I move the adjournment of the Dáil until 12 o'clock to-morrow.
DÁIL IN COMMITTEE. - UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE FREE STATE.
My desire in raising the question of unemployment and the application of the Act recently passed and its effects upon the workers of this country is not with the intention of asking the Government to revert to the dole system in its entirety. I never did agree with the dole system as such, but I do think that everyone will agree that the bona fide worker in this country is entitled to State protection when he meets with conditions over which he has no control, such as have existed in the last 5 or 6 years. Everyone will agree that there has been great trade depression in this country for the past 5 or 6 years, and I do not think the seriousness of the unemployment menace can be exaggerated. In the various trades in this country there were many men employed continuously since the Unemployment Insurance Act came into operation in 1912 up to, I suppose, 1920. The majority of skilled workers, at any rate, during that period were continuously employed and had contributions for that eight years. About 1920 trade depression set in, with the result that a lot of these men who were anxious for work became unemployed and are at present unemployed. That is not their fault; it is their misfortune. Owing to the effect of the Act passed this year the majority of these men are out of benefit. Under this Act, unless a man has been practically continuously employed between May and October of this year, he is out of benefit. I think everybody will consider that this is a great hardship, and unless the Government are prepared to do something to help bona fide workers who are anxious to secure employment, and to relieve these unfortunate people and their families, I feel sure that you are going to have a situation created in this country that none of us desire. I am not making anything in the nature of a threat, but I do think that it will not be easy to control the unemployed people in this country.
From time to time we see statistics published which are supposed to emanate from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and which show a decrease in the figures of unemployment. Those figures are, so far as I know, entirely misleading.
Anyone who is not in touch with the situation will consider that these figures represent the number of unemployed in the Irish Free State. That is not so. These figures are based upon the number of people who are drawing unemployment benefit. The position so far as unemployment in this country is concerned is very little better than it was twelve months ago. According to the figures one would think that the number of unemployed is decreasing. Unfortunately that is not a fact. It is the application and the effects of the recently passed Unemployment Act which makes those figures appear so small. I think it is only right that the Government should give this matter serious consideration. During the progress of the Unemployment Act through the Dáil, I think Mr. Whelehan, who piloted it, stated specifically that he expected a revival of trade in or about the month of October. The inference I drew from that statement, and that Deputies on the Labour Benches drew, was that the Government expected, there would be such a revival of trade in October last, that there would be no necessity to pay benefit on such a scale as heretofore. Unfortunately that has not been realised and we are in the position of having as many unemployed, if not more in some centres, than we had then. I hope the Government will give the matter their serious attention. I know very well that the commitments of the Government in that direction are already very large. At the same time, I think, that the success of the State should not always be measured perhaps by finance, but rather by the moral and the health of the people.
I daresay that there are at least 400 people unemployed to-day in practically every town in the Free State— 400 bread-winners. If you multiply that by four it amounts to 1,600. I am sure there are 50,000 people to-day in the Free State who are on the verge of starvation because of the serious menace of unemployment. I am sure every Deputy is alive to the situation, and it is up to them all, if they want the Free State to develop, as it should, to see that the health of the people is looked after, because you cannot have a healthy nation with so much unemployment in it, and this cannot be done if these people are not in a position to procure something, even if it is only the Dole, to provide food for themselves and their families.
The raising of this matter at such short notice has taken me at a considerable disadvantage. I have been aware for several months past of the large number of unemployed in the State, and during the greater part of that period have been engaged with the Minister for Industry and Commerce in seeing how far it was possible, within the limited means at our disposal, to deal with it. We have had many conferences, sometimes with employers, sometimes with representatives of Labour, both unofficial. We have come to the conclusion that there is an earnest desire on the part of both to come to some sort of accommodation which might make it possible to benefit skilled and unskilled workers as far as is reasonably possible.
We have not yet completed our investigations, and I hope within a few days to be able to make a statement on the subject generally. I certainly am not in a position to make a pronouncement on it this evening. I should like to say, however, that, as far as the State is concerned, I am afraid that as regards Unemployment Insurance we have reached the limit of our resources. I think the Fund is in debt to something like £750,000, and I do not know that it was the intention of the framers, or of anybody, that a situation such as that should arise. I do not know whether the Deputy was aware of the fact that we have been considering this matter very closely for a long time past. Only this week I have had interviews with the two parties I have mentioned, but I am not in a position at present to make any statement further than to say that the Government is certainly alive to the necessity for the making of some special effort by all parties to effect a solution that will not place an undue strain on the resources of the State.
The Dáil adjourned at 8.40 p.m. till 12 o'clock, on Friday, December 7th.