asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he will state if he is aware that owing to the necessitous condition of a large number of breadwinners in Ennis, the county council have been compelled to decide to take £3,000 from the rates and allocate it for special Christmas relief work; that the conditions of the labourers in the town of Ennis, due to unemployment, is such that this amount will go only a very short way towards bringing them relief for a short period at Christmas; and if he will state whether he will supplement this amount by a grant of at least a similar amount from the £2,500,000 of State money announced by the Minister for Finance to be available for unemployment; and, if not, if he will state what is to become of this £2,500,000; whether it is proposed to spend it, and if so, when and on what classes of work, and in what districts, and whether the number of unemployed in any district will be considered.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Relief of Ennis Unemployed.
The matter of relief grants for County Clare has already formed the subject of correspondence between the Department and the county council, and the position is as notified to the county council in the Department's letter of the 28th ultimo, that the money which is being made available by State grants in the current financial year, between Minor Relief Scheme, Road Improvement Scheme and Road Relief Scheme, amounts to £32,229, involving a local contribution of £5,380, thus bringing the total expenditure to £37,609. This money is for expenditure between now and the 31st March next, and is apart from any moneys which have been, or may be, made available for public health works in the county. It is considered that the sum mentioned should reasonably meet the needs of the unemployment situation in the county.
Mr. Hogan
Is the Minister aware that in Ennis alone there are 300 people unemployed, and is he aware that in the County Clare, from one Christmas to another, there are men who get no more than five days' work in that whole period?
Is the Minister aware that at least one man who came to the labour exchange at Ennis recently was so exhausted from hunger that he had to be carried home?
I am not aware of it.