Nuair a cuireadh deireadh leis an díospóireacht cóicíos ó shin bhí mé ag déanamh tagairt do ghluaiseacht na comharíochta san Ghaeltacht, agus dúirt mé gurb é mó thuairimse—is féidir liom é seo a rá le firinne agus gan aon amhras ormsa faoi chor ar bith—nach bhfuil aon tslí is fearr chun forbairt na Gaeltachta a chur chun cinn ná tré chomharchumainn éifeachtacha.
Nuair a deirim "forbairt na Gaeltachta", tá san áireamh agam ní amháin forbairt eacnamaíochta agus forbairt shóisialacha ach chomh maith leis sin forbairt chúltúrtha. Tá sé profa go soiléir ar feadh na blianta gur féidir le comharchumann a bhfuil tacaíocht láidir aige ó mhuintir an cheantair obair iontach a dhéanamh chun leas mhuintir na Gaeltachta agus leas na Gaeilge a chur chun cinn.
Nuair a bhí mé im Aire na Gaeltachta bhí sé mar phríomh-aidhm agam gluaiseacht na comharíochta a chur chun cinn ar gach uile bhealach. Bunaíodh Comórtas Phobal na Gaeltachta i 1974 chun muintir na Gaeltachta i ngach paróiste a mhealladh chun comharchumainn a bhunú, agus mar a dúirt mé an lá deireannach, tá an dul chun cinn sin le feiceáil ar fud na Gaeltachta. Thóg mé cúpla comharchumainn chun taispeáint, chun cruthú, an dea-obair is féidir a dhéanamh san bhforbairt phobail.
Tá cúpla ceisteanna agamsa don Aire faoi ghluaiseacht na comharíochta agus go háirithe na comharchumainn. Cúpla mí sular fhág mé oifig Aire na Gaeltachta bhí cúpla cruinnithe agam le Comhdáil Chomharchumann na Gaeltachta. Tháinig ionadaithe ó na comharchumainn ar fud na Gaeltachta le chéile cúpla uair chun a gcuid fadhbanna a phlé, agus bhí eagras maith ann ar feadh tamaill, agus sular fhág mise an oifig cuireadh an t-eagras sin ar bonn níos sásúla agus ar bonn seasmhach, agus bhí mé ag plé conas is féidir gluaiseacht na comharíochta a chur chun cinn. Bhí sé beartaithe ag an am sin lár-ionad a bhunú sna Forbacha i Ghaeltacht na Gaillimhe agus oifigeach lán-aimsireach a cheapadh. Phléigh mé an cheist go léir leis an IAOS agus is féidir liom a rá go bhfuil an IAOS antábhachtach agus gur thugadar antacaiocaht do ghluaiseacht na comharíochta sa Ghaeltacht. Níl fhios agam ar ceapadh an t-oifigeach lán-aimseartha sin. Bhí sé scriobhtha go mbeadh láreagras sna Forbacha, go mbeadh foireann lán-aimseartha ann, agus go háirithe, go mbeadh Comharchumann na Gaeltachta ceapaithe. Bhí mo Roinn sásta tacaiocht airgeadais a thabhairt an t-am sin. Chabhraigh an IAOS go mor chun é sin a dhéanamh. Níl fhios agam an raibh aon dul chun cinn faoi sin. Níor léigh mé aon rud sna páipéir ar feadh tamaill faoi. Ba é mo thuairim an tam sin, agus sé mo thuairim fós, go gcabhródh lár-eagras nó lárionad mar sin chun ghluaiseacht na comhariochta a chur chun cinn agus go gcabhródh eagras mar sin go mór chun na comharchumainn a neartú agus an ghluaiseacht. a chur chun cinn ar fud na Gaeltachta.
Níl fhios agam cad iad polasaíthe an Aire, níl fhios agam conas is féidir leis an Údarás gluaiseacht na comharíochta a chur chun cinn, ach deirimse go láidir nach mbeidh aon mhaitheas chor ar bith san Údarás sin muna mbeidh sé mar phríomh-aidhm ag an Údarás gluaiseacht na comharíochta a chur chun cinn.
