At the present level, yes. The Dáil will remember that the Housing Act of last year contained a provision for which my former Parliamentary Secretary, Dr. Ward, was responsible, which I am sure will be of great value in the treatment and prevention of pulmonary tuberculosis. Local authorities, by the Act, are empowered in certain circumstances to make grants for the provision of an extra room, hut or chalet, attached to or in the curtilage of the dwellings of poisons suffering from the disease. The grants in question are given on the certificate of the county medical officer of health or medical superintendent officer of health of the area in which the affected person resides. This certificate must affirm that the person concerned is suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, that he is undergoing treatment for the disease and that the existing accommodation of his dwelling is inadequate for his proper treatment or for his segregation from the other members of the household. The appropriate architectural or engineering officer of the council has also to certify that the premises in question are suitable for extension in the manner desired. By the Act the State is empowered to recoup the local authority to the extent of two-thirds of the grant or £100, whichever is the lesser.
County councils and county borough councils are the authorities for the purpose of formulating schemes for the provision of this special accommodation. These number 31 and schemes have been received from 25 of them. The 25 schemes involve, according to local estimates, the construction of 1,769 extra rooms, huts or chalets. The average all in cost per case is estimated at £130.
The extent of the housing need calls, as I have emphasised already, for a building output on the part of local authorities on a scale surpassing anything hitherto achieved. I have mentioned the measures taken to remove, so far as we can do so, the financial obstacles, and I would now like to emphasise the necessity for maintaining a high standard as regards planning and construction. The urgent need for new houses should not blind us to the desirability of securing greater variety of house design. When considerations of economy are paramount it is difficult, admittedly, to resist the tendency towards uniformity and monotone, but a certain diversity, both internally and externally, need not involve any appreciable extra cost. Even where there is a repetition of the same type of house, the monotonous pattern is often due to lack of imagination in the layout. The layout should be adapted to the contours of the site. If this is done the natural diversities between sites will safeguard us from monotony. Local authorities must keep in mind that housing schemes carried out now will remain a feature of our towns and countryside for many years and remember that on good or bad planning will depend whether new housing estates will add to or detract from the beauty of the landscape.
I should like also to stress the important fact that, in the selection of the sites for labourers' cottages, it is desirable that greater effort should be made to group cottages within suitable areas, in order to enhance the amenities of rural life. Groups of cottages should be situated so that full advantage may be taken of existing or proposed facilities for piped water supply, electricity supply, and also to enable the tenants to benefit from proximity to church, school and shopping centres. Undoubtedly it will always be necessary to build isolated cottages to meet special local circumstances, but the general idea should be to avoid this where possible.
The Estimate before the Dáil include a provision of £4,000 for the holding of architectural competitions, so that local authorities may be encouraged to give greater consideration to the planning of their houses and the lay-out of their building schemes. The intention is that three competitions should be promoted, one by each of three local authorities. The first competition will be for an urban scheme with piped water and sewerage services, the second will be for a village scheme on a site where these facilities are not yet available, and the third competition will be for rural cottages. It is hoped that with the co-operation of the professional bodies concerned the competitions will stimulate the interest of the engineering and architectural professions in local housing problems. We trust that this interest will result in the emergence of an Irish school of domestic architecture, which will become characteristic of our country and which will give the mass of our people sound, tasteful and well-planned dwellings.
Deputies are aware that under the general supervision of the Department there is a scheme whereby allotments at nominal rents are provided by urban local authorities for persons who are unemployed, or who are in receipt of public assistance, or who, though employed, are regarded as being without a reasonable prospect of continuing in employment for six months and whose income, if they resided during the preceding year in a county borough or in the borough of Dún Laoghaire, did not exceed £66, or if they resided elsewhere £52.
The highest number of these allotments taken up was 21,594 in the year 1941-42. In 1942-43 the number applied for was 17,939; in 1943-44, 16,270; in 1944-45, 14,488; in 1945-46, 12,177. It is estimated that the number that will be asked for and cultivated in the current year will be only about 12,000, hence the decrease in the Estimate from £14,000 to £11,650.
