asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he is aware that there are fifty-one men with ninety-nine dependents in the town of Leixlip, County Kildare, who have been unemployed for periods of from six to twelve months; that more than eighty per cent. of this number are not in receipt of home-assistance or unemployment insurance benefit, and whether he will, in order to relieve the great distress that prevails in the town, consider the awarding of a grant out of the £150,000 Relief Vote to give employment on a scheme of afforestation on a piece of waste land in the vicinity, and also the improvement by widening and grading of a very dangerous hill on the Leixlip-Dunboyne road, on which several serious and three fatal accidents have occurred in recent years.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - UNEMPLOYMENT IN KILDARE.
I am not aware whether the facts are as stated in the first part of the question. An application from the local authorities in County Kildare for a grant for financing schemes for relief of unemployment will be fully considered in conjunction with applications from other areas. Any representations concerning afforestation would more appropriately be addressed to the Department of Agriculture.