Tairgim:
Go n-iarrann Dáil Éireann ar an Rialtas fiosrúchán breithniúnach a bhunú, mar ábhar práinne, maidir leis an modh ina ndearna Údarás na Gaeltachta agus a fhoireann a fheidhmeanna a chomhlíonadh faoi fhorálacha an Achta um Údarás na Gaeltachta, 1979.
I move:
That Dáil Éireann calls upon the Government to establish as a matter of urgency, a judicial inquiry into the manner in which Údarás na Gaeltachta and its staff have carried out its functions under the provisions of the Údarás na Gaeltachta Act, 1979.
Is é seo ceann de na díospóireachtaí is tábhachtaí a tháinig os comhair an Tí le déanaí. Brathann an tÚdarás agus na tionscail faoi leith atá sna Gaeltachtaí ar an toradh a thiocfaidh as an díospóireacht seo. Mar sin, sílim go bhfuil sé antábhachtach ar fad. Tá sé sách deacair orm labhairt amach anseo go rí-láidir agus Aire na Gaeltachta as mo bhaile féin agus mo dháil cheantar féin agus mo chontae féin i láthair. Má bhíonn gearán agam faoi seo, ba mhaith liom a rá nach gearán pearsanta atá ann; nílim ag lochtadh an Aire.
One of the principal reasons put forward in the Minister's amendment is that the Joint Committee on State-Sponsored Bodies could properly assess this case. I would point out that the committee became defunct in May 1981 and have not sat since. The committee was not reconstituted. Although the members worked effectively up to that time, they had not debated any aspect of government or of the State-Sponsored Bodies which were referred to the committee initially.
If the committee was reconstituted now it would probably be next October before its first meeting and it would probably be at least six months before any result would issue from its deliberations. It could well be 18 months or two years before any conclusive findings were published. Because of that I consider the suggestion of referring this matter to the Joint Committee on State-Sponsored Bodies is not relevant in view of the serious allegations and the deep cloud of suspicion that has descended over Údarás na Gaeltachta, not through the fault of any of their hard-working people. I wish to debate those issues this evening.
Ritheadh an tAcht i 1979 faoi chúram Aire as mo chontae féin, an Teachta Gallagher agus bhí díospóireachtaí ar siúl anseo ar feadh seachtainí. Bhí mé ag léamh na ndíospóireachtaí sin an lá cheana agus ní fhaca mé óráid ar bith ón Aire atá ann faoi láthair i dtaobh Údarás na Gaeltachta nó faoin mBille a bhí ag dul tríd an Teach ag an am sin. Feicim anois go bhfuil grá íontach faighte aige don teanga agus don Údarás.
Ba é cuspóir an Achta nuair a ritheadh é go ndéanfadh an tUdarás caomhnú agus leathnú na Gaeilge mar príomhmheánchumarsáide sa Ghaeltacht a spreagadh, agus go gcinnteodh sé gurb í an Ghaeilge a úsáidfí nuair a bheadh an tÚdarás ag comhlíonadh a n-aidhmeanna. Sílim go ndéantar é sin agus go bhfuil muintir na nGaeltachtaí agus lucht Údarás na Gaeltachta ag plé a nithe as Gaeilge chomh maith agus is féidir. Cuspóir eile an Achta, in alt 10:
Chun tionscail agus scéimeanna táirgiúla fostaíochta a bhunú, a fhorbairt nó a chothabháil sa Ghaeltacht, beidh cumhacht ag an Údarás, faoi réir an ailt seo, cúnamh airgid a thabhairt (lena n-áirítear deontais a thabhairt, scaireanna a cheannach agus caiteachas a thabhú ar fhoirgnimh nó eile) ar cibé téarmaí agus faoi réir cibé coinníollacha is cuí leis.
Cuspóir eile an Achta ná go ndéanfadh Údarás na Gaeltachta faoi alt 10 nationscail agus na scéimeanna táirgiúla fostaíochta a bheadh ar siúl a rialadh nó a bhainistí agus, díreach nó indíreach go gcuirfí ainm Ghaeltarra Éireann isteach san Údarás. Bhí toghcháin le bheith ann de réir mar a fhorordófar le rialacháin ón Aire.
