At the adjournment last night I referred very briefly to the educational recommendations made in the White Paper. I do not know whether the Minister for Education was in the House or not. I shall refer again very briefly to them. One was that the Irish colleges should be confined to the Gaeltacht, for the reason that they will benefit the teachers that go there, and for that reason. I think, will benefit the Gaeltacht. I also referred to school meals and the necessity for applying them before the Compulsory Act is enforced; to the Training College in Galway, and to the advisability of having an Irish library in each National School, and to the objectionable proposal made by the Minister for Finance that the poor pupils in the Preparatory Schools should be clothed. I think it would finish the Preparatory Schools if there is any trace of pauperism or charity about them. It will be better to give scholarships, even if they were only for £10. The Minister for Agriculture, in dealing with this question, admitted that most of the recommendations were merely palliatives, and that it was merely palliative treatment. I also intend to refer to the palliatives mentioned by the Minister for Agriculture. The first is the Housing Grants which are not availed of in the Gaeltacht for the reason that the schemes are not suitable. There should be a reversion to the housing schemes in force under the Congested Districts Board by which grants were made for roofs and additions to ordinary houses. In the island of Bofin, which is in the Gaeltacht, the roofs that were put on by the Congested Districts Board have now gone rotten, and these people cannot avail of the housing grants at present, and I think there should be a reversion to the old system of giving grants for roofs, and for the purpose of making additions. The Claddagh is the only portion of Galway that I would call Gaillimh. A scheme should be started for re-building in the Gaeltacht, and I think this should apply to the Claddagh in Galway City. The urban council or some other body there are getting a grant, and I hear that this body has shown itself to be an anti-Irish body, and is going to use that grant, not in the Gaeltacht, but to beautify other portions of the city for the benefit of the tourist. I presume they will leave the Claddagh as it was, to be visited and seen by the tourists as a sort of native kraal. Ministers come down as well as tourists, and look at the Claddagh from a char-a-banc point of view—a very old traditional place, and that sort of thing, where the traditions of the Gael have remained. But it is a most insanitary spot, and the one place in Galway where buildings should be down. One of the things mentioned was a central depot that should be set up as soon as possible. I attributed the failure of the lace schools at Galway to want of a central depot. The manageresses at places like Carraroe, Rossmuck, Tirconaill and Kerry, find it difficult to travel to get sales for stuff, and at the same time to run small establishments.
I think that when a central depôt is started in Dublin with a manager to look after supplies and sales that these lace and knitting schools will become a paying proposition. There is another point and it is with regard to reafforestation. The Minister for Agriculture tries to have it both ways. He is reported to have said that reafforestation is no good in the Gaeltacht because the land is not suitable, but when he brings in his Forestry Bill he says that he wants land of very little agricultural value for it. The land in the Gaeltacht is suitable for reafforestation and for nothing else. Estates owned by Mr. Benidge. Screen; Mr. Bruce Ismay, and one by Ranji, as well as lands in various other places in the West are well planted. Therefore, I do not see why a scheme of afforestation could not be started in Connemara. It is really the only thing feasible in these places. Carrigeen and kelp are not dealt with very much in this White Paper. Some years ago I got into touch with some firms in New York. The highest price we got for carrigeen was £75 a ton. All it brings in the Gaeltacht is a shilling a stone. It has to undergo certain processes before you get such a big price as £75 a ton. Thirty pounds or forty pounds a ton is about the usual price. I think some steps should be taken by the Government to see that these processes are carried out. Steps should also be taken to see if it would be possible to set up a kelp factory.
There is nothing said about a mineralogical survey. We know that there is limestone in the Gaeltacht. We know that there are lead quarries, marble, granite and limestone quarries in Connemara. We are not induced to believe from this Report that anything is going to be done in the direction of developing these quarries. One thing that is mentioned in connection with migration in this Report is the peat-cutting industry. There is a very extensive area of turf in South Connemara, but it is impossible to get at it except by boat. The piers along the south coast have fallen down. I asked the Minister for Fisheries some time ago if he would consider the advisability of rebuilding some of these piers, especially the one at Knock. If that pier were rebuilt 50 boatmen would get employment, while hundreds of people would be employed in the turf cutting. These of course are what the Minister for Agriculture would call palliatives for the Gaeltacht.
The two most important items in the Gaeltacht Report are shelved completely in the White Paper. One is migration, and the second fisheries. There was a debate here some time ago on the motion to amalgamate the Land Commission with the Department of Fisheries and on putting the Gaeltacht in charge of the Department of Fisheries. I objected to that at the time. I was told by the Minister for Local Government that I was merely putting a red herring on the trail, and that I was not giving any reasons why the Department of Fisheries should not be put in charge of the Gaeltacht. We all know that the Department of Fisheries is the most inefficient Department in this Government.
