Really, with the exception of those who represent Trinity College and the National University, who evidently do not represent much ——
Money Resolution. - Vote 70—Relief Schemes (Resumed).
Except Deputy Tubridy.
——every Deputy has already spoken on the unemployment question. It is up to me, therefore, as a Deputy from the Gaeltacht, to say a few words. Sixteen out of eighteen Deputies for County Cork have already spoken on this matter and explained very carefully where they wanted the money spent in Cork. As far as I can see, the only reason why the other two Cork Deputies did not speak is because they are in America.
Every Deputy who has spoken has pointed out to the Minister at length the way he wants this money to be spent, and I noticed that although the Minister or his deputy, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Land Commission, was in the House no notes were taken. Personally I have not the slightest belief that any of the schemes suggested by the Deputies in question will be dealt with when the £300,000 is being expended. I, for one, do not intend to tell the Minister how to spend this £300,000. I should like to tell him how not to spend it. I would not like that this money should be handed over to the Land Commission or the Minister for Lands and Fisheries for the following reasons: About six months ago a Housing Act was passed for the Gaeltacht and £250,000 was voted for the purpose. The Bill was hurried through the Dáil in order that that work might be started and the money spent immediately. Not a single house has been erected in the Gaeltacht since the Dáil adjourned in June last. In the village of Trebane in my district which is the poorest parish in the Gaeltacht, the houses are of the most insanitary description, the people have no land, and their fishing is gone. The houses being in a most dilapidated condition twenty-five applications were sent in about eight months ago to the Minister for Lands and Fisheries for the repair of the houses but not a single house has been repaired in that village since. Although the Minister for Lands and Fisheries made a triumphal tour through Connemara three months ago and the local Press told us that there were forty or fifty houses erected, I can state that not a single house has been erected or repaired in the Connemara area since June last under the Gaeltacht Housing Act.
Now, I believe this £300,000 will be handed over to the same Minister to distribute for the relief of unemployment. If it took him six months to do nothing, Deputies can work out as a mathematical problem how long it will take him to do less than nothing. What is he going to do with this £300,000 and when is it going to be done? I do not care to what part of the country this money goes— I know some of it will go to Connemara and that we shall probably get our share of it—but I would ask the Minister for Finance to hand it over to the county councils or some other body who will spend it properly and not to a set of Government officials like those employed in the Land Commission and Gaeltacht services who have had £250,000 in their hands for the last six months and have not spent £100 in my part of Connemara anyway. Several votes of this nature have been passed in this House since I came here and before then, and the Land Commission were in all cases given money to distribute. It is well known, and it can be proved, that not one penny of that has been spent except under the supervision of the Cumann na nGaedheal Party through their personating agents and workers in the Gaeltacht. It has been used purely as a political bribe and in the circumstances this £300,000 is looked upon as a pre-election fund of Cumann na nGaedheal.
Some years ago, when a similar grant was being passed, I opposed its being given to the Land Commission for distribution. At that time the money was spent upon the building of houses on the top of a hill in Connemara. I told the Minister at the time that nobody would inhabit these houses, and that they would be left on his hands. The houses were built; the land was supposed to be reclaimed, and crops were grown upon it, but not a single tenant could be got to exchange his land for any of these houses and lands upon the mountain. That is the way the money was spent in the Gaeltacht —the £175,000 which was voted at that time. At that time the Minister for Agriculture told me that he knew this area quite well. As a matter of fact, he told me, and it is on the records, that he came from Camus. I know quite well that there is not a single word of English spoken there. I was new to the House at the time, and the Minister for Agriculture got one over on me when he told me he came from Camus. In fact, I was so astonished that I could not reply to him. The Minister proceeded at that time to build five or six houses, and the reason he gave for building them with this money was that a squatter who had settled down on the mountain-side had made land out of the mountain area, and if one man could do it there it could be done in other places. He did not tell us that this man was his keyman, his principal Cumann na nGaedheal agent in the area. He did not tell us that this man was employed by the county council, and had a gang working on the road, and utilised that gang for reclaiming this mountain. He did not tell us that the county council had to dismiss that man for using the road gangs for a purpose in which he had been engaging them for years, and then claiming that this land could be reclaimed by one person. He then appointed him in charge of a gang of men to spend this relief money in Connemara, to build houses and reclaim the mountain area between Oughterard and Spiddal. This man promised that when the houses were built he would occupy the first of them. When the first house was built, however, he did not think it satisfactory— it was too draughty. But he got his father into work and all his family, and the money was spent in that way. Then the second and the third houses were built, but neither of these was satisfactory for him. When the fifth house was built, he was asked to occupy it, and he said he would if they gave him a right to the land which he had reclaimed. As he had only a squatter's right before, they began to see through him then. They have now left the houses derelict, and that is how the money was spent.
Mr. Broderick
Does the Deputy state that these houses were built out of the last relief grant?
They were built by the Land Commission.
Mr. Broderick
Were they built out of moneys of the relief grant?
I could not tell out of what grant they were built, but they were built by the Land Commission, and it was the same people who spent the last money voted for relief.
Mr. Broderick
I listened attentively to the Deputy, and he said that these houses were built in Camus, and that the men that were intended as tenants for them would not occupy them, and that the money was spent out of the relief grants.
The Deputy is more in touch with the Land Commission than I am.
If the houses were not built out of the relief grants they are irrelevant on this motion.
Mr. Broderick
The Deputy has not made it clear, but I shall make it quite clear they were not built out of relief grants.
Then we ought not to hear any more about them now.
The only point is that the Inspectors and staff who built the houses were from the Land Commission. The same officials and the same Inspectors will control the expenditure of this relief grant.
If I accepted that from the Deputy I would have to allow him to discuss any question he wishes to discuss on the Land Commission, which, as Euclid says, would be absurd. Therefore I shall not allow him to do so.
I more or less suspected that, but the same officials will be spending this money, and I take it that they will spend it in as foolish a manner. If they spend it as they spent the second last relief grant before the 1927 election, making useless roads, I should be much better pleased if the Land Commission had nothing to do with the administration of this grant. For these reasons I ask the Minister for Finance, although I know it is useless to ask him—I know the works are already mapped out by the local Cumann na nGaedheal organisation— still I ask the Minister to see that the Land Commission officials—these gentle grafters—have nothing more to do with the administration of this relief fund.
Mr. Broderick
I did not think the Cumann na nGaedheal had any branches in Connemara.
He has what you call key men. They call in young men to act as gangers and suppliers of labour, and to distribute relief and unemployed money. I know perfectly well this money will be spent in exactly the same manner in which the money of the last two employment grants was spent.
