In those circumstances, I think it would be well if the Department of Local Government were to direct their minds in this matter of housing towards consolidation of effort, consolidation which would, in my opinion, reduce expenditure on inspection on the one hand and expenditure on administration on the other. I have held the view for some time that the supplementary grant might well be something that could be dealt with by the central authority so as to have the complete application dealt with by one body and one inspector.
The almost perennial question of county roads versus main roads is, of course, a matter of considerable importance and usually leads to a good deal of discussion. The discussion depends in the main upon the areas from which the representatives come and the extent of the necessity for either main roads, on the one hand, or county roads on the other. There is no rural Deputy who can fail to stress at all times the importance of county roads and I have often wondered if, in fact, it would not be worth devoting the whole of a loan, or some such public subscription, to roads alone. I suggest that a loan should be sought for that purpose. It would bring about a situation whereby one could get rid at least for a considerable length of time, of the necessity for putting money, a very limited amount of money, into county roads each year, achieving very little and the little that has been achieved needing repairs in a very short time. On a question of that importance I think it would be well if some consideration were given to it. It is an opinion which may or may not have any value on closer examination, but one which I think merits investigation and examination.
The county road is a very important road from the point of view of our two great industries, agriculture and tourism. It is important from the agricultural point of view and from that of the people who live on the land that the roads leading to their villages and holdings should be of the best, thus providing an amenity for them, the absence of which very often provides the irritation and hardship that lead to their abandoning that particular area, especially in the case of the younger people.
From the point of view of the tourist, I do not think it will be contested that it is the county road that invariably leads to our better scenic spots, and if the roads are provided for that purpose in conjunction with others, I think there would be a considerable increase, not alone in the tourist attraction externally but what is more important, in the tourist attraction within the State, with the result that people who now live not very far distant from some of these beauty spots and will not visit them on account of the state of the roads, would then visit them and get to know the area better. The consequent advertisement would be of advantage to the area, certainly, commercially in the time to come.
The principle that underlies road-signing and the determination of which roads are main roads and which are not, is one I cannot understand, having regard to the peculiar anomalies one sometimes comes across. In this connection it is very pleasant to see that at long last the people responsible for the signing of roads are putting those signs sufficiently low for one to read them in the lights of a car or a bicycle or electric torch at night without having to get out of the car and go through all the contortions involved in trying to read a high road sign in the absence of daylight.
Some mention has been made of the attitude of the Department of Local Government towards contracts, and the delay in allowing contracts to issue and the seeking of tenders. People have expressed the view that there cannot be any good reason for it. Probably there is not; it is probably due to what, I think, has now become the established policy in most administrative posts—if you delay long enough you are less likely to make a mistake. That, of course, relates only to the issue of invitations for tenders. I do not understand, and I have never been able to understand, the reason for the delay in the consideration of these tenders, and the final allocation of the contracts. Once the lowest tender is accepted technically, it then has to be subjected to the economic test, the test of the ability of the lowest tenderer to submit a bond that will indemnify a Department against any possible default.
I think that the time allowed—and I am speaking from one personal experience—to a contractor to make available to the Department the necessary bond is far too long, the length of time being ample evidence of the fact that consideration is being given to the contractor only, rather than to the needs of the people for whom he proposes to erect houses, perhaps, or to provide a sewerage scheme or some other similar amenity. Neither do I understand the necessity for the system of having an independent architect outside the Department of Local Government. I think it is unnecessary, expensive, and likely, to say the least of it, to create a wrong impression in the minds of the public.
Delays in these matters are delays that could well be avoided if, within the Department itself, there were— and I am sure there are—architects sufficiently competent to deal with matters on the spot. There is another view, and one to which I might say at the beginning I do not subscribe, that the Department of Local Government is a Department in which political influence can be used more than in any other. As I have said, from my own limited experience, I do not subscribe to that view. Of course, while not subscribing to that view, I am not precluded from believing that such influence has been attempted from time to time.
On the question of sanitation and water supply generally, I have been told that there is in the Department of Local Government, either in the process of contemplation or finally agreed upon, a scheme for the provision of a water supply through electric power in rural areas. In my capacity as Minister for certain portions of those areas, it was my intention to pursue that matter further, with a view to ascertaining correctly what the position is.
I am also told that such a scheme would be infinitely cheaper than the schemes to which we are referred from time to time as being sanctioned or about to be sanctioned in rural areas at what appear to be fantastic costs. Now, if such a scheme for the provision of water by electric pumps over small areas were to prove cheaper than the normal schemes at very high costs, then I think it would be well if the Department, in conjunction with local authorities, paused a while and tried to co-ordinate their work with the work of the E.S.B. in the provision of rural electrification in the areas which they propose to serve by the other accepted schemes at the moment. I do not know whether there is anything in that point. Perhaps when concluding the Minister may be able to enlighten us as to what progress has been made in that respect.
The provision of water and of sanitation facilities generally is extremely important. Apart from certain rural areas—the cost of getting at those, of course, may have been prohibitive— the local government administration, both the central authority and the county council, appear to be doing a very good job.
There is another matter, which I think was referred to here during the time Deputy O'Donnell was Minister for Local Government, that is, the rather haphazard way in which the register of electors is compiled. It is true to say that, while there may be complaints from certain areas, the majority of rate collectors do very well their rather difficult job, in a country of shifting population—both by way of emigration and shifting to towns and by way of moving, through marriages, to other areas. There are cases, however, where it cannot be regarded as anything else but neglect or default.
There are cases where it might be argued that the state of the register is attributable to influences which could not be regarded as something which was due to omission or neglect or default of a particular rate collector. I think it would be a good thing if the Minister made some pronouncement in this respect. You find the rather curious thing of somebody living in an area all his or her life, on the register for upwards of 20 years, who never went out of the country, about whom there is no likelihood of his leaving the country, by reason of the fact that he has a settled job and is settled with his family in a particular district, and yet you find that person's name taken off the register. One finds it happening in a great many cases in the same townland.
That can hardly be due to omission, innocent omission, neglect or default of some kind. I could give specific instances here, if I chose to do so. I do not choose to do so, for the reason that, at this stage or this year, with regard to the present register, I prefer to believe that the things which have happened and to which I take exception—and to which, I am sure, all Deputies in this House would take exception—are due to innocent omission, neglect or default. Possibly, at another time, if these matters are not corrected, I shall have something more to say. I should much prefer if a direction, an admonition or an exhortation, in whichever form it may be put, were to come from the head of the Department, the Minister himself, with a view to having the matter put right.
In speeches here, attacks have been made, and from the Government side of the House, on county managers and on the association known as the Association of County Managers. Attacks have been made on engineers and on local authority officials generally. I think I can truthfully say that, in my comparatively short period in public life, I have probably fought as much with those officials as anybody else, but the fact that I have done so does not justify me, in coming to speak on this Estimate, to criticise either their capacity or their sincerity in the projects to which they have to devote themselves from time to time. That statement will come as a great surprise to the local authority officials of County Mayo, but it does not mean that vigilance is being relaxed in any way. It does not mean that their different acts cannot be questioned from time to time. Finally, it does not mean that the advent to power of a Government, to the views of whose Party any official or manager subscribes his view, means that life is going to be easier for him in respect to the vigilance of public representatives.
Is it intended to do anything, I wonder, about our valuation code? Some people will say it is all right, that we should leave well enough alone. That argument would be sound if the principles we are asked to leave alone were in fact well enough. The valuation code in this country is now well over 100 years old.