The Act provided for the establishment of a body for the purpose of promoting the linguistic, cultural, social, physical and economic development of the Gaeltacht, an tÚdarás shall have, in addition to the functions specified in this Act, apart from this section, such powers as are conferred on it by order made by the Government, agus mar sin, bhí an áis ann go mbeadh cumhachtaí eile ag an Údarás dá mba rud é go raibh siad ag teastáil. Bhí nithe eile acu freisin chun a gcuspóir agus a n-aidhmeanna a chomhlíonadh.
Since the first day the Údarás na Gaeltachta Bill was circulated and since the Údarás came into being, it has been dogged at different intervals by a spate of very bad publicity emanating from different sources. This has culminated in a series of events that have precipitated this motion and resulted in the public perception of the Údarás as being under deep suspicion, which warrants looking into.
Since the introduction of the Údarás in 1979 and since díospóireachtaí took place on it in this House, one of the principal allegations of the Fianna Fáil Government is that the Fine Gael Party, at different intervals, have not been the guardian of the Irish language and have tried to do away with the Údarás by the introduction of some other board which would take its place and introduce a different type of development for the Gaeltacht regions. That is not true and, as party spokesman for the Gaeltacht, I wish to state categorically that I respect Údarás na Gaeltachta, its members, workers and people of the Gaeltacht. We want to see the Gaeltacht developed in the fullest way possible. We want to see a love generated for the Irish language, ár dteanga dhúchais, in a realistic manner, and not just lip service paid to it by adopting the hypocritical attitude that has been shown to it down through the years by different people in the Government. It is a very serious issue. The survival of the Gaeltacht rests upon the shoulders of the Minister and he must take action accordingly.
The Commission for the Gaeltacht was set up by Mr. Cosgrave in 1926 with the late Deputy Mulcahy as its head. From that until 1956, when the Department of the Gaeltacht was founded, nothing of real advantage or progress took place in Gaeltacht areas. It was not until 1973 that the Coalition Government saw fit to appoint a full Minister for the Gaeltacht, an t-iar Aire Tomás O'Donnell a bhí in a Aire le ceithre bliain go leith, an téarma is faide a bhí ag Aire na Gaeltachta ar bith. When he was appointed Minister he brought a new image to the Ministry of the Gaeltacht, increased its workforce approximately from 1,800 to 4,000. There were industries set up which were not successful but, by and large, he brought a new awareness of the Gaeltacht areas and the Irish language to our people. He fostered an insight and a love of things Irish that has not been in evidence since. The 55,800 residents of the different Gaeltachtaí went to the polls in December and the election that took place was democratic in so far as the members of the Údarás going forward for election were returned to their various positions. The Minister of the day made appointments, and some of these people were very hard working and had a genuine awareness of the needs and problems of the different Gaeltachtaí throughout the country.
When iar Aire na Gaeltachta, an Teachta Geoghegan-Quinn, took over on 15 December 1979The Irish Times editorial said that the authority must not become an organisation of wranglers with area representatives fighting for the maximum benefits for their parties, a glorified county council in fact. Silim féin go dtárla sé sin ó shin agus go bhfuil cuid de na baill tofa ag troid in aghaidh a chéile i gcóir na gceantar as a dtagann siad féin.
The article went on to say that the Gaeltacht authorities should be a step in the right direction and that it would be watched with extreme interest in other parts of the country in that it was the first occasion when development could take place by elected people from the Gaeltacht itself.
On 24 December 1979 an article in The Irish Times questioned whether the Údarás would protect the unique character of the Gaeltacht and went on to describe the various problems arising in relation to planning permissions, factories, despoliation of high amenity areas and the necessity for caution and care in consideration of planning permissions going before it.
On 5 January 1980 a supplement to The Irish Times stated that the new Gaeltacht authority had held its first meeting. At that meeting the Minister said that with the commencement of the eighties we relied on An tÚdarás to provide full employment for Irish speakers as soon as possible. He said that the Údarás na Gaeltachta Act, 1979, contained all the powers held by Gaeltarra, and more. He also said that stronger emphasis than ever was placed on the Irish language in the new Act. Those aspirations have not been fulfilled and could not be fulfilled as the Údarás only came into operation shortly after that date. The Minister went on to state that if Údarás na Gaeltachta requested further powers or further authorities for itself she would be quite willing to consider those and would sympathetically consider how she might satisfy the Government in having these powers granted to Údarás na Gaeltachta.