[An Leas-Cheann Comhairle took the Chair.]
This money will be spent by employing people who act as agents for Cumann na nGaedheal Deputies during election times. It will be spent that way, and also to try and bribe people and induce members of the Cumann na nGaedheal who are luke-warm and were tending towards Fianna Fáil to fall in again under the right banner. As I said before, I know it is useless making these observations to the Minister, but it is no harm to remind the House that that is the way the money will be spent.
We have been told by Deputies opposite that this grant will be spent for electioneering purposes, and other criticisms of a more sinister and uncomplimentary character have been made. But notwithstanding all these criticisms that we have heard from certain Deputies they are still prepared to take advantage of it, and ask for the spending of some of the money in their various areas. I am also just going to ask for the spending of a sum in my area. There are far too many roads, I consider, in my county. In the last four or five years a lot of useless roads were made, and we want no more roads there. I do not know what the statistics are, but our mileage of roads in Donegal is, I believe, equal to Cork, which is a very much larger county. I suggest that we should concentrate on this occasion on drainage work and reclamation, which would be very much more good to the small farmers in the various areas where flooding has taken place and where a lot of land is under water during the greater part of the winter and spring. I suggest that drainage schemes of a sensible and practical nature should be undertaken, and a grant made to the county councils to assist the administration of the Arterial Drainage Act.
I would also draw the Minister's attention to the need for water schemes in the towns and villages which have become urbanised. At the present time, in the County Donegal, there are several towns and villages which should get consideration in connection with this grant for the unemployed. These towns are paying a pretty heavy rate to the general rate of the county, and they are getting nothing in return except a very small sum which is spent on the upkeep of their streets. The town that I come from has 800 or 900 population yet it has no water scheme. We are paying 13/ in the £ in rates, but we get nothing in return except about one hundred pounds spent on the upkeep of our streets. There are other towns and villages that have a right to get consideration in the distribution of this grant. Supplies of pure water are necessary. It is no use talking of housing schemes in towns and villages until you have a pure water supply. The supply of pure water to the towns and villages in the country is the basis of public health. I could go more exhaustively into these matters as to the grants already given for the construction of waterworks, but I shall reserve that for a later period, and I only hope now the Minister will give effect to the few suggestions I have made.
I intervene in this discussion for a few moments to contradict some statements made here last week. Deputy Corry stated that owing to the import of foreign malt there are 200 families unemployed in Midleton, the town from which I come. The Midleton distillery employed between 150 and 160 men formerly, but owing to the effect of the 1910 Budget the distillery had to reduce the number of its employees. That is purely and simply the reason that these people became unemployed, but I am glad to say that most of them have since been absorbed in other employment. There are some schemes in my constituency which are partly inaugurated, and which will be submitted to the Minister in a few days. There are also a few unurbanised towns in my district which will require immediate consideration. The town of Castlemartyr, for instance, needs a proper sewerage scheme. An estimate regarding its probable cost was submitted to us, but, owing to the fact that the expenditure would be levied over the dispensary district, the ratepayers objected to it. If some portion of this Relief Vote were devoted to that purpose it would mean that the work could be carried out immediately. There are other schemes which have been considered by the Cork County Council but which, I regret to say, have been shelved.
My main complaint is that if local authorities formulate schemes and submit them for ratification to the various departments here it will take at least two months before the work on such schemes is begun. In my view the best way to employ workers would be to concentrate on work on roads connecting with trunk roads. There is, for instance, a road leading from Midleton to Rathcormick which connects Fermoy with Cahir and Cashel and provides a direct line with Ballycotton. That road has, however, been neglected, and although we included it in the list of roads to be approved by the Department it was turned down. In my view it is one of the roads that will have to be dealt with because it is used a great deal by tourists. A rate struck for the upkeep of sections of that road would not be sufficient to cover the cost of wear and tear. There is no use in thinking that the workers will be employed for a week or two before Christmas this year because the debate which has been carried on here for the last three or four days is delaying the administration of this Vote.
No.
My point is that if we concentrate our minds on all we want to have done under this scheme the debate would be unnecessarily prolonged, whereas five or ten minutes should be sufficient to convey to the Minister the importance of giving portion of the grant to each constituency. I believe that each constituency should get a proportion of the amount voted. I would impress on the Minister the necessity of immediately getting the workers to start on these various schemes. That should be done through his own Department, and it should not be deferred until county surveyors and deputy surveyors have presented schemes to the county councils. If the Minister will take the matter up directly and send down engineers to investigate such schemes, it will mean that the work will be quickly carried out, as these engineers can see whether such work will prove reproductive or not.
For instance, at Ballymacoda there is a river which overflows the banks and floods the adjoining farms. A drainage scheme was put up to the county council, and the cost was estimated at £3,000, portion of which would be paid by the Board of Works. The local farmers, however, were slow to take advantage of the scheme which would give employment to between 20 and 30 agricultural workers who, owing to the present depressed state of agriculture, are not able to get continuous work on the land. Then again, water schemes have been passed for places like Aghada and Killa. We are awaiting the sanction of the Department in regard to these schemes, and we are also waiting for the money from the long-term loans department to start the work. I would ask the Minister to see that the work on these schemes is expedited, because it would mean the absorption of a certain number of unemployed. In conclusion, I would urge that no special treatment should be given to any constituency or part of any constituency. Employment should be given in equal shares to each portion of the country.
I do not intend to start my observations by congratulating the Government on giving a grant of £300,000 for the relief of unemployment. There has been so much talk about prosperity that one would think that a relief Vote such as this is altogether unnecessary. There are some local matters to which I would like to draw the Minister's attention. There is one matter of great importance in my constituency, a matter which has been made the shuttlecock of party politics for many years. I refer to the drainage of the river Robe. We have got various guarantees from the Government regarding the drainage of this river, but so far nothing has been done, and I would ask the Minister, when this money is being expended, to try and put a little earnestness into the operations of the Board of Works in regard to this matter and to stop treating it as a joke. Only a short time ago I met an old man, who showed me a newspaper cutting for the year 1864, which contained a speech made by the late George Henry Moore relating to the drainage of this river. About two years ago we were given a guarantee by the Government representatives that this drainage scheme would be carried out if the Mayo County Council gave the guarantee required of them, and although they gave that guarantee, the river has not yet been drained. There is another river known as the River Dalgan, which flows through Roscommon, Galway and Mayo, and which, on a conservative basis, does about £20,000 worth of damage to farmers' crops in these areas every year. The drainage of these two rivers is of vital importance to the farmers in Mayo, and any money which may be forthcoming out of this Vote of £300,000, could not be more usefully spent than on their drainage.
