Look it up and see. There are certain services for which we would like to see money provided on a much more lavish scale than it has been provided heretofore, and in respect of which we would place no limit upon the amount the Minister for Finance might seek to secure. The service of housing is a case in point. Apart from the wisdom of embarking upon large development schemes during a time of depression and unemployment, and for that purpose borrowing money, the social need of improved housing is so great that the problem should be faced as one of first magnitude, and all the resources of the State, if necessary, should be mobilised in order to solve it. The census of 1926 showed that housing conditions in the Free State area were probably as bad as, if not worse than, in most other countries in Europe. In that year some 55,000 houses were shown to be needed for the proper accommodation of the people of this country. Again and again we have tried to make the Dáil realise its duty in connection with that matter. I have frequently tried to impress upon the minds of Deputies that in the city in which we are meeting there are 68,000 human beings living in dwellings that have been described in the cold official phrase as "unfit for human habitation and incapable of being made so fit." I would like if I could to make every Deputy here repeat those figures and words so that they would become impressed upon his mind.
Despite the fact that this great housing problem faces us the Government appears to be absolutely indifferent to it. They have secured the erection, since 1922, of 17,830 houses. The need is 50,000 houses. Of the houses which have been built under the Housing Acts only 31 per cent. are situated in urban districts where they are most urgently required. The number of families living in single rooms in tenement dwellings in Dublin has increased by 5 per cent. since this Government came into office. The Government's only reaction to the publication of the housing figures ascertained by the census was to reduce the amount hitherto available for the encouragement of building. The number of houses built under the Housing Acts in 1929 was 2,733, which figure is to be compared with 3,644 built in 1927. It cannot be argued that houses are not being built more rapidly because the resources are not available. There are lying derelict in this country deposits, which are not being worked, of the materials required for the construction of houses. Unemployment amongst the skilled building trade operatives is rapidly increasing. In 1926 there were 891 skilled building trade operatives unemployed, and in 1929 that figure had increased to 1,286, an increase of 44 per cent. in the three years. To deal properly with a problem of that kind borrowing is necessary. We cannot finance any adequate housing schemes out of revenue. We cannot possibly get such a scheme under way so long as we are content merely to give small building grants to private individuals or local governing bodies. If we are going to get the houses that are urgently needed constructed within the next ten years the State must undertake the job as a State job. There must be some authority established by the State, financed and controlled by the Government, given all the necessary powers either to engage directly in the building of these houses or to arrange for their construction under contract.
If there was a great disaster here, a great flood, a great earthquake or a great fire, as a result of which 68,000 people in one city had to live in conditions unfit for human habitation, we would all agree that no effort should be spared to repair the damage as quickly as possible and provide proper accommodation for these people. There has not been a great disaster, but we nevertheless have that number of people living in dwellings unfit for human habitation. The attitude of the Government towards this matter appears to be one of callous indifference. For the borrowing of money to finance housing operations on a large scale there would be unanimous approval from all sections. For the borrowing of money to balance the Budget and meet recurrent expenditure there can be nothing except criticism.
If there was a great disaster here, a great flood, a great earthquake or a great fire, as a result of which 68,000 people in one city had to live in conditions unfit for human habitation, we would all agree that no effort should be spared to repair the damage as quickly as possible and provide proper accommodation for these people. There has not been a great disaster, but we nevertheless have that number of people living in dwellings unfit for human habitation. The attitude of the Government towards this matter appears to be one of callous indifference. For the borrowing of money to finance housing operations on a large scale there would be unanimous approval from all sections. For the borrowing of money to balance the Budget and meet recurrent expenditure there can be nothing except criticism.
When Deputy MacEntee described the Government's borrowing policy as a reckless one, he was expressing an opinion held by a number of other people in this country. It is a haphazard policy proceeding from day to day and not based upon any considered plan. Deputy O'Connell referred to certain remarks of Deputy MacEntee concerning the steps taken by the Revenue Commissioners to collect arrears of income tax. We have no sympathy with anyone who has tried to defraud the revenue, but we want to see the Revenue Commissioners operating under the law as laid down by the Dáil. The point raised by Deputy MacEntee was that in certain respects the Revenue Commissioners were so straining their powers as in effect to be acting in an illegal manner. That opinion is not merely held by Deputy MacEntee; it is held by a very large number of the most eminent senior counsel in Ireland. If Deputy O'Connell has any doubt on that matter let him consult some of them. There is, in fact, in legal circles an impression that the Revenue Commissioners have taken to themselves powers which no statute, either of this Parliament or the British Parliament ever gave them. We are also concerned with the fact that because of the drastic methods that they applied in some cases industries have been closed down and the unemployment problem aggravated. Whatever might be the justice of forcing from certain industrialists the arrears of tax which they did not pay, expediency should also be taken into account, and if the forcing of the tax from them will result in the collapse of their industries, then expediency would show that it should not be done and some arrangement for deferred payment should be made which would enable the industries to keep operating.