The substantial decrease in the number of allotments taken, from 21,594 in 1941-42 to 12,177 in 1948-46, will no doubt be noted with astonishment; for admittedly, so far as the easy procural of food was concerned, conditions in the latter year were not easier than they were in 1941-42. It is true that the decrease of 9,417 in the number of allotments applied for corresponded very closely to the decrease in the total number on the male unemployment register in urban areas, which fell by 9,080 from 40,882 in July, 1941, to 31,402 in July, 1945. Nevertheless, the striking inconsistency between the figure of 12,177 allotments taken up and the figure of 31,402 for the male unemployment register in urban areas demands, I think, some further comment.
As a beginning I should point out that the rent chargeable for these allotments is usually 1/- per annum for "unemployed" persons. In addition, free seeds and manures are given and the necessary implements are made available also. These plots are intended to be worked for their own advantage by able-bodied men, out of a job and therefore dependent upon the bounty or charity of the community for their subsistence. Those who do work them industriously can obtain generous return for their labour. It is, accordingly, most disquieting to note that the proportion of persons in receipt of unemployment assistance who remain sufficiently industrious to try to feed themselves fell from 53 per cent. in 1941 to 38 per cent. in 1945. When we consider the facilities that this allotment scheme affords for producing essential food by the mere expenditure of labour; when we note that in July, 1945, no less than 31,400 persons were registered officially in urban areas as unemployed but able and willing to work; and, when we advert to the high cost of living then as now, the sharp decrease in the number of allotments taken certainly gives cause for serious reflection. Are we to take it that those 19,000-odd persons who did not seek to obtain allotments, in 1945, were unable to work or were unwilling to work or were, perhaps, not really unemployed at all, but were drawing public money under false pretences f These questions warrant, I think, searching investigation.
The House is aware that the Minister for Local Government is the Minister responsible for the administration of the Town and Regional Planning Acts. The developments in town and regional planning during the year have not been spectacular, but some progress has been made in this exceedingly difficult field. Four local authorities passed resolutions deciding to make planning schemes and another has the matter under consideration. If this authority decides to make a planning scheme, the planning Acts will be operative in 64 of the 89 planning districts. It is to be hoped that the local authorities who have so far hesitated to pass planning resolutions will extend the provisions of the Acts to their districts in the near future. Perhaps I might mention one reason why it is eminently desirable that they should. Admittedly the planned control of building and road development is designed to benefit the community rather than the individual. But it has nevertheless this advantage from the point of view of the individual: it compels the planning authority to consider and decide, first of all, what constructional developments would, in its opinion, be beneficial to the community, and then to make its decisions known to all concerned. The local authority, which adopts the Town and Regional Planning Code, has to prepare its plans, to publish them and to submit them to the criticism of everybody affected by them. As a result of this criticism it formulates its final plan and this becomes binding on it. Everybody knows then what the plans of the local authority are and can make his own plans accordingly. As it is at present, a man may proceed to develop his property at some, perhaps even at great expense to himself, only to find that some of his neighbours or perhaps even the local authority itself, by some contra - development of adjoining property, may nullify everything he has done. Thus in the absence of a formulated plan a man may lose the due return which his initiative and expenditure would otherwise entitle him to.
But the resolution to make a planning scheme is only the preliminary step. No local authority has yet reached the point of completing a planning scheme and submitting it to me for approval. Preliminary reports and sketch development plans have been outlined, but until a draft planning scheme has been prepared a planning authority cannot be said to have achieved a plan for its area. Even though a sketch plan admittedly provides a useful background against which proposals for development can be judged — and is, therefore, better than no attempt to plan at all — it would be very much better for everybody concerned if planning schemes were completed as soon practicable. For that reason we have been urging local authorities to expedite the fulfilment of their intentions in this connection.
