asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he has received complaints regarding the defective ventilation of the colliery at Wolfhill and its consequent serious effect upon the output of the mine workers there, as well as upon the health of the miners; if he can state the date of the last inspection, the nature of the inspector's report, and what steps have been or are being taken to enable the mine workers to perform their duties under reasonably fair conditions.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - VENTILATION OF LEIX COLLIERY.
No complaints about defective ventilation at Wolfhill Colliery were received, but certain information was obtained unofficially some time ago that the workers were complaining on this point. Officials of the Department visited Wolfhill and went into the matter of these complaints with the management of the mine. It was recognised that there had been some difficulty in this matter, but the steps which were being taken to remedy defects were fully explained, and the Department was satisfied at the time that all that could be done was being done. No formal inspection report was made.
The difficulties in carrying on the collieries are primarily of an economic kind, and questions of ventilation have little or no bearing on them.
The possibility of carrying on the collieries is, as the Deputy knows, being inquired into, and should it prove practicable, the proper conditions for working will, of course, require to be secured.
Will the Minister state definitely what he is asked in the question, namely: what was the date of the final inspection that he refers to? Is he aware that it is impossible under the conditions complained of for miners to remain underground for more than two hours? How can he expect eight hours' output from two hours' work?
I am afraid I cannot give the date of the last inspection, but I have said that reports have been made by certificated men who have been actually at the mine. I may further state that the mine was recently inspected by one of the highest mining authorities, and no comment whatever was made on the state of ventilation in the mine. I have heard complaints that the state of ventilation was such that men could not work for more than two hours, but that fact, and its continuous existence, if it did exist at all, does not seem to have prevented the men from going down the mine under the present arrangements.
Is the Minister aware that under the conditions existing at the moment men have been carried to the surface in a fainting condition? Is not that a state of affairs that should be remedied?
I am not aware that men have been carried to the surface in a fainting condition. The only point I inquired into, with regard to physical condition was in regard to a statement made in a letter to a paper and which a certain journal in this city, contrary to its usual custom, wrote a leading article on. The statement was made that the men were physical wrecks in the neighbourhood. I have been unable to discover any trace of the physical wrecks alluded to.
Because you are unaware of the date of the last inspection and cannot produce the report.