In so far as the Deputy's dilemma in 1956 is concerned, all I can say is that, even at this far removed date, I am sorry for the dilemma he then found himself in, that he could not get on with the work that was being asked for by the local authorities, that he could not sanction the new programmes they were putting up, and that he could not pay them the moneys due on foot of their commitments in regard to housing and other local authority activities.
It comes badly from the members of the Government of those days to come in here now and try to make out that the falling figures shown in 1958-59 are, in fact, the result of the actions of the Government. They are the direct result of the suppression of housing by virtue of the lack of money from central funds and through the Local Loans Fund to county councils under the headings of Supplementary Grants and moneys for the Small Dwellings (Acquisition) Acts housing. It is entirely as a result of that that we had this depression and when the Fianna Fáil Government came into office—and I repeat this—we did not have a building programme going ahead. We had a building programme that was on its knees, crawling and about to collapse, and that is the point from which we had to start to bring it back and to bring some life back to the house-building trade.
We have succeeded to some degree, even to a greater degree than we had even hoped was possible in the short time in between, as evidenced purely by the fact that I come here before this House today to secure further moneys by way of Supplementary Estimate in order that the increased number of people who have since commenced their building operations under the various headings will, in fact, have their grants made available to them before the end of this financial year.
There have been all sorts of charges about delays and some of them have been attributed, and quite wrongfully, as can be shown and understood, to various causes. I think the most outlandish cause of all—of course, it would be the most outlandish coming from the Deputy who put it forward, Deputy O.J. Flanagan—was that we were in fact purposely delaying the payment of grants in order that we would pay them when a Fianna Fáil Deputy came along and made representations for the individual applicants.
Surely the fact that the total amount of the allocation for this year of £1,700,000 has almost gone, has actually been paid, is in itself a complete refutation of what Deputy O.J. Flanagan now suggests. In fact, my being here on this business today refutes many of these allegations, no matter how they may be couched, that we have been delaying the payment of grants and delaying the approving of plans for houses and so on. All this money, with practically very little exception, has already been paid, and it is because it has already been paid that we are asking for £195,000 more during this financial year. Deputies who tried to make capital out of that argument will find that the evidence is so strong against them that it is likely to boomerang in the not too distant future.
There is, of course, another matter at issue. I am dealing with Deputy O.J. Flanagan, who said that, by ministerial instruction—no fault of the Department, of course—no payments were to be made. Regardless of what I as Minister say, he went on to say that that is what the position actually is. Of course, Deputy O.J. Flanagan would like the House to believe that he has a monopoly of the facts and that when it comes down to talking facts and truth in this House, he must be believed, regardless of how wild or unfounded his statements or allegations may be.
I gave no such instruction at any time either on this or any other matter since I became Minister for Local Government, for the very good reason that, far different from my predecessors in the Coalition Government, I have not been restricted by the Government in providing money for building houses, reconstructing houses, local authority housing or any other activity of local authorities. I have not been nailed down, as my predecessor in that Government was, by a shortage of money and I have not had to make efforts to suppress the spending of money because the money was not there. That is my answer to Deputy Flanagan and any other Deputy who wants to try to make the public believe through this House that a ministerial direction had gone to my people in the Department not to pay.
The thing is completely and absolutely without foundation. It is a happy position for me, as against that of my predecessor in office during the years of the last Coalition Government, when he was so cramped that he was not able to do the things he felt he should do, to which he and his Department were committed and which we, as a Government, in 1957, had to do for them, when we had to provide the money they had not paid during their last six or seven months in office.
One thing more I want to make clear is that while we had this dying down and crippling of the building industry and of local authority activities during the year 1956, we found that, in 1957, our big task was to pay the debts due by the Coalition Government, to try to clear up the muddle and the mess that we inherited from our predecessors and, in 1958/59, to try to instil some life into the almost dead industry of building, we advocated in every possible way further and new developments in house building, both in the reconstruction and repair field, as well as in the field of new building, where that was necessary. In order to show that that is not an empty formula, our 1958 Housing Act brought substantially increased benefits by way of grants to the many people who have since availed of it. The position in 1959/60 shows the results of that revival which we, by Government policy, have been encouraging since we found the building industry in the dying and almost dead state in which it was in March, 1957.
The results today are encouraging. The upward trend is there again to be seen and we want this Estimate through this House so that we can stand by our bond, that is, to pay the debts that we owe to any of those people who have applied for grants and who have gone on with their work and to whom grants are now due. We want that money to pay those people, not to leave it to the next financial year and not to leave to another Government the task of paying debts incurred under our régime.
Various other matters have been raised. I should like to say to those people who are criticising the Department's administration—as some Deputies did—that if there are delays and if there have been delays, that is not evident in the fact that the trend is up, which would completely negative the argument that we are slowing up. We are being accused of slowing up and delaying. Rather than a slowing up, there is a speeding up. Greater numbers are qualifying and are being paid now than in the immediately previous years.