On 7 January 1980 in the same newspaper the headline read "Gaeltacht Authority Picketed". Ceart na nGael, a pressure group down there, called for further powers for Údarás na Gaeltachta similar to those of the Highlands and Islands Board in Scotland which has extensive powers which the present Údarás does not have. On 24 April 1980 in the same newspaper a headline read "Lack of Údarás Activity Claimed". Questions were asked in the Dáil by Deputy Begley who objected to foreign people buying land in rural areas who were often fronted for by Irish people and there was a series of other questions asked by him.
On 6 June 1980 in the same paper the question was asked again by Deputy Begley in relation to the appointment of the chairman of the board of Údarás na Gaeltachta. The then Minister, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn, said that she had appointed him on a temporary, whole-time basis to give him more time to understand the complexities of the job. I want to say in defence of the chairman of Údarás na Gaeltachta that he is my county manager; he is also a director of the Connaught Regional Airport and in fairness to him, it has been bandied about by different people that he was a purely political appointment by Fianna Fáil. I have no such complication in my mind in relation to his appointment. The appointment of the chairman initially was on the understanding that there would be approximately two meetings per month. But the events that have taken place within the Údarás since have passed out the ability of any single person to manage effectively all of the meetings that are involved between being manager of a county council and all the commitments that that involves and the very onerous tasks of having to chair the board of Údarás na Gaeltachta when allegations and bad publicity and criticism abound throughout the country. I want to say that in his defence. It is not easy for him to make up his mind at this stage what the position really is. Again, in fairness to him, he has not made any public comment, good, bad or indifferent to the media about the events that have taken place in recent times and nobody would know better than he of these events.
On 14 August 1980 a headline in the same newspaper read "Údarás Criticised over Layoffs". Údarás na Gaeltachta was criticised on that occasion by the Labour Court for the way in which it had laid off nine building workers in the Connemara Gaeltacht. The story of that was given in the paper.
On 2 October 1980 a newspaper headline read "Údarás Faced with £800,000 Loss". This referred to the Sinteis Éire Teoranta factory in Carraig in County Donegal and the then chief executive officer said that it was one of the worst collapses that the Authority had ever had to face and involved a large number of jobs in an area that had been starved of employment and ravaged by emigration. The fact that it depended upon the sales ability abroad has similar connotations today. The chief executive officer was clearly upset by the action and indicated the concern of the Údarás at the time to make some amends and to take shares in the operation but the then industrial chiefs wanted the Údarás to take full shares in the industry and it was not felt feasible to do that and so it closed down with the loss of £800,000.
On 21 October the Minister for the Gaeltacht announced new jobs for the Gaeltacht with seven new industrial projects having a potential of 300 jobs in different areas in Gaeltachtaí throughout the country. That was very welcome news indeed.
On 16 December in an article, again in The Irish Times, the new Authority was referred to. The article stated that it was the first move to involved the people of those shrinking areas in Galetacht politics and would be watched with fascination by everybody who believed that local people should be able to play an important role in what emerged as a whole. It went on to say that the western areas had suffered on for years and that the last thing they needed now was unfulfilled promises, that this had been the stock in trade for years but now at least we had national official recognition of the existence of the Gaeltacht. Údarás na Gaeltachta has not been given the opportunity to function as effectively as it can. With a little more inspection of its structure, with a little more recognition by the Government of the need for proper public relations within the Údarás and the Department of the Gaeltacht and its effectiveness, it could be made into a very important and very real body respected by people throughout the length and breadth of the country.
On 1 March 1979 when the Bill was circulated all of these matters were debated and different speakers indicated that the Údarás did not have the necessary powers to do its job, that it was merely a fulfilment of a promise given by the Government prior to that in the 1977 manifesto, that it merely retained the functions of Gaeltarra Éireann under a different guise. Údarás na Gaeltachta has never been allowed to flourish effectively and in so far as I represent the interests of this party I want to see that it gets that chance. As time goes by I hope that we will be able to implement that.
