The motion I have to move reads as follows:—
"Whereas, the existence of large numbers of unemployed men and women in rural and urban areas is a grievous social and economic loss to the Commonwealth and constitutes a danger to the State, it is the opinion of the Dáil that Ministers should without delay lay before the Dáil any plans they have prepared for dealing with the problem in the event of either
(1) a peaceful issue of the present strife at an early date, or
(2) a continuance of armed opposition to the Government."
I consider, A Chinn Comhairle, that a duty lies with Ministers to explain to the Dáil what is in their mind, what are they proposing to do to deal with this problem of unemployment, in either of these two positions they may be placed in? It may be said we cannot do anything in the present circumstances, or we can do very little until we know what is our financial position, what is our military position, what is our political position? But I submit, it is necessary, before the winter comes upon us, that we should know what is in the mind of the Government, whether there is peace, or whether there is to be a continuance of warfare? A couple of days ago, the Minister for Education said something about the rights of the parent being superior to the rights of the State; that the parent did not exist for the State, or the citizen did not exist for the State. That the State existed for the citizen. I subscribe to that doctrine to the full. "The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack," and while it is true that the citizen does not exist for the State— the parent does not exist for the State— the contrary is true; the State exists for the citizen. One is the complement of the other, and the citizen would not be a citizen, unless there were a community in which he could live and of which he forms a part. But I want that doctrine applied generally. I want the Ministers and Members of the Dáil, and the public, to bear in mind always that the welfare of the citizen is the end of all these political and economic activities, and that we must not think of the citizen, the workman, as something that is available for promoting the prosperity of the country, as some item that might be used for the promotion of trade and commerce; but that trade and commerce and civic rights that we have been talking about, all exist for the promotion of the well-being of the citizen. If we have that in mind, we will see the necessity of making provision for the well-being of that citizen, and that the economic arrangements shall be so directed as to ensure that the citizen shall have the opportunity to make the best use of his abilities, his strength of mind and body, his experience, to help to build up the Commonwealth. It was well to hear the Minister for Education indicate that in his view the State existed to promote the well-being of the citizen, because coming from one who has been to the forefront in promoting the idea of Nationality it shows that in his mind, at any rate, the ideas that surround this notion of the Nation are all associated with the well-being of the individual, and the counterpart of that idea in politics is the idea of collectivism in ecomics. I am not one of those who want to spread the idea of collectivism or the idea of Nationalism, to such an extent as to make collectivism appear pure State Socialism, or Nationalism or Nationality, or pure jingoism. There is a place for both, but we must always bear in mind the object ultimately is the production of good citizens, bright-eyed, happy-hearted human beings. This may seem a little bit apart from the resolution, but I want to submit it is not at all apart from the resolution, and if you subscribe to the doctrine I am trying to suggest, that you must make a deliberate and direct attempt to save this mass of the people from the contamination that results from unemployment, from the deterioration, the demoralisation that unemployment entails. Therefore, it is the direct duty of Ministers to devise plans for dealing with this problem forthwith and lay their plans before the Dáil and before the country, so that we may know there is something afoot, and that Ministers are not relegating this problem to the chances of commercial speculation, but that they are deliberately contriving to so order the communal life as to ensure that men, women, and children shall be able to live as decent citizens. I want to suggest, too, that this country knows something of the problems that surround the land question, and land-hunger, the desire to have sufficient land to ensure a livelihood and to ensure security. I believe that the ultimate impulse, that accounts for this land hunger, is the desire for security; for a feeling that, at any rate, whether a man requires my services or not, whether I am going to be employed by others or not, I am always going to be secure for food, because I have the land that I can grow sufficient food upon. That, I contend, is the urge that has led men in this country, and has led men in most countries, to desire sufficient land to maintain themselves. I think our purpose in the communal life should be to ensure also that the security the community gives should be available for the man who is not a land worker; and that if we can provide the working-class citizen with this security, with the feeling that at any rate, so long as he is willing to give his services, he will at least be guaranteed the opportunity for a decent livelihood, with the sense of security which the community ought to give to the individual, we would solve very many problems, and incidentally would remove many of the difficulties that critics of trade unionism apply to trade unionism. The real reason for these difficulties lies in the absence of security, the feeling that men must protect their opportunities for future employment. I want to impress upon Ministers that they have a duty to bring forward to the Dáil their plans—if they have plans—and to confess that they have no plans, if they have no plans, for dealing with unemployment during this coming winter. The only indication we have had up to now, that there was any thinking about the future in this respect, has been from the Minister for Defence. Evidently in his mind, or in the mind of his advisers, there has developed the idea of using military men for constructive work. Now, it is possible to develop that idea wisely, but it is very dangerous to utilise the military machine, as a military machine, within the civil organisation. I do not want to develop any criticism on that line just now. I want to utter this warning: that it will lead to disaster if the Minister for Defence is going to develop certain ideas in regard to employment of unemployed men, and the Minister for Agriculture is to develop another idea to the same purpose, and the Minister for Economic Affairs, or Industry and Commerce is to work upon a different line. It is essential that whatever is done, or whatever is thought, about these problems ought to be co-related and co-ordinated, and