I move:—
That the Seanad requests the Executive Council to cause an examination to be made of the tidal inlets in County Dublin with a view to ascertaining—
(a) the acreage of land capable of reclamation in such inlets or any of them;
(b) the cost of such reclamation;
(c) the proportion of such cost that would be expended in labour and the relief of unemployment afforded thereby; and
(d) the value of the reclaimed land for agricultural or forestry purposes.
I have been told, a Chathaoirligh, that this motion would be more suitable for discussion before the Dublin County Council and that, if I intended to have it discussed in this House, I should have included the coastline of the whole country. That, possibly, is correct in other circumstances, but my reason for definitely naming the coastline of County Dublin is that the Board of Works issued an invitation for suggestions as to relief schemes in any particular place. That was my reason for the motion and, furthermore, that as this coastal reclamation, as far as the Government is concerned at all events, must be only an experiment, I believed that the County Dublin would be the best place to try out that experiment. I have been told also that my resolution is too vague and that I should have put down more definite requests to the Government to start work on this scheme immediately. I do not think, however, that the putting of the resolution in that form would have any greater effect.
My object is to point out how unemployment can be relieved and to induce the Government to adopt a scheme which will give a return for the money expended on it; a scheme which will secure hundreds of acres of valuable land which will be a national asset for forestry and agricultural purposes. The coastline of County Dublin must be familiar to most citizens, and I am sure that it has occurred to them, as it has occurred to me, how easy it seems to reclaim a very big stretch of land along that coast, particularly as the inlets in many cases are very small. It would secure hundreds of acres of very valuable land, which has been done in other parts of the country. If you look along that coast, you will see that, when the tides are in, there is a big stretch of country completely covered with water, and that when the tide is out there is nothing but a stretch of land covered with mud and with very little water in any part of it. When you think of that, it is very difficult to understand why the reclamation of that land has not been undertaken by private enterprise long before now.
There are many places along the coast which could be reclaimed, but I shall only refer to two in the County Dublin, and they are Malahide and Rogerstown. The inlets in those places are very narrow, and I am sure that hundreds of acres could be reclaimed with a very small outlay. Coastal reclamation is not new. It has been carried out in most of the countries of Europe, notably Holland. Thousands of acres have been reclaimed in that country along the banks of the Zuyder Zee. In Southern Italy the whole new province of Littoria has been created from reclaimed land under the Mussolini régime. In England reclamation work is going on in the Fen district, and a scheme is being prepared to reclaim the whole area of the Wash. In this country we have somewhere about 5,000 acres of land reclaimed in the County Wexford. Previous to that reclamation, that area was a whole stretch of mud-banks, but now that 5,000 acres is the most fertile grazing land in the country.
The Government and public authorities are paying thousands of pounds in relief every week to able-bodied men who cannot find work. This unemployment benefit—this free beef and free milk—no matter how you describe it, must always bear the stamp of charity. It is demoralising and should be stopped, and work, as far as possible, should be found for those able-bodied men. Irish labourers, up to now at least, never wanted charity and never would accept it. In my native county, in my young days, even the poorest of the poor would sooner starve than accept outdoor relief. I am afraid, however, that times are changing and if this system of unemployment relief, and free beef and free milk, continues, it will not be work that the labourers will be looking for, and it is not work that they will accept. They will try to continue to live on relief and it is not work that they will look for. Neither will their children look for work, but they will follow the example of their fathers and live on charity and relief.
President Roosevelt has correctly described this policy of doling out unemployment relief to able-bodied men as a narcotic and a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. That is also the opinion of all thinking people. There are many schemes which could be adopted to relieve unemployment and which would give a return for the money expended upon them. I have in mind such schemes as the draining of waterlogged land and the planting of shelter belts. Under present circumstances drainage and other work on the farm cannot possibly be undertaken by the farmers. They have no money to pay even for necessary work. I think that sort of work should be assisted in some way by the Government. As regards the hundreds of thousands of acres throughout the country that are waterlogged, it might be advisable if the Government initiated a system of drainage and I am sure most farmers would be satisfied to pay portion of the money that would be expended, in the shape of increased annuities.
There are other schemes which could be undertaken, such as giving portion of the wages which the farmer would expend on work over and above the ordinary routine business on his farm, work such as scouring ditches and other things of that sort. If a farmer were to employ men who are at present getting unemployment relief, as distinct from those who are his constant workmen, he should get portion of the wages he would pay to those people. Anything would be better than this policy of paying men to remain idle. They could adopt some scheme whereby men getting unemployment relief would be given three days' work at something more than the prevailing agricultural rate. I appeal to the Government to initiate some scheme to relieve unemployment and put an end to the demoralising effect that the dole is bringing about all over the country.