I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise these matters. Today, by way of Private Notice Question I attempted to get some information from the Minister for the Environment. I wanted to ask the Minister to give an immediate response to the request submitted to him by a Cork deputation on 30 March. The deputation were promised a speedy response, within six to seven days, but we have not had a reply so far. That question today was ruled out of order.
Cork is facing major problems at the moment because of unemployment: 7,000 people are unemployed in the city. In facing up to Cork's problems we first of all realise that Cork has enormous potential for growth. There is a need to create new employment in the city, and Cork Corporation, Cork County Council and the IDA have come together to try to make Cork more attractive for foreign industry. Because of its geographical situation, the city has particular problems. The road infrastructure is not the best and this is one of the deterring points in efforts to sell Cork as a site for foreign industries.
The local authorities in the area have recognised this for a long time and, accordingly, a land use and transportation scheme was drafted and adopted. Part of the scheme sets out plans for ring roads around the city, a number of new bridges and down-river crossings. These would improve the traffic flow in the city centre and in the suburbs. The city is also faced with a major problem concerning derelict buildings in the inner city and nearby suburbs. These areas have suffered badly in the past number of years because of the collapse of many traditional industries in the region.
With a view to improving these districts, Cork Corporation drafted a local plan proposing radical renewal of the areas in the next few years. In order to carry out these essentail plans Cork requires a special allocation of funds. If the unemployment problem in the city is to be tackled properly, we must lay the foundations of a good road infrastructure. Otherwise we cannot hope to attract foreign industrialists to the city.
However, though we are proceeding with plans for new roads and bridges we now find ourselves in difficulties in regard to the day-to-day requirements of the city and consequently our well-laid plans are at a halt. I appreciate that all local authorities, particularly urban ones, have been experiencing difficulties in the past number of years, because in the period from 1979 to 1981 inflation has been running at an aggregate rate of 60 per cent while at the same time rates revenue has been allowed to increase by only 47 per cent. One can see, accordingly, the difficulties urban local authorities have been faced with.
In Cork City this has affected us badly. Corporation staff numbers are down on the 1978 level. Overtime has been abolished at many levels; temporary full-time staff have been laid off. All this has been happening while Cork City has been growing. My main point is that living conditions in the city have been deteriorating rapidly in recent years. We submit that once-off injections of capital or grant-type finance to Cork Corporation would improve the situation, but it would not remedy the problem because Cork needs a steady injection of funds over a number of years.
Therefore, an all-party deputation approached the Minister on 30 March to make reasonable demands, to seek for Cork what Dublin had been given. Unlike Dublin, in Cork we have all agreed on a plan for the future of the city — I should think that Cork is the best planned-for city in the country. We came to the Minister confident that he would meet our requests. We have plans but we have not the money to carry out these plans.
An example of the services being curtailed at the moment was the reduction in the opening hours of the swimming pools and public libraries. Temporary staff are being laid off and we are now faced with the possibility that permanent staff in the parks will be put on a three-day week. We came determined to get for Cork a fair share of the money that is going. The Minister met the deputation and in our submission to him we made the following points, from which I will quote:
(1) Cork Corporation needs £2.9 million to fund existing deficits and maintain service levels in 1982. This can be regarded as equivalent to the £20 million injection to the Dublin Corporation Revenue Account which, effectively, increases the 1982 Dublin rate limitation from 15 per cent to 45 per cent.
(2) A broadening of the corporation's revenue base is essential if the recurrence of these deficits is to be avoided. This, in effect, is the permanent solution and could, for instance, be achieved by the introduction of charges for services without clawback of domestic rate grant.
(3) Cork Corporation have the capacity to utilise and a need for increased road grant allocation, thereby providing the means to absorb a greater proportion of labour costs. Merchants Quay is a particular problem—new bridges and ring roads.
(4) It is essential that additional monies should continue to be made available through the Capital Account for continuing Remedial Work on the NBA schemes at the Glen, Togher and Mayfield. Expenditure of at least £100,000 per annum is envisaged.
The fifth point was that Cork's inner city and housing maintenance programmes, while relatively not as great as Dublin's, were deserving of similar attention. We also asked for further moneys that are needed for environmental grants, without strings attached. We asked the Minister to meet us on these points, realising the background against which we were coming to Dublin.
I will mention a number of points that are in the Dublin scheme. There is £¾ million for house maintenance. The work force for environmental works was increased from 150 to 500 at a cost of £2.5 million extra. A special allocation of £20 million was made to Dublin Corporation to supplement their resources for normal services in 1982 and £1 million extra was allocated to modernise substandard Corporation housing without bathrooms. We in Cork have the same problems. This was the background against which the deputation met the Minister. I did not speak because we were asked not to speak as Oireachtas Members. They presented their case in a very efficient manner and — it is no secret at this stage because it was mentioned in some of the Cork papers — the Minister refused to discuss the implications of the Gregory deal and the reasons Cork should not get similar treatment. In fact the Minister interjected when the Lord Mayor was presenting his case on this point. But the Minister did acknowledge the seriousness of the situation in relation to Cork and the need for an early decision. He promised the deputation that a decision would be given in six to seven days. I have checked subsequently with members of the deputation from all parties, but to date no response has been forthcoming from the Minister.
We now have a situation where we have been waiting five weeks for a decision and in that time county councils have come to the Minister and got fairly major injections of funds. Leitrim County Council obtained a sum of £700,000 because they threatened the Minister with the big stick and the Minister succumbed to pressure as has happened in regard to other decisions by the present administration. We in Cork are very angry at the reluctance of the Minister to give us a decision. Early last week I approached some other TDs in the Cork area and we agreed that we would ask the Minister to meet us so that we could put a case to him to make an early decision. I have made five attempts to make an appointment with the Minister and on none of the five occasions I telephoned the Minister's office did I get the courtesy of a return telephone call. This is a shabby way to treat the public representatives of Cork city.
It is now obvious to me and to other public representatives of the area that the Minister and his Government are intent on building a 20th century pale around the Dublin area, and on this occasion he intends to make it a more localised pale. We demand from the Minister the financial allocations which we deserve. We want a pro rata allocation with the allocation given to Dublin. We are looking for nothing more and nothing less. Over the next few weeks I intend to find out the amount of money allocated to Ireland through the European Social Fund because I am convinced at this stage that the applications made to Europe have been strengthened a lot by the firm and detailed plans but forward by the Cork region. I am also convinced that much or the money we got has been diverted into other regions in the State. I have only to look at the development of the Dublin area and especially the Shannon and Limerick region over the last number of years to convince myself further.
In finishing up I am asking the Minister to make an immediate decision on the points raised by the Cork delegation. We discussed this problem at Cork Corporation level last Monday night week and we were so disturbed that we sent a telegram to the Minister asking for an immediate decision. We have received sums for road improvements and environmental works amounting to about £176,000 for each item. But these sums are miniscule compared to the funds that will be injected into Dublin. It is unjust and it is the duty of all the politicians of the Cork area to make their voices heard. They have done so and we expect a decision from the Minister on the matter. I hope the Minister in replying does not refer to the sums allocated by the previous Minister for the Environment and the present one. I would like to stress that the sums allocated have been quite the same. What we are looking for is a pro rata increase in line with what Dublin got.