There are two other matters to which I would like to draw the attention of the Minister, namely, the much-discussed waterworks schemes of Ballinrobe and Ballyhaunis. The Minister for Local Government has quite a lot of information about these schemes. If a sufficient sum could now be given out of this relief grant to supplement the local contributions of the people who would benefit as a result of the scheme, these schemes could be carried out. I would again ask the Minister to give his serious attention to these matters, and, in regard to the drainage of the Robe, to put a little more earnestness and genuineness into the efforts of the Board of Works and stop treating the matter as a joke.
We, in this Party, are very glad that the Minister has seen his way to introduce this Vote of £300,000 for the relief of unemployment this winter. We are sorry for the necessity for it and, knowing that it is so much required, we are sorry that the Minister could not see his way to vote a greater sum than £300,000. We fear that further relief grants will be required unless something is done for the development of our industries. I, with Deputy Walsh, would like to draw the Minister's attention to the extreme necessity which exists in small towns in Mayo for water supplies and sewerage schemes. I can name a number of these places in my own constituency—Ballyhaunis, Ballinrobe, Louisburg and Newport. The local boards for many years have been discussing this problem of providing sewerage systems and water supplies, but so far they have been unable to have these schemes carried out because of the fact, I suppose, that their borrowing powers are too limited. They are unable to go on with the work owing to the extreme difficulty and expense it would involve in some of these towns. Some of them are little more than villages with a population only of a few hundred but, nevertheless the need exists for these schemes very keenly.
We believe that the Minister could best remedy the position in which the country finds itself year after year by developing the industries of the country. We know that large building schemes are going on throughout the country and we are aware that the best slates available in the British Isles can be got in our own country. I have repeatedly referred myself to the slate quarries in Mayo. If they were developed and encouraged in any way by the Government they would provide a splendid means of relieving unemployment in these districts and thereby would assist Ministers to overcome the difficulty in which they find themselves year after year in trying to find work for the unemployed. Somebody stated during this debate— and I considered it a very wise remark—that if the Minister did not subsidise employment he would have to subsidise unemployment. Even if it costs a little more money to subsidise employment, it is much the better way of dealing with the situation. It would ensure that the population would be kept at home and would stop the drain of emigration from which this country has suffered for many years.
I would like to know what is the position of the Minister for Agriculture in regard to afforestation in Mayo. We are told that he has a scheme of afforestation for this country, but, so far as I am aware, there has not been a single penny yet expended in Mayo. I am not aware that he has any scheme or policy prepared for Mayo. If a scheme were prepared whereby he could plant the thousands of acres of mountain which are practically useless for any other purpose at present, we believe that a great deal could be done to relieve unemployment. Such a scheme would also beautify the country, and make it much more healthy to live in. There is a reclamation scheme being carried out in Mayo at present. A few years ago I had occasion to refer to the reclamation schemes which had been carried out in Connemara. I said on that occasion that in some place where a reclamation scheme had been carried out—I think it was in the Maam Valley —one's life would be endangered by having to walk across the district. The same remark is equally true now in regard to the scheme carried out in Ballycroy. It is impossible to walk over a great part of the district, and I do not believe that the Department will get a human being to live in the houses that they are erecting there. I consider that it is a waste of public money, especially having regard to the fact that there are a number of places along our mountains and valleys that could be reclaimed with better advantage to the country. Taking the conditions there at the moment, in my opinion there is no chance of the Ballycroy scheme being of any profit to the country.
I think that the Minister should consider these suggestions regarding reclamation of the land in Mayo, and afforestation schemes. They would provide a great outlet for the employment of those who are unable to find work at present, and they would prove of great benefit to the nation hereafter. I hope the Minister will consider these matters seriously, and that he will let us have at some date in the near future an idea of what his afforestation policy is for Mayo.
All of us want this money spent as speedily as possible, but the majority of Deputies here are, by their actions, delaying the speed with which that money can be spent. There is undoubtedly a great deal of unemployment in Dublin and in the towns throughout the country, but all the Minister requires is authority to spend this money. I think we can rely upon his spending the money in proportion to the amount of unemployment in each district. We have heard quite a lot of speeches from Deputies now. They can go on speaking if they so wish, but they will only delay the passing of this Vote, and we may not get it passed before Christmas. All the Minister requires, as I have stated, is authority to spend the money. That question should now be put to the House, and let us have a vote on it.
A fortnight ago, when we met here, the President asked to have the Standing Orders suspended so as to allow him to make a special statement to the House. Most of us who had come up here after travelling from the country, and knowing the position in the country, expected to hear something that would be of some use or benefit to the people. What we actually heard was that the people were prosperous—the same stuff as has been dished out here time and again. The Minister for Finance came along the day after and told us, in a sort of half-hearted manner, that there is such a thing as unemployment. In his speech he said: "Another factor which has been already mentioned in addition to the fact of a bad harvest which induced the Government to propose this Vote to the Dáil, was the fact that there are indications that areas in which receipts of money from America is an important item are likely to suffer this year. Many reports come to the Government." Undoubtedly America has stood to this country in the past, and if it were not for America I do not suppose this House could meet here to-day. We have heard talk of unemployment in cities and towns. I take it that the figures mentioned are only taken from the unemployment figures in the different offices. In these statistics the farmers' sons are not taken into account at all, and the small farmers throughout the country are not taken account of in the unemployment insurance figures. The result is that the Ministers do not seem to know the position in which they are. You have the President saying one thing and the Minister for Finance another. We had expected when we came back to the House that the Deputies, particularly the Deputies on the opposite benches, would put the position of the farmers before the Executive Council, and put it in a proper manner. That has not been done. I sat here and I listened to Deputies making speeches from the opposite benches. They started off by saying that the country was not in as bad a condition as we had pictured it, and then they went on, each of them, to enumerate as many as fifteen or twenty schemes that wanted looking after in each particular area. If these Deputies had left out the first part of their speeches and talked about the particular items and schemes in which the farmers in their areas were interested, such as the questions of roads into turbary and drainage, the Executive Council would be in a much better position to judge of the present position of the country.
Only a few nights ago there was a question raised here with regard to turbary and its scarcity this year throughout the country. The Minister fur Local Government could not for the life of him believe that there was anything at all like a scarcity of turf this year. We tried to tell him as best we could, but he would not believe us. Does not every Deputy on the opposite benches know of the scarcity of turf as well as we do, and is it not up to each of them to put the position to the Executive Council in the same way as we put it? Does not every Deputy know that at least a tenth of the turf in the country was not got home? The Minister said that no representations were made to him. Two years ago, when there was a vote like this before the House, the question of the bog roads and the drains was put before the Minister's notice. Nothing has been done since.
