asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he is aware that a number of artisans and labourers in the building industry are unemployed as the result of builders being unable to procure Killaloe slate which they had contracted to use in order to avail of the building subsidy or grant under the recent Housing Acts, and if to relieve the unemployment caused thereby steps will be taken to relax the regulations requiring Killaloe slate to be used.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Killaloe Slates and Housing Subsidy.
I am aware that the present output of the slate quarries does not meet fully the requirements of persons constructing houses in Saorstát Eireann. Every effort to increase the output is being made and concrete tile manufacturers are also being urged to accelerate production of this alternative form of roofing. In cases where it is shown that genuine practical steps have been taken to secure roofing material of Saorstát manufacture and such cannot be procured, I am prepared to allow the use of other roofing materials.
Is the Minister aware that in the City of Cork several builders are without the materials requisite in order to enable them to comply with the terms of the building grant? Is he also aware that numbers of people in the building industry are now unemployed because of the fact that the Killaloe slate quarries cannot supply their requirements? Is he also aware that the people who are engaged in building and who intend to qualify for the building grant will not accept the roofing material which the Minister suggests in his answer to me, namely, roofing tiles? Is the Minister also aware—I suggest he should be aware of the fact—that certain companies concerned with roofing material other than slates may have ramifications elsewhere? The Minister might consider that it could easily happen that persons might be withholding material, limiting output, if you like. That limitation of output might mean the non-employment of a number of persons and it might mean the handing over of an interest to a monopoly engaged in the roofing tile industry. Will the Minister also consider——
Have a heart!
This is an omnibus question. I am quite honest enough to admit that. Is the Minister prepared to admit a fact with which I and others are quite conversant in Cork City? We have numbers of people in the building industry, operatives, working-class people, in whom of course the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Flinn, has absolutely no interest, and they are vitally affected by this situation. The Parliamentary Secretary's wages for the unfortunate workingman are 24/- a week.
The Deputy must confine himself to a supplementary question, which he should now put.
Is the Minister aware that numbers of building operatives, artisans and labourers, are compelled to walk the streets of Cork unemployed whilst the Killaloe slate quarries cannot supply requirements? If evidence is produced to him to show that the Killaloe people cannot supply requirements and that some other persons are able to supply slates, not roofing tiles, is the Minister prepared to give those people the advantage of the grant?
Before the Minister replies, I should like to ask him, arising out of his original reply to Deputy Anthony, whether he is aware of the fact that within the last two months the employees of the Killaloe Slate Company were put upon three days per week?
No.
Might I also inquire if the Minister is aware that in Cork County there are two or three slate quarries being run at the present time and that there the complaint is that they are not able to get sufficient orders to keep the quarries working?
This question of roofing material, particularly with regard to slates, has for more than two months occupied the attention of the Housing Board. They have examined the whole situation with regard to roofing materials and in regard to slates in particular. We do know that there is a deficiency in supply and we know also that efforts are being made to speed up production in the several slate quarries working in the country. I am not aware that there are any people unemployed as a result of that deficiency. Perhaps the Deputy could give particulars of that matter. Everything possible is being done to speed up production. With regard to the Killaloe Slate Company, we find in fact that the men working in the Killaloe slate quarries are not on three days a week.
Might I ask the Minister if inquiries by his Department have been made within the last six weeks? I ask that question because I can assure the Minister that these slate quarries are situated within seven miles of where I live, and I am aware that the men employed in these slate quarries have been put on three days a week quite recently.
Is the Minister aware that what Deputy Anthony says about Cork also applies to the building trade in Dublin?
That is a separate question—it has no relation to Cork.
Was not the question asked by Deputy Anthony one dealing with the supply of slates, and is it not a fact that it was not specifically confined to the question of slates for the Cork builders? I respectfully suggest that it refers to the supply of slates and other roofing materials used in the building of houses in the Saorstát and I further suggest that Dublin is in the Saorstát?
I agree and the Deputy may put his supplementary question.
I want to ask the Minister for Local Government if he will take steps to relieve builders in Dublin who have been held up by the non-supply of Killaloe slates for the last four months and will he try to relieve the unemployment in the building trade, unemployment which has been caused by the failure of the Killaloe Slate Quarries Company and I might say its associated slate quarries to provide slates for the building trade? Is the Minister aware that if he wants evidence of that I can procure that evidence, for I have been held up in my building operations since last October? As a result of the non-supply of slates by the Killaloe quarries I ordered, and got within three hours, a supply of slate from the Bangor slate quarries and I finished my job yesterday.
Might I ask the Minister to state definitely if he is prepared, if I submit evidence to him that there is considerable unemployment in the building trade in Cork as a result of this provision in the Housing Act, which stipulates Irish roofing materials, to admit other slate, that is slate from Bangor or anywhere else in order to enable those persons who at the present moment have the pluck to engage in building operations to finish their buildings? If I am prepared to submit to the Minister evidence that there is a very considerable unemployment difficulty in the building trade as a result of these provisions about Irish slates, will the Minister permit the use of slates other than those specified? Will he in that event allow the building grant or subsidy which these people would have got had they used Killaloe slate?
I should like to ask the Minister if it is not a fact that part of this shortage arises from specifying slates in very large sizes and where there is a scarcity of large sizes of slate and a surplus in some of the smaller sizes, will he consider altering the specifications for these houses so as to allow the smaller sizes of slate to be used? One of the Deputies said that in Cork County there was some unemployment in the slate quarries and that there are some of the smaller sizes of slate in these quarries. If these slates are 24 inches by 16 inches I wish the Deputy would communicate with me.
Will the Minister for Local Government and Public Health ask the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether the reduction in the output and the alleged three days a week working is not due to the shortage of working and other capital for development purposes and is this not a clear case to show the Ministry that tariffs will not adequately develop an industry?
Is the Minister aware of the rate of wages paid in the Killaloe slate quarries?
For the information of Deputy Davin, I wish to say that there is no tariff on slates.
Is the Minister aware that the taxpayers' money has been used to subsidise slate quarries in which there is no slate?
I should like to ask the Minister whether he would supply Deputy Anthony with——
Next question.