I had a question down to the Minister for Finance to-day, the object of which was to get him to give fair treatment to the people in the districts bordering the Glyde river in the Counties of Louth and Monaghan. Roughly the position is this: that in 1923 the Minister for Finance during an election campaign met several voters in that district on a bridge called Ballyhoe. He indicated to them that he was going to give them a free grant to drain the River Glyde. It was quite obvious to the Minister, and would have been to anybody, that the river wanted draining very badly. The people wanted drainage and the Minister wanted votes, so he Ballyhoed them for a while on the bridge. The drainage was carried out. Five years after the farmers bordering the Glyde river got demands for drainage rates. If the lands had been improved it would be quite fair to ask the farmers to bear a portion of the expense—that is, if they had been told prior to the incurring of the expense that they would have to pay. But they were led to understand, first of all, that any drainage done was going to be free.
The second point is that as a result of the drainage there was no improvement along the lower and the middle reaches of the river. Instead of an improvement resulting the conditions became very much worse after the drainage works were carried out. Flooding took place on the lower and the middle reaches to an extent that had never been experienced in the years prior to the drainage. Last winter and the winter before as much as 600 acres of tillage land were flooded. That land was not subject to floods prior to the carrying out of the drainage works. The Minister to-day, in announcing that an additional 25 per cent. grant was going to be given towards the relief of the drainage rates, admitted that the job was not carried out properly by the Government, and admitted responsibility for the damage. I cannot take the announcement with regard to the 25 per cent. additional grant in any other way than that. If they had no responsibility they would not give the grant. That 25 per cent. does not satisfy me at all. First of all, if the Minister had carried out the promise he made on Ballyhoe Bridge during the election campaign there would have been no cost whatever to the farmers. As a result of the drainage works the lands of a large number of farmers have been disimproved and worsened, and certainly they should not have to pay anything. Instead, they should be compensated. It is all very well for the Minister to flood their lands in order to get votes, but the people should not have to pay for that. The farmers whose lands have been flooded because the Minister wanted votes should be compensated instead of having to pay the drainage rates.
I know one man, and his case is typical of others, who has to pay £14 in additional drainage rates because of this scheme. As a result of this 25 per cent. additional grant he will be paying 25 per cent. less, but even allowing for that he will still be paying 75 per cent. too much. That man should not have to pay anything. In fact he should be compensated. Take the ordinary case where lands have not been improved. The people concerned should not have to pay any additional drainage rates. I am not speaking now of the damage done during the recent floods because the floods during May and June were abnormal. But in the ordinary normal winter weather the position has been worsened as a result of the work done. The floods come more frequently and remain longer on the lower and middle reaches because they were not properly excavated to take the increased flow of water. Consequently the water came down and flooded land which used not be flooded. At one or two points along the lower and the middle reaches if proper excavation work had been carried out and the river widened and deepened it would have taken the increased flow of water. I think the Government should carry out at once and free of charge to the farmers the work that is required to be done.
In many cases the people affected are small farmers. In that particular district there are small farmers who make a living from putting plants in the bogs. Some of them grow thorn quicks. It takes four years to bring them to the condition when they can be sold in the market. These quicks have been flooded out so that the farmers have lost not alone the grass on their lands, but their total income over the past four years. There are other farmers who, this year, have had to replant their oats and potatoes as they were flooded out. I have seen myself many fields in which potatoes and turnips were absolutely destroyed. The turnips are not so bad, but as a result of the flooding the potatoes are absolutely destroyed. In view of that, I think, it is too bad that farmers should be asked to pay additional rates for the supposed benefits they got from this drainage. They got no benefits. Their condition has been rendered worse as a result of the work done, and in my opinion they should get compensation for the damage they have suffered. The works necessary to leave them in at least as good condition as they were in prior to the drainage works being undertaken should, in my opinion, be carried out at once and without any additional expense being put on the farmers concerned. Ministers are very fond of this game of going around before an election, of meeting people at some particular point and of doing what the Minister for Finance did at Ballyhoe. It is not fair that Minister should carry on like that. The farmers in this district got no demand for the increased rates for five years. They got the surprise of their lives when they received a bill for rates for the five years after the Minister had promised them that a scheme was going to be undertaken free of charge to them. I was speaking to some men who were Ballyhoed by the Minister. They told me that if there was going to be any increased charge because of the drainage works proposed to be carried out, that they did not want them.
That was quite definite and I am sure the Parliamentary Secretary is aware that one of the people who got the biggest surprise was the Cumann na nGaedheal Senator who took the Minister to Ballyhoe Bridge that night. When the farmers of Ballyhoe district got the rate demand notes, they took them to the Senator and the Senator bore out their statement that the Minister for Finance had left them under the impression that the total drainage works were to be free. Under these circumstances, the Ministry should do more than give this additional 25 per cent. The giving of 25 per cent. is an indication that their consciences are annoying them. They should go the whole way and relieve those farmers who got no benefit, but who were rather worsened by the total drainage rate being placed upon them. They should make restitution by undertaking free of charge the works necessary to leave the lands in as good condition as it was.