They tell us that the agricultural instructors have sent in no reports. Are these agricultural instructors doing their work? Have they tried to find out what is the position? I do not think that one of them bothers to find out the position, anyhow, as regards turf or goes into those areas to ascertain whether the turf has been brought home or not. Usually the agricultural instructor passes by the main road on a motor car or motor cycle. He travels along very few of the smaller roads or along the by-roads. Therefore he does not know the position at all. I think the word of Deputies should be taken before the word of any one of these officials. They are paid officials. We are sent in here to represent the people and our word should be taken by the Minister, but it is not taken by him, as I and other Deputies can testify.
When asking for relief, we might ask in the different Departments if they had received petitions about roads, and drains, and so on. As a matter of fact, I know that from North Galway a couple of hundred petitions were signed and only five of these were done. These five were not by any means the worst nor anything like it. The Minister for Finance tells us that this grant is ample to do all that could be done in the way of relieving such exceptional unemployment and distress as exists. I am quite sure that the sum that is now being given would not be sufficient to meet the demands of even two counties such as Galway or Mayo. That money would not carry out in any two counties, if it were all devoted to them, the works that are required in these counties. It would be nothing at all like sufficient even for two. There are rivers to be drained and other works that require to be done all over the country. This talk about sinking rivers is no good, for it cannot be done by this money.
I think the thing that wants to be tackled at the moment is the question of the bog roads and the drains leading into the bogs. They are in a desperately bad state. These are however the first things that should be done. I admit that the urban areas are in a very bad way. I know that from the Galway County Council a special resolution was sent up, asking for relief for the town of Ballinasloe. I know that there should be a special effort made to deal with urban areas. If you speak about relieving the farmers why not give them relief? There are thousands of things that can be done in every town in Ireland and why not do them now and get the money with which to do them? If we can afford to throw away £3,000 on motor races and things like that and if people who are keeping the Government in office to-day and keeping us here in this House supply the funds to keep us here, if they find themselves in a short time unable to pay I wonder what will be the position? What is required is relief for the farmers and we should give something of a special nature to the towns and urban areas. Some of the Dublin Deputies, like Deputy Byrne, make statements here about the farmers. The Deputy knows nothing about farmers any more than he does about "Shamrock shovels" and he told us these were of Irish manufacture. The Deputy talks a lot about figures. Well, he knows nothing at all about the position of the farmers. He started off like a great orator telling the people on this side of the House the things they know much better than he does.
As a matter of fact all the money of the country is drifting into Dublin day by day, and it is the farmers of the country that are keeping us going. The farmers have Deputy Byrne's figures, but farmers cannot live on figures. They want bread. The Deputy might believe in figures, and live on figures, but figures are no good to the farmers who at present are in a very depressed condition. I urge on the Ministry to have this money distributed in such a manner that it will be of some help to the farmers of the country.
This Vote for unemployment has now been before the House for the third week. We are within a couple of weeks of Christmas, and this money is not yet voted. The intention of the Executive Council was to provide work for the unemployed to tide them over Christmas and one would have thought that that would be passed by the House with the least possible delay.
Is a Deputy allowed to speak twice?
I have not spoken before upon this matter. The intention of the Executive Council is to bring relief to the unemployed and to give them the assistance that they require. Deputies on the other side appear to think that they only have the interests of the unemployed at heart, and that they only are most concerned with people in distress. I cannot understand their attitude in keeping on this debate for the last three weeks and holding up the legitimate functions of the Government in the important matter of distributing this grant.
Two or three of you have been saying that.
I hope that this debate will terminate to-night. If it does the Government will have an opportunity of providing the money and distributing it as it needs to be distributed. They are providing a sum of £300,000. Opposition Deputies have outlined schemes in the carrying out of which they urge this grant should be utilised. They would seem to have an extraordinary capacity for suggesting schemes to which the relief grant could never be usefully devoted. Amongst other things, they have mentioned waterworks schemes for towns, drainage schemes for the country, and sewerage schemes. The grant was never intended for such purposes as waterworks schemes or for carrying out drainage works or sewerage. The grant is really intended as an immediate relief for conditions such as have obtained every year, particularly at this season. Usually there is unemployment at Christmas. This year the grant may be regarded as an emergency issue, because of the extremely bad harvest we have had. It is meant to tide over the discrepancies that may exist between the earning capacity of the people and what their incomes would normally be if it were even an average year.
I consider that this relief grant could very well be expended with advantage in urban areas. It would help to relieve unemployment there. If the condition is insisted upon that councils will be required to subscribe an equivalent sum to what is granted by the Government, that will mean further delay. I exhort the Minister not to impose such a condition, for the reason that it will retard the progress of the scheme. I think, in regard to roads towards which £50 has already been lodged by county councils, these should be taken by the Minister as an acceptance on the part of the councils, and should be calculated as their contribution to the scheme, and I think the Minister might well allow an additional £20 in such cases so as to bring the total amount voted for a particular road to £70.
I have heard a good deal here about the starving population in this country. One speaker declared that we had 1,500,000 starving people out of a total population of, approximately, 3,000,000 people. I have travelled a good deal through the country, north, south, east and west, and nowhere have I come across a case of starvation. There may he a very isolated case.
Where your motor car could not travel.
I travelled a good deal of the country, and I have a fair idea of the prevailing conditions. In the country districts no Deputy could point out a half-dozen cases of starvation. Recently I had as a visitor an eight year old friend of mine from the United States. Having travelled through the country all day, the youngster said to me: "Mr. Connolly, I am surprised to see your country in such a condition. We were led to believe in America by all the talk we heard that there was starvation in Ireland, that the houses were tumbledown shacks, and that the conditions were awful." That is the picture that was placed before the eyes of people in America.
He must not have left his car either.
He was merely a child, but the expressions he used are an indication of the effects of the propaganda carried out by our friends on the other side of the House. Deputy Cooney and his friends, when they see people here from the United States or from Germany, make a point of depicting the average father of a household squandering the money that should go to his family. They draw pictures of that man's family starving at home, and they describe the awful conditions that they say exist in different parts of the country. Is that fair to the average father in Ireland, and is it just to the Government of this country?
It is true, anyway.
I think it is a mean form of propaganda, but it has been broadcast all over the world. It is a very poor compliment to pay to the fathers of Ireland or to the Government of the Free State, but it is certainly typical of the mentality of those who make such statements. A lot has been said about the work of this Government. The Free State Government has been responsible for building ideal homes through the country. Any person who goes to the country on holidays or on business will see, dotted all over the landscape, very nice houses, most suitable for the people to live in. Those houses form one of the vast contributions of this Government. There are very few evidences of tumbledown shacks or uninhabitable dwellings.
