In connection with the Committee on Unemployment I should like to indicate to the Dáil that on the 16th inst. I stated the Terms of Reference to the Committee and mentioned the names of nine gentlemen who had consented to act. Since then Mr. William Dinan, Leitrim Yards, Cork, and Mr. Richard Wilson, Ballyknocken House, Rathdrum, have kindly accepted an invitation to join the Committee. That completes the personnel of the Committee. The first meeting has been arranged for Friday next.
COMMITTEE ON UNEMPLOYMENT.
Would the President consider favourably the suggestion that the unemployed themselves should be represented on the Committee?
Arising out of what the President said with regard to the Unemployment Committee, may I take it that this Committee will report to the Executive Council from time to time in respect to the different schemes for the relief of unemployment that will be considered by them, and do I take it that the Executive Council will act, if they are going to act, immediately upon these recommendations. I put this question in view of the fact that it is possible that this House may adjourn to-morrow for a considerable time.
I submit it is scarcely a fair question to put. In the first place, I would not like to interfere with the discretion of the Committee in the matter of their recommendations. If the Committee makes recommendations that the Executive Council think can be carried into effect, I will say that the Executive Council will carry them into effect. But it is prejudging the matter to ask me to anticipate a number of reports from the Committee. It may be that the Committee will only issue a final report; I cannot say.
I think the President has misunderstood my question. The Committee will consider several schemes for the immediate relief of unemployment. If the Committee considers a certain scheme submitted to it to-morrow, and decides that it is a good scheme, they should report upon it to the Executive and not wait to consider all the schemes which might take six months.
Is it not a matter for the discretion of the Committee? It is a responsible Committee, with a remarkably good personnel.
I am not disputing that. That remains to be told.
Having regard to that, is it not, to some extent, anticipating their sphere of activity if we tell them what we expect? I think the Committee having in mind the discussions that took place here on unemployment—I am not making any aspersion upon its relevancy or anything like that—but taking into account that the Dáil spent a considerable number of hours discussing it, they will be alive to the necessity of dealing with the matter as promptly as possible.
I do not want the President to think that I am dictating to the Committee, but I want to have it understood that as this House is going to adjourn for three months almost, something should be done in the meantime.
The fact of the adjournment would not prejudice the report of the Committee.
No. That is not prejudicing them in any way.
Will the President inform us whether this Committee will be prepared to take evidence from the various parties interested in the unemployment question?
That is really asking me to interpret for the Committee their terms of reference. I think the constitution of the Committee is a sufficient guarantee of its capacity to deal with the problem that it has been set up to solve.
Does the President not consider my question worthy of an answer?
The Deputy asks me to have persons representative of the unemployed upon the Committee. The Committee has been set up bearing in mind the problem that it is called upon to solve, and not to find out whether or not there is unemployment.
Would not Deputy Morrissey's point be met if the Committee were instructed to submit interim reports as they deal with the various branches of the subject? If it was an instruction to the Committee not to wait until they had dealt with the whole field of unemployment, but to make interim reports from time to time, it would meet the difficulty.
That is my point.
I do not desire to influence the Committee in any way. The Deputy will find one or two persons on the Committee that his counsel may persuade to get the Committee to do what he desires. As far as the Executive is concerned, it desires to give the Committee as free a hand as possible in the circumstances. If in its wisdom it submits a number of reports the Executive Council will welcome them. If, on the other hand, there is a single report only, the Executive Council will be satisfied.
No one asked the President to interfere with the Committee in their work, but surely there is nothing wrong in conveying to the Committee that it is the wish of the House that they should make interim reports. In other words, if they consider a certain scheme worthy of recommendation, they should report to the Executive Council immediately and not hold it up until they have considered other schemes. There is nothing wrong in the Executive Council making that recommendation to the Committee.
If they desire to send in separate reports we would be willing to accept and receive them. I ask the Deputy to bear in mind the fact that we are giving the Committee terms of reference and we do not want to modify or affect in any way the terms of that reference.
If the Committee is in a position to issue a report on the matters that they consider urgent, would there be money at the disposal of the Government to carry out the recommendations of the Committee before the Dáil meets again?
Money at whose disposal?
Will the Government be in a position to accept the recommendations of this Committee before the Dáil meets again, or will they have to wait to report to the Dáil?
I would not like that the Deputy should press me on that. He realises that the Executive has no money at its disposal other than that voted by the House, but the resources of civilisation are not exhausted.
Will the President state why he thinks it necessary that the Dáil should adjourn until next spring?
That is another question that we can deal with later.
I suggest the President should be careful, inasmuch as the amount of money voted in this connection is rather small—£150,000. The President should be careful inasmuch as one scheme might be adopted which would take a big slice out of that amount and it might not be the best scheme at all. The argument is that the first scheme considered should be acted upon, even though it was not the best scheme put up.
No, that is not the argument.
This Committee has nothing whatever to do with the £150,000.
I am talking about the recommendations the Committee may make.
The Deputy does not know what he is talking about.