The Estimate of this particular Government Department covers practically every part of the country and many features of our life. I said last year that it is possibly the most important Government Department in relation to the quality of life we are going to have in the future because it deals with physical features, it deals with our historical heritage, it can affect the shape of our capital city for years to come, it deals with recreational facilities and it is also a commercial department in the sense that it is responsible for arterial drainage and works in connection with those matters.
As I said last year, the Board of Works has within it a very good tradition of caring although sometimes that tradition seems to become weakened. One hopes that tradition will be fostered and, if anything, enhanced. It has a great deal of influence in this city because it is responsible for many of the public buildings and the standard of maintenance and care that it chooses to give to these could set an example for the private sector. The Board of Works can also initiate public building for Government Departments. The architectural standards it insists on can set a very necessary headline for the speculators who have been destroying so much of Dublin. The Board of Works should in its approach to building in this city be ultra-careful in regard to the problems of conservation.
We have never got any details from the Board of Works of the financing of the provision of Government offices. I believe from a newspaper comment —there is not anywhere else to get the information unfortunately—that the Government Departments sited in these new office blocks around this part of the city are all there on a rental basis like any other tenant. The Government have no propriety interest in these premises beyond whatever propriety interest they may acquire under the Landlord and Tenants Acts as occupying tenants.
A change of policy has occurred in relation to the new building being built in Kildare Street for the Department of Agriculture. Again we have to rely on newspaper comment but I understand a sophisticated financial system of leasing, leasing back and various refinements on that technique have been put into relation to ensure that eventually the fee simple will come back to the State. It would be interesting and only proper if the Parliamentary Secretary would in his reply inform the House, as representative of the taxpayers responsible for that building, what precise financial arrangements have been made to have it built, how it is going to be operated and the finances involved generally.
It has been rumoured that the Government have been God's gift to the speculators, who have erected these concrete and glass boxes all about, in relation to the rents they were prepared to pay in advance of letting. It is time we were told what these rents are and how they compare with going commercial rents.
The Board of Works have a big responsibility in relation to the headlines they set, the quality of the buildings they erect and the financial return they are prepared to pay because it can set a line for the private sector. The line they set can be very important in that over extravagance or generosity could be an inflationary factor.
In addition to that the Board of Works have tremendous influence in regard to the recreational facilities available. Being in charge of the Phoenix Park is, of itself, a task of massive importance. In his speech the Parliamentary Secretary adverted to some of the problems that are becoming acute in relation to the Phoenix Park. He mentioned the volume of motor traffic that is using it and the volume of horse riding that is taking place there. There will have to be control of both of these features. It would be a pity, and impossible, to ban the park to either or both. The number of fatal accidents at cross roads, in particular Mountjoy Cross, has been alarming. Steps will have to be taken to prevent any recurrence of these. It would be contrary to the nature of a recreational park to have to erect traffic lights in it and I would urge the Board of Works not to erect traffic lights if some other means of controlling traffic can be found. Lorries and buses are prohibited and I have no doubt this prohibition will and must continue.
Much of the through traffic in the Park at the moment is due to the fact that the bridge at Blanchardstown is not being used and traffic is being diverted through Castleknock Village and the Phoenix Park instead of going straight up the main Navan Road. If that bridge were repaired it might relieve the Park to a considerable degree.
People go to the Park at weekends to exercise themselves and allow their children to play. These people must have access to the Park and unfortunately they come in motor cars. They park their cars on the grass and on the verges of the road and they cause a certain amount of damage in so doing. This is a dilemma which is going to be difficult to solve. Perhaps the amenity study which is being carried out by students in the city will come up with some answer to the problem.
The problem of horse riding, and I am not referring to commercial horse riding, but to riding schools which have hacks of livery will have to be tackled because as far as I can see at the moment horses are ridden in any part of the Park. The result is that areas near the gate and at certain crossing points are a morass of mud when the weather turns wet. It is unfair to the horse trainers who pay quite a substantial sum each year for the privilege of training horses in the Park that their facilities and their training gallops should be interfered with by horses from the riding schools. I am glad to note however that the Parliamentary Secretary does not intend to prohibit horse riding in the Park. It is a feature of the Park's activities and it adds to the appearance of the Park and the views available to see people riding horses through that nice parkland. It is possible that special walks or rides will have to be provided so that the matter can be controlled.
