We have had some talk about the contract system and the direct labour system. I believe the contract system is a good one, but it requires to be closely watched. I believe that contractors in different counties play into each others' hands. One contractor will go in for the building of a group of cottages and the others will allow him to get the contract. Then another contractor comes along for the next group of cottages and he is allowed to go ahead. That is making building very costly and there should be a closer review of it. My county does not favour the direct labour system very much. It was tried on a small scale but was found to be very costly. It requires a great deal of supervision in order to get a good return from it. As I say, the contract system is a good one if it is well watched.
I do not believe we should give the building of too many houses to any one contractor. In my county one or two men can get a contract for building 100 houses each. There seems to be no limit to the time in which they are required to build them and sometimes the work is going on for years. A contractor who gets the building of 100 houses has not half of them finished within a year. I believe that ten or 20 houses is sufficient to give to any one contractor. That is as much as he will be able to cope with. If you give the building of 100 or 200 houses to any one contractor they will not be completed for many years.
I believe also that we should pay more attention to the building up of our small towns and villages, many of which are eyesores at present. We have directed all our attention for the past 30 years to the building of houses for the poorer classes. I believe the time has come when other classes who are almost in as great need should get some attention, such as middle-class people in the country areas. At present a large number of Civic Guards, teachers, nurses and other public officials in the different areas are retiring on pensions who are not able to build houses for themselves owing to the cost of money. In our villages and towns we should have schemes for the building of houses of a better class than the ordinary cottages which could be let at a reasonably good rent.
The local authorities should be encouraged to build up our villages and towns by providing this class of houses. If ten or 12 houses are built in any village for letting at a good rent there will always be people anxious to secure one of them. Our villages and towns are community centres in the country areas where the schools and the churches and the other amenities are located.
If new houses were built in these centres it would enhance the prestige of the country because visitors passing through them would see happy communities living in nice houses with lighting, sanitary and other facilities.
I am against the building of scores and scores of houses miles out in the country. You will find a house costing £1,200 or £1,500 occupied by, say, some old person of 75 years of age, four or five miles away from the nearest village and from a church and shops. The time has come when we must get away from building in the wild country areas. All our villages are three or four miles apart, and if we build in and around them, it will promote community life. A lot of drudgery and misery is caused in country areas when cottages are built three or four miles away from shops, schools and churches. I find that when we have some cottages to let in such areas it is very hard to get tenants to go into them, because they are too far away from the nearest village or town.
I ask that some attention should be given to the building of houses for middle-class people. So far as my county is concerned, when the present schemes are completed, we will have sufficient cottages built for the class of people requiring them. There is a great need for houses for middle-class people who are unable to build houses themselves, and that can be done by asking the local authorities to go in more for the building up of our towns and villages. No matter what Government has been in power, the housing drive has gone on very well. It is a costly business, however, and the money factor is the main thing in connection with it. It places a big burden on the shoulders of the ratepayers and the taxpayers. But it was something that had to be done, because for hundreds of years our people were not alone kept out of the good land, but shoved into the byeways. For a number of years they have been gradually getting back and taking their rightful place in the life of the country.
The conditions under which the poorer people in the country live are a legacy from the conquerors who put the people out of their homes and obliged them to dwell in little mud cabins half a mile away from the public road where they cannot even build a boreen and where they have to bring their little provisions in a sack on their back. These are the people who were driven down there by Cromwell and his satellites in years gone by. The housing of those people in the highlands so that they can participate adequately in community life is a great national need. I am glad that work in this connection is going on and I hope that in a short number of years we will have the housing of our people almost completed. One of the things freedom has brought us is the opportunity of bringing contentment and happiness to the homes of rural Ireland.
I would ask the Minister to review the position to see that the cost of houses is reduced as much as possible. We must endeavour to charge only a reasonable rent and one that is in proportion to the income of the person who is going to occupy that house. The wages of the workers in country areas are extremely low and I suppose will remain so because, after all, the agricultural labourer is the hewer of wood and drawer of water; he is the hardest worked and the worst paid member of the community. These are the people who are generally housed in the country areas so we must ensure that they are not obliged to pay a high rent. We must see that these people are able to clothe, feed and bring some comfort to themselves before we put a heavy tax on them. They are a good type of people and they will pay reasonable rents promptly. It is our duty to see that they are in a position to pay the rent.
I would ask the Minister to make every effort to see that more houses are built and that we get full value in the building of those houses. Most of these contractors play into each other's hands and I do believe they are getting a handsome reward out of the building of houses for the people. It is my opinion that many of the houses being built by contractors will not stand the test of time as will the houses built 75 years ago or so. In my county we have two, three or four flying squads going around to repair the cottages. I am sorry to say that it is the cottages built in the last ten or 20 years that have to be put in repair. The old cottages built over 75 years ago very seldom need repair and do not involve the ratepayers in expense. Therefore, we must come to the conclusion that the newer houses are badly built and that bad contractors built them. In that way a good deal of public money was wasted. I am not blaming Governments, but it is most unfair that these men should reap the benefit at other people's expense. We must keep a close eye on what is going on and see that those whom we find out are severely punished.
It is very desirable that our engineers should scrutinise very closely the building of every house and that continued inspection should be carried out. I do not believe that there is half the amount of inspection which there should be; consequently certain people are getting away with trickery which should be prevented. If these matters get proper attention the people will be prepared to spend the money. In housing our people we are doing something of great national value.
There were many people who were prepared, in my county at least, to strike out to build houses for themselves. The increased charges for loans last year have been a serious setback to them. There are scores of lovers all over the country who were planning and dreaming of building houses of their own, of marrying and settling down. They cannot do that at the present moment. Something should be done to enable such people to obtain the necessary facilities to build their own houses. It is all right for the county council and such bodies to build houses, but I would far rather see encouragement given to the man who is prepared to fend for himself in this regard. We have cut them out of the picture. They are unable to fend for themselves at the present time.
I hope the Minister will make every effort to make money available at a reasonable charge and, perhaps, have the repayments spread over a fairly long period. It would be an excellent gesture towards fostering individual initiative and enterprise. It is wonderful to see people providing for themselves in this way; it is a desirable development so long as it is subject to proper supervision by the officials of the State.
I believe this motion has served a useful purpose even if it has done nothing more than allow us to have this talk in the House, because it is needed. The building of houses is one of our main concerns, and I must pay a tribute to all native Governments for the extent of the development which has taken place in regard to housing. They have got that programme going full steam ahead. I hope that within the next ten years or so the programme will have so developed that all our people will be properly housed and in a happy position. Then we can say the State is making progress.