They did not build the Parknasilla Hotel.
They should visit the slums in Dublin.
I am surprised that Deputy Davin should attempt to buttress up, or associate himself with, the mean form of propaganda broadcast from day to day. The Land Commission has been charged with being partial in the distribution of money. On the last occasion when a relief grant was put forward here it was said that the Cumann na nGaedheal organisation was in charge of the distribution. If it is true that Cumann na nGaedheal had control of the distribution, I am satisfied that the money was well spent and that they would be quite impartial in distributing it. I will not ask the Minister to go so far as to hand over this money to Cumann na nGaedheal, but at the same time I cannot help thinking that if we have the name we might as well have the gain. On the last occasion when a relief scheme was submitted I was acting in co-operation with a Deputy from the other side, a very decent man—the late Mr. James Killane. We acted in unison on that occasion, and we did what was best for the people we represented, irrespective of their political views. I do not think that we have quite the same standard of running all over. This should not be a political matter at all, and that was never the intention of the Government. Their intention now is what it has ever been —to do the best for the country, irrespective of political views. The relief grant would require to be something extraordinary if it were to comply with the wishes and requests of the Fianna Fáil Party. You have them accused of not paying attention to the imposition of tariffs in the country.
For the drainage and making of roads.
Nonsense. I hope the Irish Land Commission will be given charge of a good deal of this money on this occasion. They have spent wisely and well in the past, and my experience of their expenditure in our county, where they rendered very valuable services in the making of roads through bogs and through other places, is that they gave universal satisfaction to the people. Under the circumstances, I think they will, when they get charge of this money, acquit themselves, as they have acquitted themselves, with perfect satisfaction to the people of the country.
I have not had the pleasure of listening to the speech of the President upon this issue, but I have had the gratification of reading it, and there are so many things in it with which I agree that I am afraid he will be sorry he made it. He starts by saying that if he were merely a politician, and then he goes on to praise the remarkable performance on the part of the Opposition in putting up their rising hope early on a Friday morning. There are many differences, some acerbities and acrimonies in this House, which, looking back upon, we may regret, but there are little moments here and there scattered through the records of this House which we will all appreciate. I am quite sure that the President himself will look back with happy recollection on the fact that the setting sun saluted the rising sun.
The President, not being a politician or not being merely a politician—a politician not being his whole quality and claim—went on to make his speech, which was obviously nonpolitical. He chose with that art which so endears him to the uncritical to pick out, as he has on a previous occasion, an odd sentence and word from a speech of a member of this House to do what in another man would seem to be deliberately misrepresenting. He picked out a phrase of Deputy Lemass in relation to the poor of the City of Dublin, as he did on a previous occasion in relation to another debate, precisely the same expression, and used it for the same purpose—a purpose which was so unconsciously in his own mind that he could not keep the exposition of that purpose from the Dáil even in his own words. He says: "Not for political considerations." That is why he did it. "I do not want," he said, "to make political capital out of it. I am indifferent to politics." This President, who would not make political capital out of the poor of the City of Dublin! Who had accused him of it? Into what evil mind in this House had it penetrated that the President of this State would use the poor of this city for political purposes until he told us he had not done so? "Who excuses himself accuses himself," and I challenge any member of this House who has any experience of debating technique to go back and read that speech of the President and that deliberate and continued use of that misrepresentation of a particular sentence without coming to the conclusion that there was a deliberate and calculated purpose of party political misuse of that misrepresentation.
He goes on to say in the end of the speech of Deputy Lemass, and in this I agree with him, that the speech was not one that would have done credit to a debating society. That is the President's description of the speech of Deputy Lemass, and I accept it. The speech of Deputy Lemass; from the front bench of Fianna Fáil, would not do credit to a debating society, but the President's would. What is a debating society? A debating society is a place where people talk for the sake of learning how to talk. It is a place where the material of debate is subservient to the technique of discussion, where the debater is indifferent to the merits of the cause which he is detailed to defend, and is only interested in developing his own capacity for discussion.
The speech of the President was eminently suitable to a debating society. It was full up of all that technique, of all that self-education in the elements of vocal expression, but had no relation whatever to the subject matter either of Deputy Lemass's speech or of this discussion. Deputy Lemass's speech was utterly unworthy of a debating society in that he made no attempt whatever to use debating technique purely and simply for that purpose. It was unworthy of a debating society in that it dealt with the matters which were at issue, in which it attempted to make a contribution to the solution of this question that ought to be made not in a debating society but in a legislative assembly of this kind. Not merely has the President himself been worthy of a debating society in the methods which he has adopted, but the whole tone of discussion of the whole of his Party in relation to this issue has been one of reducing this body to the level of a debating society in relation to this matter. He complains that we have harped upon one string, the imperfection of the Ministry. I am perfectly sure that no member on this side of the House has ever thought of using, in relation to the performances of this Government, such a term as imperfection. What we have charged them with is downright and culpable failure. They certainly have not any reason to complain of the commendation which they received upon this ground from members of their own Party.
Deputy Connolly, who has just sat down, congratulated the Government which has succeeded in bringing this country to the state of perfection in which it is to-day. The President said that he would get out of politics—he will be helped—if he were satisfied that only political differences of no great consequences to the country would ensue. The great consequence which is worrying him is who is to occupy his seat when he is gone to the Phoenix Park and when the present occupant of the Phoenix Park is gone to South Africa, and how he is going to compose the differences between the contending factions in his own front bench at the present moment as to who is to be his successor.
In this particular speech of his, which was supposed to be dealing with unemployment, which was supposed to be dealing with distress, he has time to occupy himself with the possibilities and the individual capacities of the front bench which is going to succeed him. His contribution to the question of what is to be done in relation to unemployment and distress in this country is simply to drag in purely Party political allusions and personalities in relation to his successor. He says it is a tragic thing to him to think that in Fianna Fail there are only three or four men adequately capable of taking Cabinet rank. How many men has he on his own front bench who are adequate to the Cabinet rank they hold? I do not want to go through them, but just try and add up yourself four or five or three or four men on that front bench who have delivered the goods. Hogan and his I.A.C., that repudiated child of the hot enthusiasms of his youth. The Minister for Fisheries. Is there one single member of the House who will say that the Minister for Fisheries has delivered the goods?
Will the Deputy come to the motion now?