I am glad the agitation to provide a municipal golf course in a part of the Phoenix Park has died by the provision of such a course on the far side of the Liffey between Islandbridge and Chapelizod. I would urge the Parliamentary Secretary to resist any attempt whatever at any encroachment of the Phoenix Park. It is too precious and for a growing population it is almost too small to permit any further encroachment. The fact that the golf course was resisted is an indication that the Board of Works is well aware of the value of this amenity and the importance of preserving it.
Another way in which the Board of Works has a big effect on the recreational facilities of this country is its responsibility for the inland waterways particularly the River Shannon. I should like to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to the men employed in Shannon Navigation for the help they are to users of the Shannon and for the dedication they give to their work. There is no question of their being confined to any 40 hour week; these men are available at all times to help tourists and other users of the Shannon.
The level of the Shannon which, strictly speaking, is not within the bounds of control of the Board of Works, is something which has caused great anxiety to boat operators during the last two summers. I mentioned last year the fact that the CIE cruiser was unable to ply north of Athlone for most of the 1970 summer season and that owners of vessels other than the average cabin cruiser were chary of crossing Lough Ree. I mentioned, too, that the reason for this was that the level of the water in Lough Ree was being deliberately kept low by the ESB and that there was a conflict of interest between the needs of the ESB and the tourist needs of the Shannon. There are two different Departments unfortunately involved—the Office of Public Works would be involved with tourist needs and the Department of Transport and Power with ESB needs. Some progress has been made in that the ESB has now at this late stage through the Minister for Transport and Power indicated that there might be an improvement next year, but I would suggest to the Office of Public Works, which has overall responsibility for the River Shannon, that this is not good enough and that the value of this river to the tourist economy, especially in the next couple of bleak years, will far outweigh any value it may have to the ESB by way of providing power for Ardnacrusha station. The ESB admit, to use a watery analogy, that Ardnacrusha is only a drop in the ocean in the overall production of the ESB. To try to maintain a high level in Lough Derg at the expense of Lough Ree is economically unjustifiable, particularly as it is being held in Lough Derg, I understand, merely for an emergency at Ardnacrusha, so that the reserve could be put into the national power grid, should the need arise. This is a callous approach, and ultra-conservative, on the part of the ESB when you consider the damage it is doing to navigation on the Shannon.
One flotel operator in Athlone, who came here nine or ten years ago, converted barges into floating hotels and he has been a very successful operator and has been a great boon to the economy of the town. He has had to move his headquarters from Athlone down to Killaloe. This is a big blow to Athlone and to the North Shannon area as well, as these barges plied north of Athlone as well as south of Athlone. The reason he has had to move is lack of water in the river at Athlone immediately north of the weir and lack of water in Lough Ree—it was dangerous for him to cross Lough Ree and for him when he got north of Lanesboro. The position there has been improved to some extent by the dredging which is taking place, but the improvement is only minimal and will not affect the position so long as the ESB open the sluice gates at Athlone and let water down south.
The position in Athlone could have been improved for this man by the Board of Works directly, because in the bed of the river in Athlone, to the east of the navigation channel between the weirs and the town bridge, there are old mooring stones lying there from times gone by when large yachts used to be moored in Athlone. These are a navigational hazard and any large boat navigating from the navigation channel to go to a mooring on the east quay is in danger of fouling its propeller on these stones. The Board of Works were asked on numerous occasions to lift them. The Board of Works navigation boat with its portable crane has been moored at the dock in Athlone for many weeks over the past few months, and to a lay person like myself and the boat users in Athlone, it is a mystery why the Board of Works, knowing that this need was there, knowing that these stones serve no purpose beyond being a hazard—why this boat capable of lifting them was not directed to lift them from the bed of the river once and for all. I strongly criticise the Board of Works for allowing that position to continue.