As a result of the extension of the area under planning control and the, intensification of building operations there has been a remarkable increase in the number of appeals submitted to me against interim decisions of planning authorities. In the first 12 years after the passing of the Town and Regional Planning Act of 1934 there was an average of about 20 appeals a year. In the last nine months there have been 100 appeals and as the volume of building increases no doubt the number of appeals will increase proportionately. Under the law as it stands the Minister has to bring his personal consideration to bear on each appeal, and thereby a very onerous and exacting duty is imposed on him. I have been giving some thought to this matter and as a result feel that in time, with the growth and development of community planning, some other tribunal will have to be devised to deal with appeals if they are to be dealt with equitably and expeditiously. Lest these last remarks should be misunderstood, I should emphasise that the planning authorities are, speaking generally, exercising their powers with discretion, so that in no less than 70 per cent. of the valid appeals received it has been found possible to confirm the local authority's decision or reach a settlement acceptable to both parties.
Power was given by the Act of 1934 for adjoining authorities to form planning regions. There is an obvious advantage in having a regional plan covering the several areas administered by such local authorities. Under it each local authority maintains its freedom to prepare district schemes dealing in greater detail with matters of local concern though, of course, it must harmonise its district scheme as a whole with the regional scheme. I have asked the Dublin Corporation to give early consideration to the exercise of their powers as regional planning authority for the region comprising Dublin City and County and the adjoining counties of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.
I now turn to what is probably the oldest service administered by local authorities; that is the maintenance of roads. Our roads during the last seven years have deteriorated considerably owing to the inability of county councils to obtain the necessary materials for carrying out normal maintenance by surface dressing. In order to restore surfaces as quickly as possible it was decided last year, not only to offer grants to county councils on a more generous scale than before, but for the first time to make grants available from the Road Fund for the maintenance of county roads. The grants, as Deputies will no doubt recall, were given on an ascending scale: the more that was done over the average, as represented by the expenditure over the preceding five years, the higher would be the proportion of the expenditure met. That scheme has been continued this year, with the same scale of grants as was authorised for last year. I am glad to say that it seems to have been effective, and that county councils generally have realised the importance of restoring our roads to their normal condition, and have made increased provision under that head for that work in their estimates for this year.
Unfortunately, the bad weather in the early months of this year gave a double set-back to our road restoration programme. Frost, and snow caused very considerable damage to surfaces, which, owing to the lack of regular surface dressing during the war years, had become porous, and these surfaces once broken up became holed by heavy traffic. Moreover, the problem of restoring our roads has been aggravated, not only by a shortage of essential materials and the stress of weather, but by an acute shortage of labour in rural areas. The lateness of the tillage season made it necessary to divert to tillage labour which might have been employed on roads. With this objective, county councils were asked to release for employment by farmers such of their men as might be required by them. In the turf-cutting areas we have had to go even further, and since the 1st of May, have had to allow turf-production to take priority over our road-restoration programme.
Every effort has been made to make up for the shortage of labour by the purchase of new road machinery. Immediately after the war a survey was made of the equipment required by local authorities either to replace depleted stocks or to supplement their existing plant. The procedure for obtaining new equipment was expedited by seeking tenders through Department from manufacturers normally supplied this country. These tenders were circulated to local authorities, who were advised to secure all road-making materials or plant on offer as quickly as possible. As might be expected in existing circumstances, orders were placed far in excess of the amount of equipment available, so that the needs of local authorities in most types of road-making equipment have not yet been filled. The Departmental, however, has been in touch with representatives of continental and American firms with a view to making good the deficiency; and I am glad to say that there has been an improvement in the machinery position generally.
The efficiency with which road work is done and the extent to which new methods are applied depend primarily on the keenness and ability of county surveyors and their assistants. In order that the technical staffs responsible tor road maintenance may be able without difficulty to keep abreast of the most modern developments we have arranged courses of lectures on road construction for surveyors. These were given in Dublin last month and over 100 engineers to local authorities were enabled to attend them.
It would be, perhaps, relevant in this connection to stress the fact that roads have now become so important an element in our whole economic and productive organisation that responsibility for making and maintaining them can only be entrusted to first-class men. Naturally, such men will not be attracted to the service of local authorities unless the conditions generally, and particularly their remuneration, are commensurate with their personal ability, capacity and professional qualifications. If local authorities want service of the highest technical efficiency — which in the long run is the most economical service — they must be prepared to pay for it, and many authorities, I am glad to say, now realise this. The whole question of the remuneration of county engineering staffs is a matter which has been engaging my attention for some time in conjunction with similar and cognate questions which though they must be decided simultaneously require separate study.