My point, sir, is that the President—I see the difficulty—the man in this House who ought to lead us and who ought to set a standard in these matters upon these precise questions, has thought that on this subject and on this precise question what he should discuss was the capacity of our front bench.
The Deputy is speaking for fifteen minutes. He has not yet come to the motion on the Paper.
I have not left by one single line or comma the speech of the President upon the same motion. That is my difficulty, and I can see yours.
I am not in any difficulty at all. The Deputy may make his mind perfectly clear on that. But the Deputy will be in a difficulty if he does not come to the motion.
Deputy Heffernan upon this particular subject told us that he must be protected from misrepresentation in this House. There must be some truth in this House. What has Deputy Heffernan done to entitle him, either on this motion or on any other motion in this House, to appeal to that standard? What has he done to protect himself in the way in which he was capable of doing it from gross misrepresentation, or what, in relation to any man who valued his reputation, would be gross misrepresentation if it were not the truth? Deputy Heffernan, who upon this motion appeals for the truth in this House and nothing but the truth, who appeals for protection in this House from misrepresentation, has allowed himself to be labelled as a bankrupt in intelligence, a bankrupt in initiative, a bankrupt in everything of use and value in this country, and while he has made himself no protest when he had the power to do it, power to run that protest home, he comes mewling and pining for the protection of someone else from misrepresentation.
The line, sir, that I am taking all the time is that the Ministry and the members of Cumann na nGaedheal have deliberately used this motion not for the purpose for which this motion ought to have been used, but for the purpose of gross personal abuse and for deliberate political Party propaganda. As a proof of that, sir, I offer in evidence the speech of the Minister for Industry and Commerce. If there is any Minister in this House who could have been regarded as bound to be strictly ad rem in every word he said upon this subject, it surely was the Minister for Industry and Commerce. I challenge anyone to find in the whole contribution of the Minister for Industry and Commerce one single word which was other than a deliberate, carefully-prepared personal attack, utterly irrelevant to the discussion. Is that the way that this debate ought to be treated? Are we to be in the position that any member of this House who gets up to speak upon this or any other subject is to be faced by an overnight preparation of personal attacks and abuse? The House will be perfectly familiar with the fact that when we first came in here we were warned openly, warned by the Chair, of the horrible things that were going to happen to us when Minister Hogan and Minister McGilligan got going. We were to be blackmailed into silence; we were to be afraid to open our lips lest we should be subjected to the assault and lash of those vitriolic tongues. Go back in memory over the last two or three sittings of this House and take the speeches of those Ministers upon this motion and on other motions, and ask yourself whether or not there is not an organised and deliberate attempt on the part of the Ministry to blackmail into silence any member of this House who is not prepared, as the price of contribution to the debate, to submit to unlimited scurrility.
The Minister for Industry and Commerce, starting with the wholesale accusation—of which he could have no personal knowledge—against a Deputy, that he was at the Tariff Commission outstandingly the strongest opponent of a tariff which he had supported in the Dáil, is driven step by step back and back until he finds that he has no merit whatever and no substance whatever for a foul, slanderous and carefully-calculated insult. The Minister seems to have adopted the motto that the qualities, rare in a wasp, in a Minister never should fail: the body should always be yellow and sour, and the sting should be left in the tail. I think perhaps it is only fair to that Minister, who has wasted a good deal of the time of this House in the continuous outpouring of his puerility and the corruption of his little mind upon members of the Opposition, to tell him that we are completely amused. Something that the secret services of two countries have not been able to discover for him I will tell him. Quite a few years ago, for rheumatism I took a course of wasp-stings. I do not know that it did my rheumatism any good, but it most certainly has made me immune from the effects of the poisoned adder method of attack, which seems to be the only one which that little mind is capable of.
I think it is time that this House should put a curb upon the tongues of these men. I think it is time that the little rats who burn midnight oil in the preparation of poison bullets to be fired by Ministers in this House should be restrained in their activities. I think the time has come when it ought to be possible for even an inexperienced member of this House to rise and engage in debate without being subjected to calculated and deliberate insult for the purpose of silencing him. I think it is time that the Ministry should, in the consideration of questions of this kind, come to the discussion with the purpose of themselves contributing to debate, with the purpose of themselves accepting contributions to debate and not merely for the purpose of getting rid of every foul scurrility that they can imagine or can get gathered together for them.
I am no friend of motions of this kind. To me they are simply symptoms of an evil. They are only attempts to put a sticking plaster upon evils which are fundamental. My difficulty in dealing with the Ministry is that they do not seem to have any appreciation of their responsibility for finding solutions for the real difficulty. All they want is just something sometime to carry them over a gap. Deputy Anthony asked on what standard the money was going to be distributed? I can tell Deputy Anthony. It is going to be distributed on the grounds of electoral value and none other. It may be enough to bribe a majority. It may be enough to corrupt individual citizens. It may be enough to pay out of the Treasury of the State the individual and party debts of the Government opposite, but it is not enough, even as a temporary expedient, to deal with the evil.
The fact that we have two very insecure Cumann na nGaedheal seats in Cork gives us some reason to believe that some of the crumbs from this rich man's table will fall in our borough, but I certainly am not here to make a plea for a particular constituency. If there is to be a choice in the matter, I would like to see the money sent, as far as possible, into areas which I believe are more necessitous—the Dingle peninsula, Kerry and Clare, Connemara, Boffin and Arran Islands, the Kenmare peninsula. If this money is inadequate for what you might call any large scheme of relief, and if there is to be any choice in the matter, I hope it will be, as far as possible, concentrated upon the most necessitous, on the people to whom shillings are as valuable as pounds are to people in other places. But, above all, I hope that we will get out of the habit of looking just for this temporary relief, that the recurrent necessity of voting these sums ought to burn itself into the minds of Deputies on all sides of the House, and make them determined to find something in the nature of a permanent remedy. Again, I would say there is a difference between hoping and expecting, but I hope that in future, in relation to debates of this kind, which really do touch the painful and human necessities of the more unfortunate members of our community, the Minister will come to that debate in the spirit of those who desire to contribute to the solution of the difficulty, and not merely come here for the purpose of mud-slinging and abuse of every political opponent.