During the past summer, it was noticeable that there was considerable activity with hired boats on the Shannon and that the persons using them were in the main from Germany and France. I understand that the prospects for next summer in the same tourist market are good. The English market is dead as a dodo and it would be a pity if this continental market which is being developed could be in any way prejudiced by making navigation hazardous over Lough Ree next summer. I urge the Office of Public Works to support all the boat owners in the pressures they are putting on the ESB and indeed to assert itself over the ESB and to assert its prior claim to regulate the waters of this, out largest inland waterway, so as to ensure that tourist activities on the River Shannon next year can continue unimpeded.
I should recall too that the areas being served by the upper Shannon are what are known as some of the underdeveloped areas—Counties Roscommon, Longford and Leitrim—and any business that comes to these areas is welcome and a very essential boost to their economies. It makes nonsense of the policies for western development and encouraging industries to go west when this readymade industry is not encouraged so as to become fully utilised. Every boat that lands in Rooskey, Carrick-on-Shannon, Drumsna and Boyle brings spending into the area and a certain degree of prosperity, and any boat that cannot go north, that has to stay at Athlone or cannot even reach it is a loss to the area. I cannot emphasise strongly enough or often enough how important it is that the level of Lough Ree for this coming tourist season will not be interfered with. There is no good saying to me that the ESB have never let the level drop below the statutory minimum. The statutory minimum is no longer applicable because it does not leave enough water for the type of craft that wants to use Lough Ree and the Shannon above it.
I would urge the Parliamentary Secretary to ensure that the new regulations, the new bye-laws, relating to the Shannon should be fully thrashed out with all interested parties and, if possible, have them in operation and well publicised before next summer. Every boat and boat hirer should have a copy of them. They should be distributed to all boat hirers to be left in hired boats. It is important that these bye-laws should not be imposed on any of the groups using the Shannon. They should be brought into operation only after the fullest consultations. I know that some submissions have been made by associations of persons interested in the Shannon in connection with some of the bye-laws. Some of the changes they suggest would make nonsense of the bye-laws, and I do not think they would be prepared to force them, but I do think they should be done the courtesy, as the users of this great waterway, of being consulted before the bye-laws are finally framed. The Parliamentary Secretary did indicate very properly that he was prepared to meet these people but I think he should take the initiative and arrange these meetings and have these bye-laws passed into law.
I was glad to hear that attention is being given to the canals. These are essential parts of our inland waterway system, and as I indicated earlier, these are the one part of the tourist industry which showed promise during last summer. Every time I cross a levelled bridge on the Royal Canal, it brings home to me the terrible sin committed in allowing that waterway to fall into disuse. It was a nicer waterway than the Grand Canal because it went through more interesting country side and it had numerious spurs which served many towns in the midlands and provided a wide variety of touring facilities. It is so far gone now unfortunately that it is beyond repair. If there were stretches of it from the Shannon eastward or from Dublin westward that could be restored, I would ask the Office of Public Works to examine these with a view to restoring them.
The Barrow navigation should get urgent attention because it goes through most lovely country and it should be opened up for boat users so that access over its full length would be easily available. I have never travelled that waterway but I understand that there are navigational difficulties here and there on it, but it would not be over-expensive to remove them and I would like to see them removed and this waterway made completely accessible.
I want to refer to the Ballyconnell Canal and the possibility of linking the Shannon with Lough Erne. If the Shannon could be linked with Lough Erne and the Barrow navigation improved, we would have an inland waterway system from Limerick to Enniskillen, from Waterford to Limerick, to Enniskillen and to Dublin—a wonderful system with a wonderful potential for tourism.
Eventually, too, it might be possible to persuade the authorities in Northern Ireland to restore the link from Lough Erne to Lough Neagh and one could foresee the day when it could be possible to travel by inland waterways from Limerick to Belfast.