As I need not indeed tell Deputies, modern traffic developments have posed new problems in regard to road improvement. In the early years of road planning in this country, the immediate problem was to meet the conditions set up on the then existing roads by fast-moving vehicles; so that it might be said that the primary aim of road-builders was to provide dust-free surfaces on the roads. It might also be said that, with the aid of grants from the Road Fund, they were reasonably successful in accomplishing it. But in this, as in other countries, with the development of the self-propelled vehicle, the speed and weight of traffic made it necessary to devote more attention to the proper alignment of roads, in order to ensure the safety, not only of those who travel in motor-vehicles, but of all road users. And the need for this has become greater and more urgent with the passage of time. Road alignments and easements of bends designed and constructed in the twenties and thirties of the century have now to be redesigned and reconstructed to meet the much more exacting requirements of modern traffic. It has, therefore, become imperative for the Department, which has general responsibility for our roads and administers the fund out of which so large a part of the cost of these roads is now met, to lay down standards for the proper alignment and design of roads generally. These standards for the classification and layout of roads have been printed and issued to the engineers of local authorities. They embody the principles that in future are to be followed in the design and construction of our roads.
In formulating the new road standards an attempt has been made on the basis of the data available to classify roads according to the expected traffic density of the future. As a result it is estimated that about 4,400 miles of roads will have to be very greatly improved within the next 25 years. It is intended to take a new traffic census as soon as possible in order to check this estimate, and further checks will be made by further traffic censuses which will be taken at intervals. The information thus obtained will be used as a basis for a scientific reclassification of our roads.
Many Deputies who are members of local authorities will be aware, no doubt, that local authorities have been asked to carry out surveys of certain of their main roads and for this purpose to appoint temporary engineers. About the purpose of this road survey, however, there would seem to be in certain quarters some misunderstanding which perhaps I should endeavour to clear up. In the first place, I should like to emphasise that the road standards laid down by the Department are not to be confused with a road construction programme. Accordingly, it must not be inferred that the projected roads are to be constructed now, or even laid out to the traffic requirements of some time in the remote future. Most of the criticisms of the proposed road survey which I have read would seem to be permeated by this error. The main purpose of the survey is a practical and economical one; it is to ascertain the land and rights of way required for the development of the roads in the era we are now entering, and, where practicable, to secure these. I think it will be admitted that it is very desirable, to do this in order to let the owners of the properties concerned know in good time what the plans of the road authorities are, so that they will not undertake any construction works which might not only impede the proper development of our road system, but might ultimately have to be demolished. It is also advisable to make this road survey so as to ensure that over a reasonable period the lands which the road-building authorities are likely to require will be reserved for their use. In making the road survey now, we are in fact taking the normal prudent precaution of looking ahead.
The rate of progress in making the new roads or improving existing roads will depend, of course, on many factors such as finance, machinery and labour. Furthermore, practical difficulties will prevent anything approaching the construction, mile by mile, of a continuous newly-defined road; and therefore the works will be executed in stages. In certain cases at the beginning it may even be necessary to carry out the improvements on isolated stretches of road. But in every case the standards laid down will be worked to, and thus we shall secure that, wherever the work is done, it will integrate harmoniously into the whole road when that is ultimately completed.
In carrying out our programme it is proposed to concentrate in the first place on roads which are likely to have high traffic density. There are about 3,000 miles of such roads. It is hoped that the survey which is now being carried out will enable an estimate to be made of the cost of reconstructing this 3,000 miles of roads to the standards which will be required in the future. I should like in this connection to stress this: the survey does not commit the local authority to any expenditure on road construction which is not proved to be essential for their traffic requirements. The standards laid down by the Department do not envisage an elaborate system of roads. But they do envisage roads which will be adequate to ensure the safe and speedy movement of people and merchandise upon them. Time, it has been said, is money, and the more time we can save in getting our primary products safely to their appropriate markets and the easier we make it for our producers to get them there, the greater will be the economic return, not only to the producers of these commodities, but to the community as a whole.
