The Government has been considering the possibility of developing our bogs on a large scale, thus giving a considerable amount of employment to people in the poorer areas of the country who are not reached, or who may not be reached, very often, by the setting up of other industries, the building of factories and so on. These are often the poorest and most congested districts in the country and the Government has been particularly anxious to do what it can to help the increasing population in these areas to find a livelihood. We have taken steps, accordingly, to set up an organisation to bring about the development and the use of peat fuel. It is proposed to set up a small staff to carry out that work. It will be necessary for the officer in charge to make contact with the carriers, the railway, the canal companies and other carriers, with the coal merchants in the City of Dublin, who have promised co-operation in selling the peat, and with the peat producers down through the country. In some cases, these producers, it is hoped, will be able to form themselves into co-operative societies so that the largest possible amount of what is paid for the peat by the consumer will go back into the pockets of these poor people. However, the development of these co-operative societies necessarily takes time and, in addition, in my personal opinion, it is necessary in a co-operative society to have some person definitely responsible as manager or director of the society who will see that the work is done and carried out in accordance with the plan which we have in mind. The railways have also promised their co-operation and we are hopeful that, as well as helping the areas in which there are bogs, if this step is taken up on a large scale and we succeed in developing at a much greater rate the consumption of peat as fuel, the railways will benefit considerably.
It is estimated that two tons of peat equal one ton of coal. Peat, as Deputies know, is of varying qualities, but in connection with this particular scheme we are endeavouring to get a standard quality—one cwt. standard— sack. The railway people, as I say, have promised to co-operate with us to a great extent in this matter and we may have the co-operation of other carrying companies. At the moment, we expect that the railway companies will take over the peat from the local producers, transport it to Dublin, and hand it over to the coal merchants. Of course, where peat is being produced, as Deputies know, it is very often sold in the local towns and local districts and we cannot say at the present moment what the total surplus of peat is likely to be for the coming winter over and above what is normally consumed in these districts. We have endeavoured, however, by statements, to increase production. A statement was issued by the Minister for Industry and Commerce some time ago, which got a good deal of publicity in some of the newspapers and very little in others, the object of which was to get people to cut more turf, because we feel that, if the coal merchants and the railway companies are taking up this in the spirit in which I think they are, a spirit of real helpfulness and of desire to develop it to the fullest possible extent, the trouble is that there may not be enough turf cut and, in any event, the coal merchants will try to purchase the turf where they feel it can be got in a good standard quality and in large quantities. It would not pay them or any others interested in the thing as an economic and commercial enterprise to carry out transactions with individual peat producers. There must be some organisation and, as I say, on the one hand we are hopeful that co-operative societies will be established by the producers of the peat, and, on the other hand, we are hopeful that with the assistance of the railway companies a great deal may be done to get the supplies in large quantities.
We estimate that about 500,000 tons extra may be supplied this year. The foundation, as I say, of the whole scheme is that the turf or peat should be of reasonably good quality. In order to help the scheme forward we have purchased, I think, 50,000 sacks and may eventually purchase more— perhaps 150,000 sacks may be necessary to get the scheme working properly. We hope to be able to make an arrangement with either the merchants or the carriers by which the cost of these sacks will be recouped to the State. We hope to be able to let them out on the hire purchase system. It was expected that under this scheme turf of good quality will be bought at the railway stations at something like 10/- or 10/6 per ton and that at that price it will be possible to pay the transport costs from practically all the bog areas in the country to the City of Dublin, and that it will be possible for the coal merchants to retail the turf at that price to the consumer and make a reasonable profit.
We have also made arrangements to spend a large sum of money, which may posibly run into something like £10,000, for advertisement, publicity and organisation. In the initial stages it is necessary that we should go out and do a great deal of the work of organisation ourselves. Unfortunately, there is no organisation there at the moment. We would have preferred if it had not been necessary for the Government to intervene directly and if it had been possible for some independent or semi-independent body or company to take up this work, and, with certain financial assistance from the Government, to carry it through. Members of the Cabinet have taken a great interest in the matter and have carried the plans and the arrangements to a certain stage. We think that the scheme will work out itself, now that nearly all the preliminary plans have been made. A great deal of thanks are due to the coal merchants and to the railway company who have promised their co-operation. We hope also to have the co-operation of the canal company in the matter.