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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 29 Jul 1948

Vol. 112 No. 10

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Clare Road Expenditure.

asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware that the Clare County Council cut the road estimate for County Clare as presented by the county engineer by £144,000 for the year 1948-49; that the loss in Government grants as a consequence of this cut amounted to some £90,000; that the recent offer by his Department of a further grant of £3 to £1 from local rates to restore the roads of the county was rejected by the council; that road workers of the county are now disemployed because of these actions of the council; and, if so, whether he will take such steps as are necessary to remedy the matter.

I am aware that the Clare County Council cut the county engineer's estimate for roads by £144,000 approximately and that they refused to provide a contribution towards a further scheme proposed by the county engineer to provide employment for men employed by the county council and Bord na Móna on turf production in 1947 who have not found alternative employment. The responsibility for the exclusion of such workers from employment rests, therefore, with the Clare County Council. I understand that the Special Employment Schemes Office is considering the question of initiating a minor employment scheme in the Kildysart area where there are a number of ex-turf workers unemployed.

Does that reply about the roads of Clare mean that the road workers of Clare are to be left at the mercy of a majority of the council to use them as pawns in a political game? Is that what the Department of Local Government intends to allow to happen in the county?

I am not aware that they are being used as pawns in a political game. I realise that the Minister has power, given to him under the Local Government Act of 1946, to request or to require the Clare County Council to take certain action, but inasmuch as I was opposed to that Act when it was before the House as a Bill in 1946, I should be very reluctant to interfere with the decisions of the Clare County Council. However, I am prepared to consider what can be done in this matter.

Does the Parliamentary Secretary not know that the cutting of the estimate by £144,000 and the loss of a grant of £90,000, clearly indicates that the roads of Clare are going to be neglected in a scandalous way and is he prepared to allow that to happen?

Is the political game the throwing out of employment of many hundreds of men by the Government and then asking the council to find employment for them?

It should be brought home to the members of the county council that facilities for the employment of these men are at their disposal and that they refuse to avail themselves of the facilities which have been put at their disposal.

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