So much has been said by practically every member of the House on this Vote that I do not purpose to speak on it at any length. I realise what has been said by other speakers, that the less time taken up with the Vote the sooner the people will get it. I wish, however, to emphasise statements made by Deputies on this side as to the inadequacy of the amount to meet the situation that exists in the country to-day. A vote of £300,000 is, to my mind, very far short of what would be necessary to give relief to the unemployed. However, as a Deputy from this side said, it is something to go on with, and possibly more may follow. It has been specifically stated that the money is for relief schemes. Therefore, it is naturally intended to give employment. to the deserving people in the different parts of the country. The constituency that I represent has its poor and, irrespective of class, creed or politics, I would ask that the Minister would give a portion of the amount to relieve these people. That poverty exists in the West of Ireland is an undisputed fact. It is admitted by every Deputy. I am of opinion, however, that all Deputies are not really conversant with the poverty that exists in the West. The plight of town workers and small farmers is really pitiable. As an indication of the position in the County Galway, I purpose reading for the House the report which the Superintendent Home Assistance Officer made to the Home Assistance Committee for the County Galway. This is really first-hand information, and gives a clear indication of the condition of affairs as they exist amongst the poor people in that county. This was his report:—
Almost every month I have been obliged to make special reference in my reports to the deplorable condition of the married workingmen of Ballinasloe. There is no regular employment for the unskilled labourer in Ballinasloe—even casual work is difficult to get—and the labourers and their wives and children are in a chronic state of semi-starvation and destitution and are obliged to obtain home assistance from week to week and from month to month. At the present moment there are over 30 able-bodied married men receiving home assistance. Contrast this situation with the town of Tuam, where not one able-bodied man receives home help as there is sufficient work in the town for the workers. I desire to direct public attention to the hard, hopeless outlook at the approach of winter for the Ballinasloe labourer with the view of getting the Committee to appeal to the Ballinasloe Urban Council, and to the Government to commence some useful relief works or some form of industry at once in the town.
The conditions were not quite so bad in the approaching other winters, as there was some road work, etc., available, but this season there is no public employment, with the result that the expenditure on home assistance is double what it was this time last year. On the 11th October I interviewed all these labourers, and saw the wretched condition of themselves and their families. It is no wonder that the local dispensary doctor issues more certificates for urgent provisional assistance than are issued by all the other medical doctors in the county. Many of the children I have seen are ill-nourished, and should general unemployment of their parents continue much longer, there is little hope that these children can grow up strong, healthy, and happy, and so become invaluable assets in the economic and social welfare of their native land.
There are comments from the members of the Committee, but I do not purpose to read them to the House. That is the report of a man whose business it is to travel through the county distributing home assistance, and to finding out the conditions of the poor. A copy of the report was sent to the urban council in Ballinasloe and also to Galway County Council, and I have reason to believe that both bodies have taken action and have made representations to the Minister for Local Government. I hope the Minister will give favourable consideration to the report, and that he will take into account the plight of these people, and, by whatever means he deems best, make some arrangement to give them immediate relief. If he does not take action immediately, by the development of relief schemes, the result will be that these people will have a very poor Christmas. I would respectfully suggest to the Minister that some small amount, in lieu of whatever money will be given to Galway County Council, either through the Land Commission or some other Department, will be sent down immediately for relief, so that they can proceed with useful works. It could be spent in giving immediate relief to these people, in view of the alarming report made by the home assistance officer. I ask that for the poor and for the deserving cases. I hope when the money is being spent that it is the poor will get it, irrespective of class, creed, or politics.
When Deputy Connolly was speaking he stated: "It is just as well for us to have the gains when we have the name." There was an insinuation— probably rightly, and it is not for me to contradict it—that when relief schemes were initiated before, certain people got preferential treatment for work. There is no doubt whatever that ex-Army men got preferential treatment. There is less doubt, I believe, that Cumann na nGaedheal henchmen were pitchforked into the best jobs. That statement was made, and I do not contradict it. I expect now, as this is a Relief Vote, intended for the benefit of those in distress and unemployed, that the Government will give it unconditionally, and that wherever it goes, and whoever gets the handling of it—whether the councils have a majority of Fianna Fáil, Cumann na nGaedheal or Farmers' Union—they will, at least, give it to the people who deserve it most, no matter what their politics, even if they are ex-Army men. If a man is poor and has a wife and family, whether he is a supporter of Cumann na nGaedheal, Fianna Fáil, an ex-Army man or an ex-Bolshie, as they say in the country, that man should get first consideration. The married man with a family should be taken into account, no matter what his political views are. It must be remembered that the money is provided out of the Exchequer and that the people, irrespective of politics, contribute it. Every ratepayer's money goes into the Exchequer, and the money is sent out to be spent in the country. It is our own money we are getting, and we pass no compliment for getting it, no matter what Government is in power, when we earn it. If you are a Republican you have to pay taxes just the same as the supporters of the Cumann na Gaedheal Party.
I repeat that these statements were made by other Deputies, and that it is not for me to contradict them. There may be a certain amount of truth in them, but I will be as honest as Deputy Connolly when he said "as long as we have the name we might as well have the gains." If a change of power came about, and if we got into office, I do not believe we would be such models of perfection as not to give a little preference to our own people. It is the duty of a Government to give some little benefit to its own people. Possibly we would do the same. I do not know. I never consulted my Party about it, and I do not propose to do so until we get into power. It can use its discretion as to how it will spend it when it gets hold of the purse. I hope the Minister will give some form of immediate relief to the people of Ballinasloe and the other parts of County Galway, where distress undoubtedly exists. I have quoted the report of the home assistance officer, and I am sure that all reasonable people will agree that the conditions he describes call for immediate action.
I have some schemes before my mind on which, I consider, the money could be well spent. It is for the Minister and his Department to examine these schemes, to see if they are neceessary, and, if so, by all means let steps be taken to have them dealt with at once. I do not want these schemes to be undertaken because I ask for them, but I do not want them not done if some other Deputy from Galway says it would be a feather in his wing if they are done. I have outlined for the Departments concerned the plight of the people, as described by the home assistance inspector, and I ask that something should be done immediately.
When we came into this House in 1927, I personally forwarded petitions to the Local Government Department and the Land Commission in connection with the improvement of bog roads. Recently in the House the Minister for Local Government said such a petition was never sent. I may not be exactly relevant in referring to it now, but I maintain that when Deputy Moore raised the question of the scarcity of fuel in this House my contribution to the debate was to state that while there was plenty of fuel in the country it was almost a physical impossibility to get to it. I contend that the Minister's Department was responsible for that condition of affairs. Here is a chance to remedy it.
I come from a district that is absolutely surrounded by bog. The people who saved plenty of turf during the fine weather—more than a year's supply as a matter of fact—after the turf-saving season was finished had to look after their crops. It was rather difficult work to save the crops this year and it took longer than they expected. The weather, as they say in the country districts, was breaking very often, with the result that the harvest was late. By the time the harvest was finished the weather was such that they could not get into the bog to take out the turf. That is usually done at the end of the harvest. There was such an enormous amount of rain this year that there is a lake between the people and the turf so that they cannot get it out. That is the position in a good many places in Galway.
