asked the Minister for Lands and Fisheries to state whether any of the applications for a grant under the Housing (Gaeltacht) Act, 1929, from residents of the Greenfort and Knockalla Electoral Divisions, Co. Donegal, have yet been considered; and if not, will the Minister state the reason why consideration has been delayed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Donegal Housing.
Priority has had to be given under the Act to the poorest of the Irish speaking homes. The applications from the district electoral divisions mentioned do not disclose any large number of urgent cases, but in the order of urgency these districts will be reached at an early date.
Is the Minister aware that in two or three townlands in Greenfort and Knockalla the residents are purely Irish-speaking and that many of them have asked for a grant under the Housing Act? Will the Minister state why the applications of residents of these townlands have not been considered?
The Deputy must not have quite understood my answer. Even though the districts were entirely Irish-speaking, the Act provides that three-fifths of the total money is to be allocated to certain areas which are extremely poor. The districts to which the Deputy refers do not come within the three-fifths, but as I stated in my reply, the order of urgency will probably bring them within a category which will be reached at an early date.
Is it not a fact that of the £250,000 originally granted two-fifths were to be expended in the breac-Ghaeltacht and that no consideration has been given to claims from the areas I have mentioned?
The Deputy is misinterpreting the Act. While three-fifths must be allocated to the fior-Ghaeltacht with a certain low valuation, the Act does not say that the five-fifths shall not be allocated to it. The provision in the Act does not mean that two-fifths are to be allocated to the breac-Ghaeltacht. We are dealing with the most necessitous cases as they arise in the different areas and it is quite possible that the whole £250,000—if there were sufficient urgency, I should like it to be so myself—may be allocated to the areas to which we must allocate three-fifths.
Will the Minister say whether consideration will be given to applicants from the breac-Ghaeltacht in connection with the present Bill providing an additional £100,000?
I cannot promise that we will depart from the method under which we are now proceeding—that we will go from very poor Irish-speaking districts to less poor districts, even though they be fíor-Ghaeltacht districts. I would not be disposed to depart from our present system to do that, but according to my information Greenfort and Knockalla districts will be reached in the ordinary course of events at an early date.
Is the Minister aware that many of the houses in these two districts are not suitable for human habitation?
They may be bad, but there are others worse.
I know the district and I am perfectly sure that some of the houses there are worse than any houses in the county.
What about houses outside the Gaeltacht?