sin, d'aontaigh mé deontas £2,000 in aghaidh na bliana a thabhairt; bainisteoir a fhostú chun comharchumann a reachtáil is mó a bheadh i gceist. Tá an £2,000 sin le fáil ag comharchumann ar feadh cúig bliana agus ina dhiaidh sin ba chóir go mbeadh an comharchumann in ann seasamh ar a bhonnaibh féin. Tá roinnt rialacha ag baint leis an scéim agus tá siad sa leabhrán. D'fhéadfadh sé seo bheith ar cheann de na scéimeanna is fearr a cuireadh riamh ar fáil sa Ghaeltacht; tá súil agam go mbainfear an úsáid is mó is féidir as sna Gaeltachtaí uilig.
Labhair an Teachta MacLoingsigh i dtaobh comharchumann na Machairí agus chomh maith is a bhí sé ag dul ar aghaidh agus go mbeadh sé sin mar shampla ag na daoine ar mhaith leo comharchumann a chur ar bun. Dúirt an Teachta gurb é an Teachta Diolún a chuir tús leis. Ní chuireann an chaint sin ionadh ar bith orm—nuair a bhí mé ag taisteal sa Ghaeltacht, gach bóthar a bhí á dheisiú agus ar thug mé deontas ina choinne dúradh gurbh é an fear thall a rinne é.
Luaigh an Teachta MacLoingsigh ceist na gcimíní atá á scrúdú ag Coimisiún na Talún. Níl an scrúdú sin críochnaithe go fóill. Táimíd i gcomhairle leo i láthair na huaire.
Tá caint láidir ar siúl.
Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil. Is léir dom cibé forbairt a dhéanfar sa Ghaeltacht i gcúrsaí talún, iascaireachta, tithe gloine nó aon rud eile den chineál sin, go gcaithfimid forbairt a dhéanamh ar an tionsclaíocht chun na daoine a choimeád sa Ghaeltacht. Is é an rud is tábhachtaí ar fad na daoine óga a choimeád. Sin é an fáth ar chuir mé an oiread sin suime i nGaeltarra Éireann ó thosach. Thuig mé go raibh na daoine ag brath ar Ghaeltarra Éireann chun obair sheasmhach a chur ar fáil. Ar an ábhar sin, rinne mé no dhícheall na daoine is fearr a fháil le cur ar an mBord: ceapadh ceathrar nua i mbliana. Is daoine iad a bhfuil taithí mhaith acu ar thionsclaíocht agus ar chúrsaí riaracháin; daoine iad a chuaigh ar aghaidh go maith sa saol iad féin agus a thuigeann déantúsaíocht ó thaobh táirgeadh agus díolachán. Sílim go n-éireoidh leo agus caithfidh éirí leo mar, mura n-éiríonn leo, beidh sé iontach deacair an Ghaeltacht a choinneáil beo. Chomh maith leis sin, ceapadh bainisteoir ginearálta nua agus mar a dúirt an Teachta MacLoingsigh tá fógra sna páipéir i dtaobh postanna eile i nGaeltarra Éireann. Dúirt sé go raibh siad i mBéarla inniu, ach bhí siad i nGaeilge dhá uair roimhe sin chomh maith.
Tá gach rud á dhéanamh chun Gaeltarra Éireann a chur chun cinn. Ní féidir linn bheith ag tnúth le míorúiltí, le go mbeidís ábalta na hathruithe uilig atá ag teastáil uainn go léir a dhéanamh go gasta. Cibé sceal é, tá mé cinnte, leis na daoine atá i mbun riaracháin, go n-éireoidh linn obair sheasmhach a chur ar fáil do chuid mhór daoine sa Ghaeltacht agus aontaím le gach duine a dúirt gurb é sin a rud is mó ar fad atá de dhíth orainn faoi láthair.
Labhair an Teachta Ó Maoildhia i dtaobh Cill Rónáin. Is é an rud a tharla sa chás sin ná go raibh rud amháin molta ag Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí agus rud eile ag teastáil ó na hiascairí. Bhí mise ag iarraidh an dá dhream a thabhairt ar aon aigne agus b'iontach deacair é sin a dhéanamh. Sin é an fáth a ndeachaigh an £50,000 ar lár anuraidh. Is féidir liom a rá anois go mbeidh an t-airgead agam an bhliain seo chugainn chun obair a shásóidh na hiascairí a dhéanamh.
I dtaobh an choláiste Gaeilge a luadh, ní bhaineann sé sin díreach liomsa. Caithfidh an Roinn Oideachais an coláiste a aithint sula dtagaimse isteach sa scéal. Maidir leis an Taibhdhearc, tá atheagrú ar siúl ina thaobh sin i láthair na huaire.
Sílim gur fhreagair mé gach pointe a cuireadh os mo chomhair agus déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall na smaointe fiúntacha a nochtadh i rith na díospóireachta a chur i gcríoch. Táim iontach dáiríre faoin obair atá le déanamh. Nílim ag labhairt ó thaobh na polaitíochta de. Tá gach iarracht á dhéanamh agam chun an Ghaeltacht a chaomhnú. Sílim gurb é Gaeltarra Éireann an gléas is fearr chun an aidhm sin a bhaint amach. Sin é an fáth ar chaith mé an oiread sin ama i rith na bliana ag lorg comhaltaí don Bhord.