The other matter that I would like to deal with is the responsibility of the Office of Public Works for our historical heritage. I wonder sometimes whether there is sufficient urgency within the Office in relation to the problems under the archaeological and national monuments headings. One of the most urgent tasks facing the Office is the archaeological survey. As the Parliamentary Secretary has told us, it was decided in 1965 to make a survey on the ground of the entire country. Yet, in 1971 after six years during which there have been tremendous physical changes in the country, only the counties of Louth, Monaghan and Meath have been completed under this survey. We are told that it was extended last year to counties Cavan, Westmeath and Longford and that it is proceeding satisfactorily. I beg to differ from the Parliamentary Secretary on that statement and to say that it is misleading because my information is that outside Dublin there is now one officer available on the ground for work on this survey. If it was possible only to complete three counties since 1965, I can forsee a very slow rate of progress in the future.
Because of land reclamation works, arterial drainage, the extending of towns and the building of new roadways, it is critical that this survey be carried out as a matter of urgency so that anything worth saving would be saved. I understand that a new headquarters is being built outside Mullingar on a Board of Works site. Therefore, with new headquarters and with the will in the Office, all that is required is personnel and I would urge that personnel be recruited even to the extent of providing scholarships for graduates in archaeology so as to ensure there will be no shortage of personnel coming into the service in the years ahead.
A matter that I mentioned here last year and which has caused anxiety to people interested in archaeology is the destruction of ring forts. As I said on the previous occasion, it was in a ring fort that the Ardagh Chalice was found. There are many ring forts throughout the country and unfortunately many others have been bulldozed out of the way in the course of land reclamation work. If the significance and potential importance of these forts were explained to the farmers and contractors concerned I have no doubt that they would be willing to co-operate and leave them until such time as they could be excavated. I do not know whether preliminary investigation would indicate whether they were worth saving, but it might be possible to give a quick decision in respect of these forts to contractors concerned as to whether they should be bulldozed or preserved for further investigation. It is my experience that the farmers of Ireland take immense pride in their being anything of historical importance on their land and I am sure they would be anxious to co-operate in ensuring that anything worthwhile would be preserved and that there is access to it and that it is never damaged. Possibly some sort of task force could be set up within the Office of Public Works for the purpose of investigating ring forts.
I am aware that there is liaison between the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Office of Public Works concerning the danger to ring forts but many of them are not mapped and I understand that permission for the demolition of some of them has been given without any excavation being carried out. None should be demolished without prior excavation. The archaeological survey has been progressing too slowly. If it is not speeded up the whole exercise will be pointless and too many valuable relics will have been lost.
The major conservation works to which the Parliamentary Secretary referred are to be commended and one would hope that they could continue on an ever-expanding scale. It is good to know that Clontuskert has been given attention. Last year I mentioned Clontuskert as being a prime example of what neglect can do. It collapsed in 1968 and nobody had been aware of the state it was in. I was interested to note that Trim Castle, a very dramatic monument, is receiving attention. There are so many places that need urgent attention that the matter is almost a cause for despair. Last year, too, I mentioned Inisboffin, which has various historic remains. There was an Augustinian monastic settlement there and this monument was restored in 1912 but nothing has been done with it since with the result that much of it has been overgrown. There is a hole in the sacristy roof and some grave slabs have been broken. I can understand that it is outside the resources of the Office of Public Works to attend immediately to every national monument and to give them the attention they deserve, but throughout the country there are local archaeological societies and perhaps the Office of Public Works might consider arranging closer liaison with these societies and, indeed, appointing officers to make arrangements for these people to look after and care for monuments in their areas and do a certain amount of restoration work on them. The Mullingar association did excellent work on a site in their area. Such liaison could result, perhaps, in urgent work being carried out until such time as major conservation works could be executed.
There is a growing interest in things historic throughout the country and this interest should be fostered by the Office of Public Works, but it would necessitate the appointment of special officers or the setting up of a special section to harness this enthusiasm and guide it into practical work. Another way in which this local enthusiasm could be harnessed would be in the collecting of grave slabs. There are many grave slabs in graveyards throughout the country. These stones are historic and should be collected. Very often they become broken. At one time there was a tradition in rural Ireland—in Clonmacnoise to be precise—that when a grave was opened it was considered lucky, if one might use the term, to bury with the remains pieces of some ancient stones with the result that a lot of very valuable pieces have been lost in that innocent but, unfortunately, harmful way.