Farmer Deputies have often intervened in this debate as if the road engineer were the natural enemy of the farmer. There is no section of the community so closely interested in the proper development of our roads system as our farmers. For the better our transport services are, the bigger the farmers' market will be. In planning our new roads the needs of the farming community will be given the closest consideration and every endeavour will be made to meet their reasonable requirements. I know, after six years' experience as Minister for Local Government, that farmers are particularly concerned to ensure that whatever roads are constructed they will be made as safe as possible for animal traffic. That is a perfectly reasonable attitude in face of a problem which is of national importance, because we are all concerned in the safety and well-being of these animals. Indeed the experience of the past winter must have brought home to us all that the losses of individual farmers are reflected in an increase in the cost of food.
Therefore, let me assure farmer Deputies that townspeople and people who ride in motor cars are just as concorned to ensure that animals can use the roads safely as the owners of these animals may be.
The problem of making the roads safe for animal traffic is one that has long engaged the attention of my Department. I must confess it is a problem for which, so far, we have not been able to find a solution which whatever we may say, farmers will admit to be satisfactory. I have decided to have the matter thoroughly-investigated and for that purpose have set up a committee representative of engineers, farmers and other road users with the following terms of refer ence:—
To inquire into and report on the following matters:—
(1) the extent to which present methods of road surfacing are a contributary cause of accidents to animals or animal-drawn traffic;
(2) the possibility of preventing or reducing accidents by the adoption of various methods of surfacing and particularly the desirability of providing specially treated margins on roads in rural areas;
(3) the measures which owners of animals and animal-drawn traffic can themselves adopt to reduce or prevent accidents with particular reference to the shoeing of horses;
(4) the changes, if any, to be made in existing practice or legislation whether relating to the treatment of roads or the treatment of animals or their management on the public roads.
I hope that as a result of the labours of this committee we may be able to find a solution for the problem. Whether we shall or not, of course, I am not sufficient of a prophet to be able to say.
Naturally the fulfilment of our road programme will depend in great measure on the moneys available to finance it. I am glad to say that with the return of private cars to the roads and the increase in commercial vehicles, the revenues of the Road Fund have expanded considerably; but it will all be required if we are to complete our road-restoration programme and to undertake the considerable scheme of road improvement and development which we have envisaged. Last year the income to the fund was about £500,000 over that of the preceding year and was higher than the highest point reached in the pre-war years. This was due mainly to the increased number of commercial goods vehicles using the roads. Farmers, perhaps, will be glad to know that it was because of this increased income to the fund that we were able to make some grants for the maintenance of county roads. In August, 1939, the number of commercial vehicles under current licence was 10,741 as compared with 14,716 last August. There is no reason to think that the income of the Road Fund for the current year will be less than last year.
Though the matter is not strictly or mainly within the province of the Department of Local Government, the problems of road safety and the measures which should be taken to promote it have been under active consideration in the Department for some time. The improvement of the roads to which I have referred will in due course make the roads safer for road users. The strict enforcement of the law also promotes road safety, in recent years the Gardaí have been given power to test brakes and steering gear and, if they find these defective, to prohibit the use of the vehicle under test until the defect is remedied. This power also applies to pedal bicycles.
But good roads and simple enforcement of the law are not enough. We have reached the conclusion that the education of road users as to the dangers and accidents which arise from careless use of the roads is likely to be particularly helpful. I should mention that my Parliamentary Secretary, Deputy Childers, has given this matter much personal attention. Deputies who visited the Spring Show will, no doubt, have noted the road safety exhibit there. It seemed to be one of the most popular indoor attractions at the function. Two films on road safety are at present being shown in cinemas, and arrangements have also been made for a mobile film unit which will show cautionary films in schools. Such films, in fact, have already been shown in Dublin schools and it is intended to extend the operation of the unit to schools in other areas later. A road safety booklet with numerous illustrations of common road accidents and simple rules and hints for safe driving is in preparation and will be issued to all drivers of motor vehicles. A representative Road Safety Consultative Committee has also been set up which will consider proposals and suggestions for further road safety measures. In this way we hope to make all classes of road users aware of their responsibilities and thereby reduce the toll of life and limb which careless drivers now exact from the users of our roads.