In an article on about 11 April — I do not have the exact date — the chief executive of Údarás na Gaeltachta attacked mischievous people who were trying to do down the Gaeltacht. This was at the formal launching by the Minister, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn, of the Údarás na Gaeltachta foundation for linguistic and cultural development which had come about after an anonymous individual had donated £25,000 to the Údarás to be used in the fostering, development and protection of the language and culture of the Gaeltacht and the enterprises assisted or operated by the Údarás. This allocation of £25,000 by an anonymous individual for such a laudable scheme was very welcome. Údarás na Gaeltachta have not really concentrated on that aspect of their work and the cultural, linguistic and social development of the Gaeltachts have never been advanced either. The Údarás has become bogged down in the competition with the IDA to bring industrial development into the Gaeltacht in an attempt to provide suitable employment based on either foreign or local raw materials for the young people of the Gaeltacht areas.
On 11 April 1981 the then chief executive officer of the Údarás resigned and took up a position with a Japanese machinery firm. At that time rumours abounded about this firm and as to how machinery had become available to different co-operatives and factories along the western seaboard. The resignation of the chief executive officer was greeted with dismay by everybody and he was duly congratulated for the 15 years of dedicated service he had given to the building of the Gaeltacht areas as the head of Gaeltarra Éireann. I say in his defence, that the people now working in factories and industries set up by Gaeltarra Éireann have to be thankful for his energy and devotion to duty at that time.
The new executive of the Údarás took over on 23 June 1981. Since then the queries and the rumours and the allegations have flourished. I have no doubt that that chief executive officer and his staff were faced with enormous problems on taking over the new Údarás because of the effects of the oil recession, international competition and the IDA being unable to bring in the necessary amount of industry to the Gaeltacht areas. They were faced with enormous problems. Looking at the lame ducks which had previously been brought into the Gaeltacht areas, sooner or later a decision had to be taken either to close down these factories or make an effort to keep them going even under half steam. When the change of Government came and the Coalition Government were appointed, queries came before the then Minister for the Gaeltacht, Deputy O'Toole, for tuille airgid, he in his turn began to raise questions as to why this so often should be the case. On 26 January 1982 subsequent to an announcement by the Coalition Government on 8 December 1981 that a public inquiry would be held into the affairs of Údarás na Gaeltachta, a headline appeared in the newspapers concerning the fraud squad being sent in to examine the books and accounts of certain companies under the auspices of Údarás na Gaeltachta. The announcement of an investigation was greeted with dismay in many quarters and questions about it were raised in this House. When the present Aire na Gaeltachta came into office to Roinn na Gaeltachta, dúirt sé nach raibh téarmaí tagartha ar bith le fáil aige, agus nach raibh fhios aige cén caoi a ndeárna an iar-Chomhrialtas an earáid sin go mbéadh fiosrúchán i dtaobh an Údarás.
On 26 January, The Irish Times had a headline that the inquiry must clear doubts on Údarás Fianna Fáil. It continued:
The Fianna Fáil spokeswoman on the Gaeltacht, Mrs. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, said yesterday that if there was a hint of fraud involving Údarás na Gaeltachta, then any investigation of that body should be handled by the gardaí. "Who else would be capable of investigating alleged fraudulent activities in the Údarás" she asked. The government called in the Fraud Squad in the Érin Foods case after allegations were made.
Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn sharply criticised the proposal by the Government to investigate the activities of the Údarás, though now that doubts had been sown, the investigation must go ahead, she said.
The point that the investigations must go ahead is the important point of my argument. A cloud of suspicion has descended on Údarás na Gaeltachta which has stulted and impeded its effectiveness and has not allowed its executive board or its members to function properly, or even the Minister himself. Of all the Ministers for the Gaeltacht who have ever come into this House, the Minister sitting opposite me has surely the most subtle verbal skills of the lot. He is the most vociferous exponent of the art of verbal self-defence when necessity arises. The Irish language supporters can be proud that they have somebody who can talk his way out of any corner if put to it, and often as he has proved in the past, he does not even need a microphone.