Attempts have been made by many Cumann na nGaedheal speakers at public meetings to twist a certain speech made by me and a speech made by Deputy O'Kelly into an attack upon the Third National Loan. The speech which I made and which was so criticised was one in which I gave figures, taken from official Government publications, to show that since 1922 the area under every crop has substantially declined and that, simultaneous with the decline in the tillage area, the number of cattle of all classes has decreased also. Is it seriously suggested that this State's credit stands so low that it cannot possibly borrow money except on false pretences and by the suppression of relevant information that the people should have? That apparently was the idea that animated the writers in the "Irish Independent" who addressed themselves to this matter. I do not know what idea animated certain others who spoke, except perhaps a desire to say something that the "Independent" would publish.
The Third National Loan was a good investment; Deputy MacEntee has adequately demonstrated that fact. I think he has even proved that the State is paying more for the money it is getting than it need pay under existing market conditions. Because it was a good investment it was fully subscribed. If the Government now want to redeem their prognostications and send that loan over par let the Minister for Finance, in concluding this debate, announce an early general election. I quite seriously suggest that the country was not perturbed by the publication of the statistics relating to the decline of agricultural production, because it knew that in a very short time a serious effort would be made to repair the damage done. In any case, a comparison between the agricultural situation of to-day and the agricultural situation in 1922 will at least serve the purpose of showing the scope for improvement that exists. If we boast that as a result of our policy the area under tillage will be increased within twelve months by 213,000 acres, then we are merely claiming that we can reproduce in 1930 the situation that actually existed in 1922, before the blighting effects of this Government came into operation.
I can understand members of Cumann na nGaedheal being anxious to suppress the information which official publications give concerning the effect of their government. It is no pleasure to the Minister for Agriculture or to the Minister for Finance to learn that productive enterprise here has been almost sterilised by their incompetence and inefficiency. The whole country can recognise that incompetence now by its results. It is for that reason I say that the Third National Loan will probably jump over par on the day on which any Minister announces the early approach of a general election. The early approach of a general election will mean the exit of this Government from office. The money raised by the Third National Loan was required in the main to meet commitments already entered into and which any Government would have had to honour. I am aware that certain Cumann na nGaedheal speakers, either by direct statement or by insinuations, have attempted to convey the impression that a Fianna Fáil Government would repudiate one or other of the National Loans, and some Labour Party speakers were not slow in following that example. Those statements are, of course, untrue, but I doubt if there is any use in trying to impress upon the minds of those who uttered them that they are doing irreparable damage, not to the Fianna Fáil Party, but to the credit of the State, by making them. Supporters of Fianna Fáil do not believe these statements, but there are people who know very little about Fianna Fáil who are inclined to believe them, and who, consequently, believe that a financial crisis will follow a change in the majority of this House.
Deputies must reconcile themselves to the fact that that change is going to take place, and if they are anything more than party politicians, if they have any desire to serve the interests of the country irrespective of party, they will not make the path of their successors more difficult than it will be by irresponsible statements of that kind. The biggest offender—not in that matter, but in matters of a similar kind—is the Minister for Finance. He has not hesitated to attempt to provoke disloyalty to a Fianna Fáil Government in the ranks of the Army and the police force by stating that in his opinion the first act of a Fianna Fáil Government would be to dismiss efficient officers. The first act of a Fianna Fáil Government would be nothing of the kind. The Minister for Finance knows that well, but he does not care, so long as he can gain a vote for his Party, whether the whole future prospects of this State are jeopardised or not.
