As a matter of fact, I am quoting from the Quarterly Return of Marriages, Births and Deaths, but the Deputy will find all of them in the Irish Trade Journal. In the same way, we had other vague suggestions of evil conditions and, mind, I do not want to overstress them one way or the other, except to remove this atmosphere that has been attempted to be created, that there is something specially bad and wrong now and that things are visibly going wrong. The question of malnutrition was raised. It was admitted by Deputy Keyes that the statistics that were given were favourable but, because they were favourable, he says statistics do not matter. There is no evidence, as far as we know, that malnutrition exists on any extensive scale. All the indications at the present moment are, broadly, favourable, but I do not regard the degree of improvement as sufficiently satisfactory nor am I satisfied that the basis upon which those figures are gathered are of very definite exactness. Some years ago I thought that the three vital statistics were the three most important social statistics we could get and I went to a good deal of trouble to inquire what they were and to do what I could to see that they would be made more uniform and more reliable.
The next matter that was dragged in here was vouchers, all this being consciously or sub-consciously directed to producing the idea that the Government in charge of this was callously disregardful—these were words used— callously disregardful of the necessities of the problem. One Deputy said:—
"We charge the Government that they are deliberately and wilfully responsible for lowering the vitality of the people."
I want the House to realise the meaning of a phrase of that kind. A Government appointed by the majority of the people, maintained here over two or three General Elections, here now, I should say, for 11 or 12 years, are of such a character that they can be accused of deliberately and wilfully, of set purpose and known intent, reducing the vitality of the people. Surely there is no man in the House who, adverting to the dictionary meaning of these words, would use them in relation to anyone here. No honest man would say them and no intelligent man would believe them. But, as part of that campaign, the very action which is taken by the Government for the purpose of trying to safeguard the most unhappy and the most unfortunate of our people from consequences entirely outside their control, to assure them immediate, definite and unchallengeable access to the necessities of life, is turned into a weapon of attack —not a weapon of light attack. "Deliberately degrading," says Deputy Murphy, "producing the sordid symptoms of servility and decay." This is the thing that is done by the Government of this people, for the poorest of its people: giving them direct cheques, not upon paper money of variable quality and of variable reliability in their access to goods, but giving them cheques direct upon the goods themselves, cheques which have precedence of everybody else's on the bank of those essential and necessary goods, and they are described as "deliberately degrading," deliberately producing "sordid symptoms of servility and decay." What are these? 84,000 vouchers have been issued to the dependents of persons in receipt of unemployment assistance, to old age pensioners, including blind pensioners, their dependents and children, to widows, children and orphans who are beneficiaries under the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts and to the recipients of disablement benefit under the National Health Insurance Acts: every one of them is entitled, whatever may be the variation in price, and whatever may be the difficulty in getting them, to a share in those goods every week.
What is the effect of that? "Degrading". Here is a report from a county medical officer of health. I do not propose to give you the name or the county, but I am prepared to hand the document to any Deputy who wishes to see it. It is a typical statement. I do not propose to publicise the individual himself:—
"During this year supplies of medicines were limited, especially as regards cod liver oil, emulsion, malt, ostomalt, etc. These medicines were very useful in families whose dietary was limited and insufficient, and the failure to obtain them owing to war conditions was a hardship and probably discouraged attendance at dispensaries. This coincided, unfortunately, with the scarcity of the formerly despised ‘bread and butter and tea' diet of many families... However, the introduction of the food voucher scheme towards the end of the year for recipients of home assistance, unemployment assistance, widows' and orphans' pensions, etc., has been of the greatest benefit during the winter. In fact, it is the greatest single measure of relief yet afforded, and it is hoped that it will be continued irrespective of war conditions, and it should eventually repay a hundredfold by maintaining and improving the health of those for whom it is intended....
An improvement in the health of small children, resulting from the regular supply of milk and butter over a period of a few months during this winter has been evident. Such improvement gives us the hope of an increase in the general standard of health among those from whom our cases of tuberculosis are mainly recruited."
That is a description in a report by a county medical officer of health of the filthy thing which this Government invented deliberately to degrade the people and create "sordid symptoms of servility and decay". In exactly the same way as there have been these 84,000 cheques upon the bank of food for the people, there also have been issued 36,000 vouchers upon the bank of fuel, a bank which has been prepared for them over the whole year. The best, the driest, the most uniform, the most portable, and the most conveniently burnable type of material that we could get in the country has been kept for those 36,000 beneficiaries, and, due to the foresight of this Dáil, they are now in benefit.
I think I may say that I am personally responsible for the voucher system. At any rate, I am prepared to take personal responsibility, by name, for every one of the 8,000 people who are receiving food cheques in Cork, and the 5,000 who are receiving turf cheques. I am prepared to say that I personally am responsible, by name, for any insult which has been offered to them in trying to help them in this manner, and making sure that, whoever else may go short this winter either of food or fuel, at least they will not go short. This is quite an important matter. It is one in which in the interests of fair play and of decency in public life we ought to come down to brass tacks, one way or the other. When this voucher system was introduced into this House it was denounced with "bell, book and candle" by the Labour Party, and then, apparently they had a meeting. At any rate, and I say it is to their credit, one of them had the courage to come in here and withdraw the whole of that attack and to say that they did approve of it. Not having immediately seen the benefit which was there, they have had the courage and the manliness to admit the mistake of putting themselves behind a movement which could be misrepresented.
