To-day at Question Time I asked the Minister for Finance whether he would provide a grant for the relief of unemployment at Lusk and Swords, County Dublin. The Parliamentary Secretary, in his reply, said that he was not aware of any reason why special measures should be taken for the relief of unemployment in Lusk and Swords, and he went on to indicate that employment schemes such as are administered by his section of the Department are intended mainly to provide employment for men who are applicants for unemployment assistance. He stated that there has not been any significant increase in the number of men in this class in the areas referred to. I have had occasion before in this House to comment upon the method of assessment of the numbers of unemployed in relation to requests for grants of this kind. I think, in the first instance, that he has given a totally false picture of the situation. He quoted figures of unemployment which have relation only to the number of men who are signing or who are in receipt of unemployment assistance. It should be obvious and known to everybody that a man who is in receipt of unemployment assistance must necessarily have been for a very long period signing at the labour exchange and must have exhausted his unemployment benefit in toto. The number which is given as signing for unemployment assistance in any of these cases does not take into account the number which is signing at labour exchanges and who are in receipt of unemployment benefit.
In the areas to which I have referred, Lusk and Swords, there is widespread unemployment at the present time and it was in order to try to get some alleviation of that unemployment that I put down this question. I think that an examination of County Dublin in connection with this matter will reveal that Dublin County has asked less in the matter of special relief grants than any county in Ireland since the establishment of this State. It is a county that has always comprised a number of industrious small farmers who provide quite a considerable volume of employment ordinarily, considering the amount of land which they have to work as compared with holdings in other parts of the country. It is an area, too, in which there has been a considerable amount of industrial development, and these two things have contributed to the fact that in the past County Dublin has asked very little of this State in the matter of unemployment relief grants. This request of mine to-day in respect of Swords and Lusk is one of the very few requests ever made in regard to unemployment relief in County Dublin.
It would seem to me that the position has not been examined fully, and it seems to me also, that the reply given by the Parliamentary Secretary to-day does not show up the true position that exists there. I have been in both those areas within the past couple of days and it is idle to say that there are only 21 men unemployed in Swords when I know that 40 men will attend a meeting which is called purely for the unemployed and that there are others who cannot be there. There is almost 70 men unemployed in Swords —that is, between those drawing unemployment relief or unemployment benefit. There is also a large number unemployed in Lusk and I do not think it is good enough that we should receive a flat refusal when we ask that some measures should be taken to relieve the present position.
The town of Swords particularly, which is regarded as being the focal point of North County Dublin, is an area where there is no industry of any kind. It is an area wherein a great deal of unemployment has developed this year because of the fact that whereas hitherto there was a considerable volume of employment on the farms, there is not now that same volume due, in my view, to the passing of compulsory tillage.
I think the State has a responsibility with reference to those men who are signing on at the labour exchange. It may be easy for some people to take the view that in this state of things it is a man's own business whether he is working or not. I do not think that is a correct view to take. Every man who is unemployed is, first of all, a liability on the State—he is a dead loss—and, secondly, he is being denied what must be regarded as his fundamental right, the right to work. Therefore, I feel that the reply which was given to my question to-day is one which should be reconsidered. The whole question is one deserving of more mature consideration than has apparently been accorded to it up to now.
One of the contributory causes to the large-scale unemployment in Swords within the past month or six weeks has been the fact that a number of large building jobs have been closed down. At Collinstown there were quite a number of men employed on the laying of the runways at the Dublin airport. That work has been completed and the men are now unemployed. Then the county council were building 90 houses and there was a considerable amount of employment given to semiskilled and skilled workers. That work has been completed and a large number of men have been thrown on the labour market. Will nothing be done for these men?
I protest very strongly against any inaction on the part of the State Department concerned with this matter. If these men are going to be left idle, what have we passed legislation through this House for, legislation such as the Local Authorities (Works) Act and other such measures? Were we merely shadow-boxing when we did that? It is idle to talk about creating employment, giving full-scale employment, if we have large numbers of men next door to destitution, some of them on the border line of starvation, to use a hackneyed but true phrase. There are numbers of families in Swords and Lusk who, because of unemployment, are very badly hit.
I cannot understand how the Parliamentary Secretary has reached the conclusion that a grant is not required in Swords and Lusk on the basis of the figures provided for him. I can prove to his satisfaction, or to the satisfaction of the Minister or any other person who will take an interest and inquire into it, that there is widespread unemployment in these two areas. In these circumstances, I ask the Parliamentary Secretary, if that is proved to his satisfaction, will he provide a grant for the relief of distress in Swords and Lusk?
It is to be hoped that in the future we will not have to make requests of this kind. I do not believe we will because, due to the good work now being done by the industrial development authority, we expect to have at least two factories started in the town of Swords in a short time. It is hoped these factories will take in the slack so far as unemployment is concerned. In the meantime, there is a good deal of work which could be done if the money were made available, whether by way of special grant from the Parliamentary Secretary's section of the Department of Finance or under any other scheme that can be brought forward.
This area is adjacent to the main north road. Both Lusk and Swords are adjacent to the main road which runs to Belfast. There are dangerous corners on that road which could be taken off. I have seen where, in various parts of the country, money has been spent on roads of secondary importance—corners taken off where there did not seem to be any great need to take them off. Here on this road, where traffic is so intense—possibly so far as traffic density is concerned it is second only to the now famous Bray road—little or nothing has been done about improving it so far as dangerous bends are concerned. For instance, there is the corner at Cloughran, close to Swords, and that corner could be made safer for vehicular traffic if money were provided.
I protest against the Parliamentary Secretary's attitude. He says that because there are so few drawing unemployment assistance in the district no scheme can be sanctioned. I suggest that some inquiry should be made so as to discover the total number of men signing on at the labour exchange, drawing unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance, and a grant could be made available in accordance with the number so ascertained. I can prove that the numbers of unemployed are substantially more than the Parliamentary Secretary has indicated. I should like him to let us know what will be done for those men on whose behalf I am making this protest.