Rinne an Teachta Horgan tagairt fada do chúrsaí oideachais na Gaeltachta. Cé nach bhfuil Aire na Gaeltachta freagrach go díreach i dtaobh cúrsaí oideachais, mar sin féin tá baint mhór ag cúrsaí oideachais sa Ghaeltacht le leas na Gaeltachta a chur chun cinn agus leas na teanga chomh maith. Nuair a bhi mé im Aire na Gaeltachta tharla fadhbanna mar sin ar fud na Gaeltachta agus chabhraigh an tAire Oideachais an t-am sin, Risteárd de Búrca, go mór, agus tá creidiúint mhór ag dul dó as ucht iar-bhunoideachas árd-leibhéil a chur ar fáil do mhuintir Inis Mhóir, muintir Choirr na Móna agus Indreabháin. Ní raibh aon iar-bhunoideachas ar fáil do muintir Oileáin Árainn go dtí an tam sin, ach tré an chabhair a thug an tAire sin ag an am, tá cúrsai oideachais ardleibhéil ar fáil san cheantar sin anois.
Ach tá fadhbanna eíle ar fud na Gaeltachta. Tá ceantar mór Ghaeltachta i dTír Chonaill ina bhfuil an teanga beo fós, agus san cheantar mór sin níl scoil iar-bhunoideachais ar chor ar bith. Tá na dáltaí san cheantar Ghaeltachta sin ag dul go dtí áiteanna eile taobh amuigh den Ghaeltacht go meánscoileanna agus ceardscoileanna. Ní féidir le héinne leas na teanga agus leas na Gaeltachta a chur chun cinn nuair atá an scéal mar sin. Tá obair an-mhór le déanamh i dtaobh sin. Níl aon mhaith bheith ag caint faoi Údarás na Gaeltachta, faoi fhorbairt na Gaeltachta nó faoi leas na Gaeilge muna bhfuil beartaiocht ceart maidir le cúrsaí oideachais suas go dtí an t-Ard Teistiméireacht i ngach ceantar Ghaeltachta. Bhí sé amaideach ar fad i gcás na nOileán Arainn. Sna h-oileáin sin tá teanga beo, láidir, agus i rith na blianta bhí ar na daltaí as Arainn dul go dtí meánscoileanna agus ceardscoileanna san Ghalltacht.
Baineann cúrsaí oideachais go mór le forbairt na Gaeltachta, because the educational dimension of Gaeltacht development impinges greatly on the responsibility of the Minister for the Gaeltacht. There is a need for full post-primary facilities in Gaeltacht areas. I had discussions with the Department or Education on the normal criteria for the granting of senior cycle or post-primary facilities in places like Inis Meáin, a small area and I was told that the numbers were not there and so on. However, in fairness to the Department, I must state that the officials were most helpful. I feel that the normal criteria applicable to the Gaeltacht and to larger population centres for the granting of post primary facilities should not apply in the case of the Gaeltacht. It was Mr. Richard Burke, my former colleague and the then Minister for Education who recognised this fact in regard to Inis Mór, Cornamona and Indreabhán, where three junior cycle vocational schools were upgraded and are now providing full senior cycle facilities. The other classical example of where the educational defect enters into it is in the Gaeltacht Lár of Tír Chonaill, a huge area called in English the mid-Donegal Gaeltacht and which comprises many small villages and parishes. It is a huge area where there is no Gaeltacht post-primary school. The children from there when they are finished primary school have to go into the Gaeltacht for their post-primary facilities. Is fadhb anamhór í. Ba chóir don Aire bheith í gcónaí ag féachaint uirthi. Mar a dúirt mé cheana, ní raibh i gceist agamsa labhairt inniu go dtí gur léigh mé na páipéiri maidin inniu. Chonaic mé ar pháipéar amháin "Gaeltarra's Frantic Appeal to the the Government". I read in this report that, concurrently with the Dáil debate on the future of the Gaeltacht and the bringing in of new legislation specifically for the purpose of accelerating Gaeltacht development, we have Gaeltarra Éireann's frantic appeal to the Government. "The highly successful semi-State agency, Gaeltarra Eireann yesterday issued an ultimatium to the Government: do something quickly or it would be impossible for us to attract further investment to Gaeltacht areas." Fuair mé cupla nóiméad o shin an tuarascáil bhliantiúil de Ghaeltarra Éireann a fhoilsiódh inniu. I want to point out that this reference in the news media this morning is the publication today of Gaeltarra Éireann's annual report for 1977. Of course, it is nearly a year out of date now but nevertheless it reveals a very serious and alarming situation: it is most unusual for a semi-State body to issue ultimatums to the Government of the day. This reflects the gravity of the situation.
I referred to this when I was speaking here the last day in no sense of political acrimony, but I stated the fact that Gaeltarra Éireann were now having extreme difficulties in attracting new investment to the Gaeltacht by reason of the fact that the grants and inducements being offered in these very remote areas are no better than those offered in Dublin and other major centres. The very points I made two weeks ago are spelled out this morning and are clearly illustrated in this annual report.
