asked the Minister for Local Government if he will consider a special grant in his Estimate for repairs to bog roads in Sligo-Leitrim.
43.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Bog Road Improvement.
42.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will make provision for special grants for the repair and improvement of bog roads and the drainage of bogs in the coming year in view of their increased importance to the economy.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 43 together.
While funds are not specifically assigned for grants for such work it is open to a county council to undertake them under the allocation made to them under the local improvements scheme, where the works are on bog roads or drains serving groups of landholders. Each council has full discretion in determining the priorities in the selection of eligible works to be carried out under the scheme.
Would the Minister not agree that the local improvements scheme is not a suitable agency for developing bogs in view of the fact that the people who own the bogs may not be using them, that the people who are using them may not own them, and that it is very difficult to get the contribution under the local improvements scheme?
As Deputy Gibbons will know, bogs are becoming very valuable again. People are using a bog either because they own it or because they have rented it from somebody else. In either case, the person who wants the bog to be used should be prepared to pay whatever is required for the purpose of having the road done. There is not at present and, as far as I am aware, there has never been any other way of having it done except under the local improvements scheme.
Is the Minister aware that there is a maximum grant per person per farm? In the case of bog roads, is the Minister aware that they are in such a bad condition, if there are not enough people going into the bog, the maximum grant will be exceeded?
I am sure Deputy Callanan is not suggesting that, if there were only one or two people using a long bog road, there should be some way of having that road repaired for them by the State.
No. I am asking the Minister is he aware that, because of the condition of bog roads, they require a higher estimate allocation than an ordinary road? Is he further aware that the maximum grant per person in that case is now 10 per cent of the estimate of the cost of the bog road, apart from the valuation? I welcome that change made. But, at the same time, is the Minister aware that there is a maximum grant per person, per farm, and we find, with regard to bog roads, that this maximum grant is exceeded in nearly all cases?
I am aware of the bad condition of bog roads. Indeed, this is no credit to those who have been using them. For their own comfort, they should keep the bog roads in some kind of order. But I am quite sure an effort will be made to try to improve them. However, it will not all be done in one year.
Might I ask the Minister to reconsider the whole situation, because difficulties have arisen since the Board of Works passed on responsibility for local improvements schemes to the county councils? In fact they did not give them adequate funds with which to administer that scheme. Prior to that, the Irish Land Commission and the Board of Works——
I am afraid this is becoming a debate, Deputy. That is not in order.
Would the Minister consider that, where hundreds of turf plot owners are dependent on fuel supplies and on proper roadways to carry those supplies, the difficulties are very grave? Would the Minister now consider some scheme——
I am anxious to help Deputy Taylor but he must be more precise by way of a supplementary question.
——as an emergency measure to cope with this situation, which has not been exaggerated by the two Deputies in the opposite benches. It happened during the last Administration when the county councils took over this responsibility from the Board of Works.
I think the Deputy will agree that if there are a lot of people, as he says, using bog roads now for the purpose of transporting turf, it should be a relatively easy thing to have the roads done properly. The biggest trouble would arise in cases where, as Deputy Callanan has said, there are only a few people using a particular road and where it might be difficult to get the necessary money together. But I think it will have to be done in that way, unless the local authorities can assist them in some other way. They may possibly use what is known as the McQuillan Act, where roads are subject to general use by the public. It was used quite considerably in County Meath for another reason. They could, in fact, do the roads if they consider it that important to have them done. In the first place the local authorities should be the people to be consulted.
Question No. 44.
I wish to ask the Minister——
I am afraid we have got to pass on from this question. The Chair has been very generous in the time allotted to Deputies. I am calling the next question.
I wish to ask the Minister——
Deputy Dr. Gibbons, the Chair has called the next question.
I want to ask the Minister, in the case of people who travel——
Question No. 44, please. The Chair must be obeyed.
Is the Minister further aware that there are people who have bogs and who are not prepared to contribute, either because they have only a small piece of bog or because the economic return from renting a bog is not so great? I would urge the Minister to consider this.
We shall have to pass on from this question.
This is a special case. To my mind, the Minister has answered the question in the context of conserving energy in houses, a question on which the Minister has some organisation working. This is just as important a question to the people in the west.
Deputies will have to find another opportunity to debate this matter.