I was very glad to learn that the issue of the Third National Loan was successful. I would remind Deputies that there was another issue of stock equally good from the point of view of yield and equally good from the point of view of security, which was not so successful. That was the issue of stock recently undertaken by the Agricultural Credit Corporation. The failure of that issue, and the failure of other Irish issues in recent years, brings to the forefront the serious problem of the export of Irish capital. The Minister for Industry and Commerce estimated that in 1926-27 this State received in income from investments abroad the sum of £12,500,000. In the following year that income had decreased to £12,000,000. The decline was not due to any repatriation of capital for use here, but to the realisation of foreign holdings for the purpose of meeting the adverse trade balance. There is, however, a very large volume of Irish capital now held abroad which is required here, if not the whole of it, at any rate a substantial part of it. Money is required to finance agricultural credit; money is required to finance other semi-State schemes; money is required to finance ordinary private industrial enterprises, and it is not forthcoming. It is hard to say how much money is required by Irish industry, because the Trade Loans Act, as Deputies are aware, was not fully availed of, and in fact there are guarantees which can be given under that Act if applications are made for them. Speaking from memory, there has been no issue within the past twelve months, although the Act was continued last year. I would like to know if it is the intention of the Government to continue that Act this year, or if they intend to allow it to expire at the end of June when it falls due for expiration?
Irish capitalists who go abroad to find openings for investing their money have several reasons, the most important of which is, possibly, the fact that the tradition of seeking investment abroad is very strong among the Irish capitalist class, and also because the lead is given in that direction by financial institutions here. It is also, of course, an important factor that better opportunities for investment exist abroad. There is nothing approaching a capital market here, and there is not the same opportunity of capital appreciating as obtains abroad. We think, however, that the Government should be concerned to break down that tradition and should force the financial institutions of the State to give a proper lead in the matter when national interests so require. It is an extraordinary fact that the Irish joint stock banks invest a much higher proportion of their funds in long-term investments than the banks of most other countries. In the year 1928 the investments of Irish banks were 43.8 per cent. of their total deposits and note liabilities. and that figure falls to be compared with the figure of 16.8 per cent. for English banks, excluding the Bank of English, and 30.5 per cent. for Scotch banks. The greater part of the investments held by the Irish joint stock banks are foreign investments, and they constitute one of the easiest channels through which Irish capital can be exported. I do not know if they are following that policy out of anti-Irish prejudice or because they believe it happens to suit their financial interests best, but I think that this Government should seek to devise some means of ensuring that the policy for the banks which would be in the best national interest would also be the policy which would be best in their own financial interest.
The revenue authorities have estimated that a sum of approximately £15,000,000 is invested abroad in respect of insurance business done here. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask the Government to take steps to provide for the investment of all, or at any rate the greater part of that money in Irish securities. In that connection a Departmental Committee was established by the Minister for Industry and Commerce in 1924 to consider the question of industrial insurance business only. That Committee produced a number of important recommendations dealing with industrial insurance in general, but with particular reference to the problem resulting from the fact that the greater part of the business is in the hands of foreign companies.
In the year 1923 the British Government passed an Act which prohibited Free State insurance companies from doing industrial business in England. The Committee did not propose retaliatory action here, but they did suggest that these British companies should be compelled to lodge with the Accountant-General of the Free State securities equal in value to their liabilities to their clients in this country. That Committee reported in 1924, but as in the case of most of the other committees established by this Government, its report is lying, probably covered with dust, in the Department of Industry and Commerce ever since. In any case there is a serious problem to be faced here arising out of the fact that Irish capital goes abroad to seek investment, and that when money is required for improvement purposes here, such as financing agricultural credit, it is not available.
The Banking Commission established by this Government reported that the machinery for financing industrial enterprises of all kinds in this State was adequate. I think that events have proved the Banking Commission to be wrong. It would, at any rate, be advisable that the whole question should be reexamined soon in the light of our experience of the five years that have elapsed since the Banking Commission was established. I think that national interests require also that the policy of remitting income tax on incomes derived from investments in Irish securities should be more favourably examined than it has been in the past. It is, of course, the official policy of the Fianna Fáil organisation so to alter the rules governing the assessment of income for income tax purposes as to discriminate in favour of investors who invest capital in Ireland as against those who invest it abroad.
It would be much more desirable that a policy of that kind should be embarked on with the consent of all parties, and as a result of impartial inquiry than that it should be enforced on the country as the result of a purely party vote in the Dáil. All parties profess a desire to give encouragement to Irish industrial enterprise, and, in so far as we proclaim that aim in common, it should not be impossible to devise some means by which we could work in common for that end. If we are going to remove the great social evils of unemployment and emigration, we cannot do so while we are at the same time wasting our strength in factional strife. However we may disagree on the big issues that split the country, we can work together in this direction, but so far no indication of willingness to do so has come from the benches opposite. Ministers and those associated with them appear to be more anxious to score party points in debate than to do anything for the country.