While the report refers to 1977 I understand the position has worsened in 1978. In two month's time Gaeltarra will be publishing their preliminary review of the year. From my information I understand that the situation in relation to attraction of investment has worsened considerably in 1978. It was bad in 1977 and has been commented on in the annual report. Since this State was founded and far back in the establishment of the Congested Districts Board special recognition was given to the remoteness, the isolation, the extreme economic and social problems of the removed, peripheral, maritime regions which are the Gaeltacht areas. The territory catered for by the Congested Districts Board coincides to a large degree with the area for which the Minister has responsibility now. Special grants, special incentive, special inducements were given. They were always continued right down along until recent times and now Gaeltarra are in the position, as I said here, and I quote from the Irish Independent of today's date:
The carrot of export tax relief, ready built factories, available labour and capital grants, which Gaeltarra offered to foreigners were the same as those offered by the IDA, which could offer factories in Dublin and in the provinces with a better infrastructure. Hitherto the Gaeltacht areas were more enticing, because their capital grants were higher and they had a greater number of ready-built factories.
The Independent report went on:
A spokesman for the organisations said yesterday: "We want the Government to boost our incentive package and restore the edge we had on other industrial development agencies at home and abroad."
There is no doubt whatsoever that there is very little in this and in fact without my being aware of it Gaeltarra were commenting now on the exact points I commented on two weeks ago. It is nonsense to bring in a Bill to set up a new development agency for the Gaeltacht when at the same time we have the agency which is responsible making frantic appeals to the Government to do something. I said that my main criticism of the Minister's speech the last day was the fact that he did not indicate precisely what powers the Údarás would have, what new grants, incentives and concessions would be made available under the new Údarás. My reading of it is that there is nothing in the Bill to indicate that incentives and the grants and differentials in favour of the Gaeltacht regions will continue and I defy any Deputy in this House, irrespective of what party he belongs to, to stand up and say that the Gaeltacht should not have a favourable advantage in the matter of industry.
We must face the fact that we are trying to establish industry in the western regions which are remote and isolated and have bad communications, bad roads, bad telecommunication services; they have all the disadvantages that one could think of and we are trying to overcome these barriers and therefore there must be special concessions available. There should be a grant differential in favour of the Gaeltacht as there has been down the years. This puts the Minister in a very difficult position. I do not want to make it more awkward but I want to say that we on this side of the House will support him if he brings in an amendment on Committee Stage of the Údarás Bill in which he will announce a new deal for the Gaeltacht. The future of the Gaeltacht depends on the creation of jobs because without jobs the people will not stay in the Gaeltacht and without people we will have no Gaeltacht and without a Gaeltacht we will have no language.
We must try to ensure that it will be made possible for the maximum number of people to stay at home and live and work and find a satisfactory livelihood with a decent standard of living in every parish from Donegal to Cork which is designated a Gaeltacht area. If Gaeltarra Eireann now find themselves in the position that they are unable to attract industry and investment to the Gaeltacht what is the point of bringing in an údarás? This makes a mockery of this question and I am very disappointed to see that this situation has arisen because the annual report for 1977, even though it is nearly a year old now, reveals a very satisfactory position and I would not be human if I did not feel a certain sense of pride and satisfaction at the tremendous progress that is revealed there. To put it simply, the fact is that when I came into office in 1973 there were 1,836 people employed in the Gaeltacht and at the end of 1977 the figure was 4,200. We must bear in mind that this was in the middle of a serious world economic recession. In the five-year period from the beginning of 1973 to the end of 1977 employment in the Gaeltacht more than doubled. This is no mean achievement and it reflects very great credit on Gaeltarra Éireann despite any criticism that might be levelled at them.
There is another aspect of the performance of Gaeltarra Éireann during that period which reveals a correspondingly satisfactory situation and that is the traditional industries of tweed and knitwear and so on. The Rannóg Trádala Ghaeltarra Éireann, mar a tugtar orthu, showed an enormous improvement because in 1974 a major reorganisation and restructuring was carried out on the knitwear and tweed division of Gaeltarra. I recall early in 1973 going down to Kilcar to visit the old woollen mills there. I never saw such a horrifying dump as it then was. There was a proposal before the previous Government to have this mill rebuilt and new plant and equipment put in, but it was not approved. At that time we gave the go-ahead and today we have one of the most modern tweed mills in Europe in that place. The traditional trading companies of Gaeltarra Éireann, such as the tweed and knitwear factories, continually returned an annual loss. That was redressed in 1975 and there has been a very substantial increase in the profit since. The annual report for 1977 shows a huge increase in sales, up to £1.39 million, an increase of 45 per cent. Up to 90 per cent of the total production was exported.