Quite clearly, Údarás is potentially very effective, but has not been allowed to do its duty as it should and no member of that board could even attempt to bring an industrialist into a Gaeltacht area to set up because of the trouble with banking loans and so forth. Once allegations, rumours, or even doubts are heard by potential industrialists, they are gone like the wind. It is difficult enough even for the IDA to bring industrialists into the country at present, but faced with the geographical locations of most of our Gaeltacht areas, with their very poor infrastructures, their road systems, power system and water system it is immensely more difficult. The effectiveness of the Údarás is not being helped by the clouds of doubts which have descended on it.
That article went on to state that the criticism of the Údarás had begun with allegations made concerning land deals and innuendoes of fraud against a Gaeltacht newspaper. Since then these issues have been raised on different occasions and they are causing a great deal of concern.
On 27 January, nuair tháinig sí isteach anseo, chuir sí ceist ar an iar-Aire, an Teachta O'Toole, faoin fiosrúcán a bhí le cur ar bun ag an iar-Chomhrialtas, dúirt sí "If the Government believed that there was fiddling going on, the sooner the inquiry got under way the better." Bhí a lán ceisteanna eile aici le cur ar an iar-Aire faoi na téarmaí tagartha a bhí ag an fiosrúchán, faoí na cumhachtaí a bheadh aige agus na baill a bheadh ag freastail air. D'iarr sí freagra ionnas go mbeadh an Teach in ann é seo a phlé.
On 9 and 10 April of this year, The Irish Times again gave a headline that the fraud squad were investigating four Údarás companies. These companies were named and one in particular was dealt with in some detail. The question of the former Minister for the Gaeltacht modifying his stance on the original Government proposal was also dealt with there, as was the fact that the present Minister for the Gaeltacht had given no indication that he would go ahead and a statement has been made by the present Taoiseach that no public inquiry was necessary and as such, that he would not see fit to conduct one.
Ar 18 Aibreán i mbliana chuir an Teachta Begley ceist ar Aire na Gaeltachta faoi na monarchana sna Gaeltachtaí atá follamh. San freagra, tugadh an t-eolas go bhfuil 26 ann.
Most of those factories could not really be called factories as they are quite small. Others have potential projects in view and there are at least ten or 12 which are empty. In that context, the Minister's recent announcement that he intends to curtail the building of advance factories is welcome.
In the Amárach issue of 4 June under the tideal “Cúl Caint” there was the gratuitous defamation of a former Minister of this House, Paddy Lindsay, and on 25 June there was a complete retraction and total withdrawal of the remarks made about this former Minister. Is it in order for a publication receiving some State assistance to participate in that kind of defamation of former Ministers and then issue full-scale apologies?
Deputy John Bruton on 15 February 1979 asked the Minister the action taken in respect of shortcomings and disparities in the accounts of semi-State bodies and recommendations for their improvements, agus tugadh an freagra go raibh áird tugtha orthu sin.
A letter to a Rights Commissioner from Beirtreach Teo. dated 31 May, mentions that the Government have not given the redundancy payments recommended by the Rights Commissioner. This was for the first time. The letter states:
I would like to point out that Beirtreach Teo. is a subsidiary company of Údarás na Gaeltachta and as such depends on the Údarás for finance. The Údarás in turn is funded by the Government and consequently any finance granted to Beirtreach must have prior Government approval.
We had been directed by the Government at the time of the Beirtreach redundancies not to offer monies in excess of the statutory obligation in respect of redundancy payments where such monies would have to be provided by the State. Consequently, I must advise you that the company is not in a position to comply with your recommendation.
The Irish Times on 30 June indicated that the former Minister for the Gaeltacht sat for months on a file which he produced in this House some time ago with reterence to allegations of break-ins and so forth. The former Minister was well able to answer for himself in that instance.