The storing of such remains as grave slabs or interesting stones is something that must be a problem for the Office of Public Works. These are museum pieces but, of course, the National Museum is in no position to receive any more for its collections. It is already overcrowded and a big percentage of its collection cannot be put on view at all. I would suggest to the Parliamentary Secretary that the Office of Public Works have in Athlone an ideal venue for showing many of these remains and that is Adamson Castle. I understand it is not an ancient monument for technical reasons. The Department of Defence on handing it over reserved rights for certain soldiers' families to continue living there but to all intents and purposes because of its antiquity it is an ancient monument. It is in excellent condition. It has been maintained in that state by the Department of Defence since the foundation of the State. It has within itself apartments which would be suitable for displaying and storing things such as grave slabs or historic stones that might have become isolated from the buildings to which they were originally attached. I read a letter in a newspaper recently, which I meant to keep, in which somebody referred to the fact that a Sheelagh-na-Gigh had been removed from a wall and that it appeared to have been lost. This would be unfortunate because these figures are very interesting. Their origin, I understand, has never been completely explained but if there were any in situations where they might be liable to damage or theft they should be removed and stored in a suitable place where they could be documented so far as any documentation is possible. The Parliamentary Secretary should suggest to the ancient monuments section to consider Athlone Castle as a site for storing these relics. I did ask his collegaue in Education to consider it as a place to which to move the Army museum from Dublin. It is not being shown in Kildare Street and this castle would provide a most appropriate setting. The answer unfortunately was "no". As this property belongs to the Office of Public Works I would ask the Parliamentary Secretary strongly to use it for this purpose.
I should like to refer to the provision of plaques at historic sites. I mentioned 18 months ago, when we had the last debate on this Estimate, that all that was available on a site was a warning notice that anyone causing damage would be prosecuted and that it was the property of the Office of Public Works. There was no explanation of the history of the site or no information at all for the casual tourist. I am glad to see that this is under way but the speed at which it is being done is regrettably slow. Eighteen months have passed since this was mentioned by me and I am sure it was known to the Office of Public Works long before that. I hope there will be some sort of crash programme to get these things erected. I would suggest that the local societies to which I have referred earlier could be used. They would be only too willing to involve themselves in work of this nature because it is part of their activities. I do not know who planned or designed these plaques or what information they will contain. I was in Cashel and the plans there are commendable because from reading them one can get a picture of the site and the various buildings on it. Clonmacnoise, on the other hand, is not well done. There is a plaque and a site map of the remains showing the different periods in different colours but it is a bit confusing and could be improved. A lot of care should be given to the design and inscription of these plaques. There is an urgent need of toilet facilities at Clonmacnoise. It is the most important monastic remains in the country and it is visited each year by many thousands of tourists. The lack of elemental toilet facilities is a serious drawback. There is no shortage of suitable discreet sites in the area and I would ask that this be attended to as a matter of urgency.
The other main feature in which the Office of Public Works impinge on national life is as builders of schools. I readily concede that their efficiency here primarily depends on the availability of money but nevertheless every parish priest and reverend mother in the country has every Deputy in this House annoyed and plagued and pestered trying to get priority for his or her school. I do not know what the procedure in the Office of Public Works is for deciding the priority between schools. I know that the procedure for finding out exactly at what stage a school stands leaves something to be desired. It would be of immense help if each year a list of schools that would positively be done in the following year could be published. I concede that lobbying might result to try to upset that list but if school managers became satisfied that once they appeared on the list to be done their school would be done and that they would not be put off in favour of somebody else such lobbying would drop off and would eventually cease. At the moment the chief reason for frustration is lack of information about how priorities are decided, about how much money is available, about how many schools are to be built, about the technical difficulties within the Office of Public Works in getting the designs completed.
