asked the Minister for Local Government if, in respect of the Dungloe assistant county engineer's area, County Donegal, he will state the number of bog and accommodation roads which are the subject of application for grants under the local improvements scheme; and the amount of money allocated for that area.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Donegal Bog Roads.
43.
As local administration of the local improvements scheme is a function of each county council, details such as those requested by the Deputy are not available to my Department.
I may add that Donegal County Council share the distinction with Mayo of having the highest allocation in the country. They got £118,000 this year. In 1972-73 they got £113,200 but spent only £112,819. In 1973-74 they got £110,000 and spent only £105,628. We have been generous in giving £118,000 to Donegal. The matter of allocation is one for the county council in each case.
Did the council actually not spend all the money they got in the past two years?
What I said was that Donegal County Council in 1972-73 got £113,200 and spent £112,819. In 1973-74 they got £110,000 and spent £105,628. Last year was not a full year and they got £87,500 and we estimate that they would have spent that or very close to it.
There was a carryover from the two previous years?
They would have got more money than they spent in the two previous years.
Is that still available?
I would not say so. They get a certain amount of money and if they do not spend it by the end of the year it is then recovered from those who notify us in good time that they cannot spend it and it is reallocated to those who can. I think they were treated generously.
Why would the Minister not have somebody in his Department lift the telephone and find out the answer to the question?
There is a very good reason of which I think the Deputy is aware. This is a function of the county council. Since 1968, when the local improvements scheme was initiated, they have full freedom to deal with it in this way. They administer a scheme in accordance with general instructions drawn up by the Department. I feel, as did my predecessor, that it would be unfair if we were, as the Minister for Justice said, peering over their shoulders, asking them what they were doing. It is a matter for themselves to decide what they do with the money they get and we think that is how it should remain.
Surely that would not preclude the Minister from giving a reply in courtesy to the House as to how the money is being expended?
I am not being discourteous to the House or to Deputy Brennan but he would much more easily be able to find out from those in the area representing his party on the council how it was being spent and why they did not get as much as they think they should have got.
I am not asking why we did not get this or that amount but I am asking the number of jobs submitted as proposals from that area.
That is something that would be more easily got by the Deputy than by my Department. We do not want to interfere with local authorities.
The Minister is well aware that a parliamentary question is much more effective than a letter to the county manager.
Possibly it used to be but not since the change of Government.
We ask it for a number of reasons and the situation has not changed one iota since the Minister took office.
Is the Deputy saying that Donegal County Council would not give correct information to a question asked by a Deputy representing the constituency?
I am not saying any such thing.
It sounds very like it.
I am not even suggesting that. I could get the information from the county manager easily but a parliamentary question is sometimes a more useful way of getting information.
It looks better in the local paper.
The Minister should be more sensible and answer an occasional question.
I have answered the question the Deputy asked. He asked a rather foolish question and he is peeved because my answer did not give him the meat he thought it would have given. I am surprised at the Deputy.
It is not the Minister's job to comment on whatever question is asked but to answer it.
Surely the Minister is aware that the reason the money was not spent for the past year is not that there were no schemes but because of the work-to-rule by the engineers? Surely the Minister is also aware that this subject was flogged around in Galway——
The Deputy is moving away from the subject-matter of the question.
The Minister mentioned that the money was not spent but that is because there was a work-to-rule.
Deputy Callanan has not got it right. I did not say last year. Last year's allocation was spent. In the previous two years, when there was no work-to-rule, the allocations were not spent entirely.
It could not be spent last year, anyway.
That is the extraordinary thing—it was spent last year.
The Minister is not so naïve as not to realise what I am trying to elicit with two questions on the Order Paper, one to the Minister for Social Welfare, which shows in reference to these jobs that over 1,500 people are unemployed and receiving approximately £10 each per week while in the same area there are literally hundreds of jobs requiring to be done which are not being done because there is no money for them.
The Deputy is thinking of the time when he was Minister for Social Welfare. In fact, those who are unemployed are getting almost as much as they would get if they were working. The Deputy knows this and he should not be trying to twist it in a way that is not correct.
The Minister has not yet got what I am trying to elicit.
I grasp it too well.
I am trying to point out that there are a number of jobs in need of being done and a number of people are being paid out of State funds in the area but there is no money to do the jobs.
Is the Deputy suggesting we should take it off the social welfare——
I am suggesting you should allocate money for the bog roads.
Would the Minister not agree that it is very difficult to have bog road schemes carried out under the local improvements scheme and, if so, would he not agree that a separate scheme should be introduced for the repair of bog and accommodation roads?
The answer to the first question is no, and therefore, the second question does not arise.
How many bog roads were done?
Deputy MacSharry would probably know more about that than I would.
There were none and that is why the Minister could not give the answer today.