There are bound to be difficulties in relation to industrial development in those remote areas. I said the last day that the foundation for a new factory had often to be hewed out of rock, that narrow roads had to be widened, power lines had to be laid and water and sewerage provided. This is a huge job, and people who live in urban areas do not appreciate the difficulty in attracting jobs to those Gaeltacht areas. One can point to this industry and that industry which had problems, but I want to say that during the period of the - world economic recession we doubled employment in the Gaeltacht and converted a loss-making situation in the textile division of tweeds and knitwear into a profit-making situation.
Prior to my time as Minister for the Gaeltacht, particularly when the present Minister for Transport and Tourism was in charge of the Department of the Gaeltacht, there was a strong momentum in relation to job creation in the Gaeltacht. He believed that the provision of jobs was a top priority. It is a pity that we now see the situation where the momentum appears to have gone out of Gaeltacht industrial development and job creation. There is nothing in the Minister's speech to show how the momentum that was there seven years ago can be reactivated again. This side of the House and everyone interested in Gaeltacht development and the welfare of the Gaeltacht must be concerned when they find that this State body are now making frantic appeals to the Government. I am very concerned about this and I am very disappointed that, for the first time in several years, the position in relation to job creation in the Gaeltacht areas appears to have changed.
There is only one way to restore the momentum. This side of the House will support any measure the Minister brings to the House to ensure that the momentum of the Gaeltacht development is restored. Full employment in the Gaeltacht, which must be the basic, fundamental consideration in relation to Gaeltacht development, must be the major objective of any realistic Government policy for Gaeltacht development.
There will be no objection from this side of the House if the Minister comes in tomorrow and says that there will be an increase in the Gaeltacht grants, that the traditional differentials in relation to the Gaeltacht areas will be restored. Unless this is done the Minister will be faced with an impossible task, because the Údarás will be in direct competition with the IDA. During my period as Minister for the Gaeltacht I recall talking to industrialists at home and abroad. Their reaction always was that Belmullet or Cornamona, for instance, were very far from Dublin and there would be enormous ancillary problems in establishing industries in those places, that the roads were bad and that the communications would not be as good as they are in Dublin. We were always able to say that there was this or that incentive, that there was an additional incentive of X, Y or Z for going to those places. Unless the Minister can persuade the Government to recognise this fact, I believe he is faced with an impossible task. That is the reason I have decided to add my voice to Gaeltarra Éireann's appeal yesterday. I did not have to wait until the situation was revealed in the news media because it has been well known for some time past that the momentum had gone out of job creation in the Gaeltacht and that this was largely because the people of the Gaeltacht and development agency, Gaeltarra Éireann, had to compete on equal terms with similar agencies and similar demands for industry in Dublin and large urban centres. Nobody can justify that.
Mar a dúirt mé cheana agus mar a dúirt mé go minic, tá fonn mór ar mhuintir na hÉireann leas na Gaeilge a chur chun cinn. Tá sé sin soiléir ón tuarascáil ar Thaighde um Dhearcadh an Phobail gur mhian le 80 faoin gcéad den phobal cabhair agus cúnamh a thabhairt chun forbairt na Gaeltachta agus leas na Gaeilge a chur chun cinn. Is féidir an rud céanna a rá maidir le Dáil Éireann agus Seanad Éireann nó aon eagras eile. Ach tá imní orainn inniu a fháil amach go bhfuil deacrachtaí nua ag cur isteach ar Ghaeltarra Éireann agus, i ndeireadh na dála, ar an Aire féin. Tá an obair thábhachtach sin níos deacra ná mar a bhí sé riamh. Tá súil agam nuair a thiocfaidh an Triú Céim go mbeidh scéal nua ag an Aire agus go ndéanfaidh sé socraithe oiriúnacha chun go mbeidh Gaeltarra Éireann nó Údarás na Gaeltachta in ann tionscail nua a bhunú sa Ghaeltacht chun fostaíocht a chur ar fáil do mhuintir na Gaeltachta.
Mar fhocal scoir, tá súil agam go bhfuil sé mar phríomh-aidhm ag an Aire atá ann anois lán-fhostaíocht a chur ar fáil sa Ghaeltacht.
