asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state whether any estimate has been made of the number of persons, (a) skilled and (b) unskilled, likely to be employed in the building industry (i) by the 1st of April, 1946, and (ii) the 1st October, 1946; and, if not, if he will cause such an estimate to be made.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - The Building Industry.
No estimate has been made or can yet be made of the number of persons likely to be employed in the building industry on the dates mentioned. The amount of building work to be undertaken in 1946 is dependent on the supplies of materials available but it is hoped that these will be sufficient to enable an amount of work to be set on foot equal approximately to the amount undertaken in a normal pre-war year. If this hope is realised, the number of skilled and unskilled workers in employment should be up to the pre-war normal by October next.
Will the Minister say what these figures would be?
I would prefer to have notice of that. The number of workers employed might vary as between different trades employed in the building industry. When I expressed the hope and the expectation that the amount of building done next year will be equivalent to the amount done in a normal pre-war year, I had in mind the fact that considerable restriction would still have to be imposed on the use of timber and that methods of building will have to be resorted to which would not be employed normally. That might affect the employment of workers in building trades, but the total number employed next year should be equivalent to the number employed previous to the war.
With a view to arresting the tendency on the part of building workers to leave the country, would the Minister say if he would endeavour to make an estimate of those figures immediately, so that the position in terms of actual number of employed might be suggested to workers in the building industry and their hope of getting employment here might be revived in that way? Otherwise, there will be a tendency for additional numbers to go abroad.
The Deputy will appreciate that, while the Government can license building work by people who profess a desire to proceed with that building work, we cannot compel private interests which are so licensed to proceed to undertake the work at any specific time, or at all. Up to date, approximately £4,000,000 worth of building work has been authorised. Presumably, applications for further licences will be received. It is expected that all the work licensed will, in fact, be undertaken, but it cannot be said definitely that it will. On the general issue raised by the Deputy, I would like to remind him that there is a committee, on which the workers and employers are represented, considering that aspect of the question.
It is for that reason that I suggest it would, perhaps, be reasonable for the Minister to make an estimate now and I suggest to him that, through difficulties of one kind or another arising out of the attitude of various employers, the actual number of employed might fall short of his estimate, but the advantage to be gained by attempting to give an estimate now would be greater than the disability which might arise later.
I appreciate that.