I maintain that that condition of affairs would not exist if in 1927, 1928 and 1929 any notice had been taken of the petitions that Deputies, possibly of all Parties, for County Galway sent in. I am not so silly as to think that the Cumann na nGaedheal Deputies for Galway were not alive to this, and I am sure they made representations. That is why I say that if the Ministers took any notice of the petitions sent in from that county that position of affairs would not exist. At the eleventh hour now I ask that this should be done, and here is a chance to do it.
I have in mind a few cases which are exceptionally bad. For instance, a petition was sent in to the Local Government Department and the Land Commission in reference to the Newcastle bog road known as Shudane. Possibly I should not mention it, as that is where I came from, but if you do not do something for your own, for whom will you do it? I ask the Minister to take into consideration that bog road. If it is not possible to resurrect the petition, I shall see that he gets another one. In fact, I will take good care that he will receive one in due course, lest he should not discover the original one. There is also a bog road in a very bad condition in Monivea. The entrance is on the Monivea side of the main road to Mountbellew. I have here a petition which I intend to send to the Minister's Department to-morrow. There are 62 families affected. The families in nine townlands have no bog other than this. The bog is known as Licklea. One of the townlands is actually nine miles from the bog; some others are six and seven, and the nearest is about three miles. The townlands affected are:—Carrerea, Crumlin, Balliskeagh, Belleville, Cussane, Minah, Laraghmore, Clonnavadogul. I do not suppose anyone will contradict me when I say that this bog is the sole source of fuel for these places, and that the road into it is certainly in a very bad condition. If the road were started those of the people who are near the bog would possibly get employment on it. If they did not, anyhow the sons of small farmers in the immediate neighbourhood would get employment. As a matter of fact, I have no knowledge of any relief grant ever being of any benefit to that area.
I respectfully suggest that the Minister should give consideration to these two places, and if he does he will be doing real good for the people. In conjunction with that he will be giving to the sons of the poor small farmers, who are in a very bad condition, a certain amount of employment, and he will help to relieve the distress amongst these particular people. I know, of course, that these are things which require consideration, but I do ask the Minister to have these places inspected, and if he thinks the works are essential they ought to be done when the opportunity presents itself. I also stress the point that the condition of affairs which the superintendent home assistance officer reported on should be relieved, and that the Ballinasloe workingmen and the others for whom the county council made representations should be relieved. I hope that some grant will be sent to the council for this purpose, or that instructions will be given authorising the council to spend a certain amount of money in relieving the distress of these people. I also ask that the money should be sent unconditionally. As long as it is a relief grant it should relieve distress in every house, irrespective of class or creed or politics.
I am afraid it would not be wise for me to let this Vote pass without saying something about the County Cavan. Sixteen Deputies from Cork have already spoken, and on behalf of the two absentee Cork Deputies, who are in America, I may say that they would speak if they were. here. Much has been said about the bog passes. So far as my county is concerned, I know of numerous bog passes that require attention. The one thing that I would impress upon the Land Commission, which will be administering this grant, is that the first work that should be done is to complete those bog passes which have been left in an incompleted condition as a result of work done by the grants made in previous years. I know myself that on Tuesday last I had a regular procession after me in reference to the hog passes in the County Cavan, and if I remained at home for another few days I would have had still more following me. I have had reports of many places in which bog passes of two or three hundred perches were undertaken, but by the time the relief grant was exhausted only a hundred perches were made trafficable, and the remainder were left in a hopeless condition.
At the Christmas adjournment the President mentioned his determination not to spend money unless value was got for it. Well, there is no such thing as getting value for money spent on work that is only half done. There is no use spending a certain amount on bog passes and bye-roads if only portion is made trafficable. The first thing that should be done is to see that the incompleted work of past years in all the counties should be completed and some real value given to the people which would mean work that would not only tide them over a period of depression but would be useful and of lasting value to the people of the different districts.
I have had representations from the town of Cavan with regard to the necessity for some relief during this period. I have had figures put before me which show that there are at least two hundred people unemployed in that comparatively small town. There are seventy people on the live register, but I am convinced from inquiries that I have made that the total figure of unemployed which I have given is correct. Many things can be done to improve matters.
I put a question to-day as to the dangerous condition of the roads. I drew attention to the fact that the roads were not only dangerous to horse traffic but that they were infinitely more so for cattle. Near the fair greens in the County Cavan the immediate approaches are in many instances in a very bad condition, and the macadamised roads over which the cattle have to travel are also more dangerous than the bad condition of the approaches to the fair greens. If something was done along the macadamised roads, to make gravel paths for animals, especially coming near to fair greens, it would be a very useful piece of work. There are other ways in which relief grants could be utilised, such as sewerage and water schemes, but I am afraid that with a grant of £300,000 spread over the Saorstát there is no very great chance of getting any considerable amount of money for such schemes. Where such schemes are possible in a small way I suppose it could be done.
One particular work was referred to in a question a few days ago, and that was the building of a bridge in the parish of Lara. Money has already been spent on that out of former relief grants, but in the Land Commission I understand there is no record whatever of that expenditure. Materials were brought to this place, that accommodates many families. There is only a kind of dangerous footbridge on it now. In flooded periods children cannot be sent to school because there is no way over this river except this bridge. The Land Commission, as I say, sent the materials and dumped them there two or three years ago. They have since disappeared, or have been overgrown. The County Council could not take charge of it because it was not their property, and the Land Commission has lost sight of the fact that they paid money to bring the material there. I do not know how their financial accounts are kept, but it is most extraordinary that they cannot trace this money. This is important work. I only bring it out as an instance of many others. If the Land Commission will go over their files for the last relief grant and find out what work has been left uncompleted they would do a tremendous amount of good at any rate in the County of Cavan, by finishing them. Many other works have not been touched in previous years. I emphasise the fact already spoken to by other Deputies that no better way of spending the money could be found than in making the bog passes trafficable, because not only in a season like the present, but even in the driest season, bog passes are sometimes unpassable, and people often find, after they have harvested a large amount of turf, that they cannot get to the bogs to take it away. I hope, in the administration of this grant, the interests of Cavan will not be neglected.
Another thing is, we want to know what way the grant will be allocated as regards county and county. I think it would be more satisfactory if a certain amount were allocated to each county and proper schemes were dealt with, having regard to the amount allocated, and if uncompleted schemes were completed, and as much new work as possible completed also.
Question put and agreed to.
The Dáil went out of Committee.
Resolution reported and agreed to.