During the financial year just ended, much progress was made by local authorities in the formulation of water supply and sewerage schemes which had been deferred during the world war. The improved position in regard to materials enabled work to begin on a number of schemes which had been planned many years ago but which, because of the shortage of supplies, had been held up until now. We were also able to undertake part of the comprehensive programme of post-war works, the planning of which had been proceeded with during the war period.
As Deputies will admit, the Government, by initiating a vast scheme to make the amenities and advantages of an electricity supply available to the majority of our rural dwellings, has indicated in a very practical way how greatly it is concerned for the comfort and well-being of our rural people and, of course, for their economic advancement as well. But electricity is only one service which has not been available liitheito to the ordinary countryman. There others equally desirable which he has had likewise to forgo. And perhaps first among these from the point of view of health and comfort is an ample, convenient and assured domestic water supply. Admittedly it is not possible in the nature of things to afford such a supply for every dwelling in the country; and it has been argued that to give it even to the majority of them would not only present technical problems of very great difficulty, but would be prohibitive in cost. The Government, however, has decided to have the question thoroughly investigated by a committee of experts, whose services I am now seeking and who will be asked to inquire into the feasibility of constructing water supply systems to provide adequate and satisfactory supplies of water for domestic purposes in those areas in which piped water supplies are at present lacking. Of course, an investigation of this sort will take some time because the technical problems involved are very great; and equally great, perhaps, is the difficulty of securing the services of competent people to investigate these problems. At any rate, when the investigation has been completed, we shall know where we stand and we will, I hope, be able to give effect to the general desire of the Government to provide not only electricity for our country people but a satisfactory and convenient water supply as well.
The total number of sanitary service schemes initiated during the year was 39. Of these, 14 were water schemes and were sewerage schemes. The estimated cost of these schemes is about £280,000. Grants amounting to £94,000 were made available as contributions to this expenditure.
In August last, the Minister for Finance agreed to make grants from the Transition Development Fund to local authorities for public health works. These grants are intended to act as an inducement to local authorities to put forward schemes which would not normally be undertaken owing to the excessive cost. Where the proposed schemes are approved, the grants will be assessed on the basis of the cost per dwelling of the area served by them. Where the cost of the scheme exceeds £55 per dwelling a grant of 50 per cent. of the excess arising will be payable subject to a maximum contribution of £60 per dwelling. Naturally these grants will not be available for schemes which I have found myself unable to approve.
Bearing in mind the importance of deriving the greatest practicable proportion of our supplies of fertiliser for agricultural purposes from domestic sources, the Government have decided that the possibility of converting town sewage by bacterial treatment into a useful fertiliser should be examined and reported upon by an expert committee. Deputies, no doubt, know that on the Continent and in Great Britain sewage disposal plants, designed for this purpose, have been installed in some places, and I believe successfully operated. We propose to have such plants and their working closely studied by a committee of scientists and engineers, and reported upon. If the report is in general favourable, it may bring about revolutionary changes in the methods at present in vogue here for the treatment and disposal of sewage from our large centres of population. The terms of reference of the committee are: —
"To consider and report on the methods of Sewage disposal with reference to the recovery of sewage sludge and its treatment for agricultural purposes and to report also on the financial and technical problems involved (i) in constructing future sewerage schemes adapted to this purpose; (ii) in adapting likewise the systems of sewage disposal already in operation here."
A number of gentlemen have already accepted invitations to act on the committee and I hope to announce the full membership within the next week or two.
In addition to public health schemes, grants of about £40,000 were also allocated from the Employment and Emergency Schemes Vote towards the cost of amenity schemes undertaken by local authorities. The schemes carried out included the provision of playgrounds, public parks, handball alleys, promenades, improvement works at fair greens, and the clearance of derelict sites. Amenity schemes, generally, are undertaken primarily to provide employment, and grants up to 90 per cent. of the cose of the works are made available to local authorities.
There was an increase of £163,105 in borrowing for sanitary and other works, excluding housing. The total amount of loans sanctioned was £424,293, which approaches the total for the last pre-war year. The borrowing was principally from the Local Loans Fund and by means of stock issues.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle took the Chair.