The Sunday Independent of 4 July had a headline “Balance Sheet gap of £8 million Puts Ministers on the Rack”. It refers to Údarás na Gaeltachta's first annual accounts published some 18 weeks ago which showed a discrepancy of approximately £8 million and asked the question: are there others yet to be revealed? It went on to question the fact that again Deputy Begley wanted to know whether the liability was £41,791,000, as contained in the finance accounts, or was this reduced by £6.954 million according to the Údarás Annual Report. It went on to query the methods used by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
As I have said, public perception of Údarás na Gaeltachta has really been sharpened and brought to light by the recent RTE "Today Tonight" programme which dealt with the history of the Gaeltachtaí, the history of the Údarás and went into detail on some land speculative deals particularly in the south of Ireland. Questions were asked of people who had served as Ministers, as members of the Údarás, people who had been involved in co-operative movements and development societies for the Gaeltacht and so on. The fact that over £100 million had been spent by Gaeltarra Éireann over the last 20 years in attempting to industrialise the Gaeltacht is a source of concern. The kernel of this programme seemed to circle around the buying of a portion of land in the south of Ireland for £150,000; whether this was a method of paying individuals to keep liquidity in companies is something I am not quite sure of. The allegations and rumours that abound about this particular land deal need to be clarified by the Minister whose responsibility this is.
The introduction by the Minister last evening of a special preas agallamh i gContae na Gaillimhe, áit a raibh plean an-tábhachtach leagtha amach aige do fhorbairt na Gaeltachtaí sna bliana atá le teacht, was nothing short of really trying to pre-empt discussion in this House. I felt he could have waited 24 more hours to announce his plans for the Gaeltachtaí for the eighties and bring it into this forum where it should be announced by any Minister. The fact that a speedy press conference was called in County Galway and this development announced — which is really a continuation of what was said before with some slight changes — makes one wonder whether the Minister is going back on his initial defence of his position. Indeed it brings into question his reason for putting down an amendment to the motion at all.
I also want clarification from the Minister on whether he is entitled to do this with Údarás na Gaeltachta as, under the Act as laid down, I feel that the Údarás is somewhat independent of the Minister in its activities. One could query the ability of the Údarás to function effectively, whether it is reasonable to have the Secretary of Roinn na Gaeltachta serving as a member of the Údarás itself. It may be worth bearing in mind that the Industrial Development Authority function in a different manner, that they have an executive body, the chairman of the board of which is a member of the executive and the executive is responsible to the board for overall decisions. I want absolute clarification from the Minister on this in his reply.
On the RTE 1 programme "This Week" on 27 June, when asked about the concern about financial malpractices within the Údarás the Minister said that it did concern him a great deal that publicity had been given to it and that he believed that certain aspects warranted investigation by the fraud squad. The Minister's defence of the judicial inquiry call was that it would cause at least two years paralysis of the Údarás, that there would be resultant job losses, and that it would be of enormous cost to the State. The Minister is right in one aspect of that. The Government would do well to look at some sort of interim judicial inquiry in respect of this. The depth of concern of people throughout the length and breadth of the country, their feeling and perception of the Údarás is such that nothing short of a judicial inquiry, with very strict terms of reference, time and cost limits, would be effective.
I want to see Údarás na Gaeltachta as an effective body able to promote the cultural, social and linguistic development of our Gaeltacht areas as is envisaged in the motion put to the European Parliament this morning by the former Minister for the Gaeltacht, Deputy Tom O'Donnell, indicating an action plan for the Gaeltacht which I certainly should like to see implemented and which I should like to see Údarás na Gaeltachta being able to implement. However, they cannot do so under present circumstances. It is simply not fair for any member of the Údarás to have to bear the burden of suspicion, doubt and personal innuendo cast against him in a very competitive area while trying to provide jobs for young people in our Gaeltacht areas.
The Minister for the Gaeltacht challenged the former Minister as to the dates of certain documents, whether he was going to do something about them. I will leave the former Minister to answer that for himself. The Minister then went on to say that the whole thing was double-dealing and double standards as far as Deputy O'Toole was concerned. Beidh an tiar Aire ag caint leis an Aire faoi sin. The Minister said that new regulations have been drawn up which would mean that in effect there would be no unauthorised purchases or sales of land. Does that mean that there was unauthorised purchase or sale of land previously? Does it mean that there was political jobbery to some extent involved in land dealings and transactions by Údarás na Gaeltachta? Does it mean that, on the whole, there were unethical practices carried out by the Údarás on behalf of some people?
I want to remind the Minister that the survival of the Gaeltacht and the language is his responsibility. Accordingly he must respond in defence of himself, in defence of the workers and the people of the Gaeltacht and in defence of the Údarás body which can prove in time to be a really effective body.