should be part of a general plan, and there should not only be co-operation of the various departments, but that those who are able to speak for the organised workers in the various industries should also be brought into consultation, to discuss, and, if possible, arrive at, common agreement in regard to these problems. I do not know what the latest figures are; I suppose the official figures of the number of registered unemployed men and women would be round about 50,000 in these 26 Counties. There are, perhaps, 20,000 more who are not registered. One cannot arrive at an exact figure, but there are certainly many thousands of unemployed men and women throughout the country who are not registered, and of whom there is no account. I want to suggest two or three lines upon which Ministers might set their minds working. Perhaps when they come to reply, they will show us that they have already been working on these particular lines. There are hints, of course, that afforestation is under consideration. I hope it has gone past the stage of suggestion and has come to the stage of almost practical application. There is a particular suggestion that I want to make, and emphasise, in regard to urban workers more particularly. It is that the Technical Schools—the machinery of the Technical Schools—ought to be utilised for the training and improving in the technique and the craftsmanship of a particular workman, or the training in elementary forms, perhaps in newer industries and occupations of people who are receiving unemployed benefit. I believe it would be an economic act, and a social benefit, if the unemployed pay were increased, conditional upon certain hours in the week being given to training in Technical Schools on technical work. This might be said to apply more particularly to women workers, and it would be a very good thing for the women and for the community if there was some attempt at training in many domestic activities, of the recipients of unemployed benefit. The demoralisation that goes along with unemployment pay, and no work of any kind, is a positive loss to the community. It would be a positive benefit if there was a duty attached to the receipt of these unemployment benefits. I submit it would be well for Ministers to look ahead a little bit and to consider the value that would be gained from some added technical training as a condition of receiving the increased unemployment pay. I believe, I am sure, it is desirable and necessary that the unemployment pay should be very greatly increased, and along with that increase, there should be provided an opportunity for the training of the faculties of the recipient for doing practical work of a socially productive character. We know the problem of housing, and it is no use dealing with that at this moment, but there is one aspect of public work that might be taken in hand by Ministers, and that is to urge upon local authorities and upon private employers, perhaps with the aid of the Nation's credit, such as it is, to promote regularisation of employment, to look ahead and consider what the prospects are for employment in a particular trade, and if we have exceptional slackness now and a certain demand for particular work to be done in a year's time, we ought to encourage that work to be done now instead of waiting for the year to pass. There is certain work which is normally done in the summer that could just as well be done, at perhaps a little extra cost, in the winter time. You have trades like painting where there is an immense amount of overtime work in the summer, and a general universal slackness in the winter. Very much of that work can be done in the winter time if a deliberate attempt is made to regularise that seasonal work. I think the Local Government Department and the Ministry for Industry could do a good deal in that direction in quite a number of trades. They are attempting to organise the purchases of local governing bodies. It is possible to look ahead and to say that certain Institutions will undoubtedly require so many thousand articles of a particular class next August. We are hoping that there will be an improvement in trade by next August, and we ought to be willing to bank upon that faith, and to say "these things that you require next August can be ordered now, and we will take some risk as a State; we will take some risk to support you in the ordering of these goods at this particular time, when things are slack, and so promote the regularisation of Industry and the relief of the unemployed." I have no doubt much stress will be laid upon financial difficulties, and I am going to risk making a suggestion which may be proved to be utterly fallacious and impossible. But I would like it to be proved impossible, before I believe it is impossible. I want to suggest to the Minister for Finance that a good deal could be done to promote general employment in the country if in the payment of public funds to men in the Army and in the public services, and more particularly if they are thinking, as I hope they will, of increasing unemployment pay, to make that increase, or at any rate a proportion of it, only cashable in the purchase of Irish-manufactured goods. My proposition is that the Ministry should consider the issue of some form of Treasury Note— some form of cheque or bank order—or whatever form it may take. Small sums in such orders, cheques or Treasury Notes, will only be cashable by the bank—I hope it will be a National or a State Bank, as it ought to be—on presentation by a manufacturer, on a panel, who subscribes to certain conditions with regard to the use of Irish manufactured articles, as well as the employment of labour under fair Trade Union conditions. I believe that such a process, as I am hinting at, might possibly add to the cost and might possibly limit the purchasing power to some extent. I believe it would be so small a reduction in its purchasing power, and would have such immense effect, that it would give such a fillip to the production of goods, with consequent necessary employment of Irish Labour, as to be worthy of the increased cost, and the increased cost would very soon be eliminated. I throw that out as a suggestion; I think it is worth analysing and considering. I want the Ministers to tell us what plans they have made, in view of the possibility of continued strife and warfare, and what plans they have made in view of the possibility of an early peace? It is no use relying entirely upon the prospects that, given peace, all kinds of private enterprise would be set going, and everything would be blooming and beautiful. That has not been the experience of other countries after peace. We have got to look ahead, and to look ahead in view of various possibilities. I want to submit that this problem of unemployment will have to be dealt with in a dozen different ways, and if the Government is prepared to deal with it, and deal with it boldly, that it will have considerable effect in bringing about that peace which we all desire. I beg to propose the motion.
