asked the Minister for Social Welfare (1) if he will indicate when his Department altered the policy of making the best turf available for the cheap fuel schemes which provide for old age pensioners, blind pensioners and recipients of home assistance in the area administered by the Cork Corporation; (2) whether a tender for machine-won turf, received by the Cork Corporation, was rejected by him in favour of a tender for hand-won turf; (3) if he received a resolution of protest from the Cork Corporation in connection with this; and, if so, whether he proposes to reconsider the position, and (4) whether machine-won turf was provided for the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire cheap fuel schemes.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cheap Fuel Schemes.
My view in this matter is that the best available turf should be supplied under the cheap fuel schemes. A tender for the supply of machine-won turf was obtained by Cork Corporation and submitted to my Department. It was learned on inquiry from Bord na Móna that the quantity of machine-won turf available in Cork was less than half of the amount required for the cheap fuel scheme for the winter season. This fact does not appear to have been known to the firm tendering, nor to the corporation. Now that the corporation is aware of the position, I will be glad to meet their representatives and discuss with them the best course to adopt. The question is whether it would be advisable to use hand-won turf now and keep the limited supply of machine-won fuel in reserve against a period of very bad weather, or to use the machine-won turf forthwith and then fall back on the hand-won turf. An objection to the latter scheme may be that the hand-won turf will probably deteriorate more rapidly in bad weather. I do not think there would be any great difficulty in arriving at an agreement on the best procedure to adopt.
The Dublin and Dún Laoghaire schemes are in the same position as Cork. Portion of the demand will be met by machine-won turf and the rest by hand-won turf.