Vol. 222 No. 3
Tairgim:
Go ndeonófar suim fhorlíontach nach mó ná £10 chun íoctha an mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31ú lá de Mhárta, 1966, le haghaidh Tuarastail agus Costais Roinn na Gaeltachta, maille le Deontais le haghaidh Tithe agus Ildeontais-igCabhair.
Is é atá sa Mheastachán Comharthach seo ná dóigh chun £40,000 breise a chur ar fáil mar dheontas-i-gcabhair do Ghaeltarra Éireann sa bhliain airgeadais atá ag druidim chun deiridh. Ó ritheadh an tAcht um Thionscail na Gaeltachta (Leasú) 1965 tá Gaeltarra ina phríomhghléas chun gníomhaíochtaí eacnamaíocha de chineál tionsclaíoch a fhorbairt i ngach limistéar Gaeltachta —faoi mar a gheall an Rialtas sa Pháipéar Bán um Athbheochan na Gaeilge. Gealladh sa Pháipéar Bán sin chomh maith go spreagfaí Gaeltarra chun feidhm dhearbhfóinteach a dhéanamh le tacaíocht chaipitil ón Rialtas. Ar an ábhar sin nuair a thugamar faoi deara le déanaí gur mhór an chabhair a thabharfadh £40,000 breise do Ghaeltarra ag an bpointe seo agus go bhféadfaimis an tsuim sin a chur ar fáil as sábhála sa chuid eile den Vóta, cinneadh ar an meastachán seo a thabhairt isteach.
Bhí cúrsaí Ghaeltarra Éireann faoi chaibidil anseo an samhradh seo caite nuair a bhí an Bille a luaigh mé á rith. Leagadh tuarascáil agus cuntais an Bhoird don bhliain dar chríoch 31 Márta, 1965, faoi bhráid na Dála ó shin. Chomh maith leis sin ní fada go bpléifear meastachán na bliana seo chugainn ina bhfuil deontas-i-gcabhair méadaithe don Bhord le feiceáil. Ós amhlaidh atá an scéal is ar éigean is gá dom mórán eile a rá anois ach, ar ndóigh, má tá tuilleadh eolais ag teastáil ó aon Teachta faoi imeachtaí Ghaeltarra, beidh áthas orm é a thabhairt ar feadh mo chumais.
Molaim an Meastachán Forlíontach seo don Teach.
Tá cupla focal le rá agam ar an Vota seo. In the first instance, I must protest against a reduction under the heading of improvements in the Gaeltacht areas to the tune of £64,000, £20,000 under water and sewerage. On the question of improvements to water supplies, we have a great demand for these improvements in the western areas, these being tourist areas. If we lack these amenities of water and sewerage, what have we to offer to the tourists?
This Estimate deals with a grant in aid for the industrial activities of Gaeltarra Éireann.
Gaeltarra Éireann ar fad? Do I take it we will have a Vote on the Department afterwards?
Yes. This is purely a Supplementary Estimate for Gaeltarra Éireann.
In regard to Gaeltarra Éireann, we have had the closing down in Galway city of a woollen mill to which people from the Cois Fhairrge area of Galway could come to get supplies of wool for knitting and other purposes. These people are now being told that they can be catered for at Clifden but Clifden is far removed from the Cois Fhairrge area from which there is a regular bus service to Galway city. The question of these people taking a bus to Clifden is out. I would like to know what the Minister is going to do to meet the needs of these people and I would like the Minister to direct his attention to meeting their needs.
Tá cupla focal le rá agamsa ar an Vota seo. It is regrettable that it should be said that Gaeltarra Éireann is the principal instrument in the development of economic activities of an industrial character in all Gaeltacht areas. The activities of this company are not widespread enough to provide anything like the employment network in the Gaeltacht areas that would be essential to give an opportunity for the adult people of the Gaeltacht to obtain employment at home. I do not know of any such network in the Dingle Peninsula, or in the whole parish of Dunquin, or in the parish of Ballyferriter. One could go along the whole western seaboard and see very few opportunities of adult employment being provided anywhere.
It is one of the hypocrisies of our time that we find political people who are enthusiastic about the language treating these areas as a reserve in the summer months in order to improve their accent and treating them as holiday areas and then, when the holidays are over, going away and forgetting about the existence of the people there. What are the Government doing to find employment for the people in these areas? If the cruel Saxon spent a great number of years trying to get rid of Irish as the people's language, I must say that in the years of native government, we have done very little to make arrangements for fostering the speaking of Irish by adults in the Gaeltacht areas. Of course, we have Civil Service Irish spoken along the eastern seaboard but nothing has been done to keep the language alive in the Gaeltacht areas.
The question of the Irish language does not arise on this Vote.
This company is the fig-leaf which covers the Government's inactivity in promoting employment in the Gaeltacht areas. It is the fig-leaf which covers the inactivity of the Government where these are concerned in general. I had hoped that the present Parliamentary Secretary would realise that the language is dying out in these areas and that this is one of the facts of life in present-day Ireland. We will not extend the use of the language by having gatherings in Dublin or along the eastern seaboard. The moment of truth for the Gaeltacht has come, if it has not already passed by. This Government have the alternative of going beyond this point of no return or of doing something for these people, but it will take more than White Papers on the activities of Gaeltarra Éireann to provide the employment necessary to keep these people in the Gaeltacht areas.
Aontaím leis an tairiscint seo atá ós ar gcomhair anocht.
I thoroughly agree with this Supplementary Estimate. The Parliamentary Secretary said that Gaeltarra Éireann is the principal instrument for the development of economic activities of an industrial character in all the Gaeltacht areas, as promised by the Government in the White Paper on the restoration of the language. All sides of the House want to see the Gaeltacht preserved and the Irish language saved. We deplore the depopulation that is taking place there. Through the Department, Gaeltarra Éireann is giving valuable employment to young boys and young girls in that area. It is helping to keep them at home rather than having them emigrate to Britain and elsewhere. Even if State funds have to be spent on it, I believe it is a good idea to give employment there and to try to keep the West alive.
There have been many complaints in the past about the running of Gaeltarra Éireann. Can the Parliamentary Secretary inform us whether the loss by Gaeltarra Éireann has been arrested? Many people claim we should have more supervision and more efficiency there.
Teastaíonn uaim focal nó dho a rá ar an Meastachán seo. I was very surprised to hear from the Parliamentary Secretary that Gaeltarra Éireann is the principal instrument for the developing of economic activities in the Gaeltacht. It is a sad reflection on the Department that this is all they have done for this area.
I notice also that it was promised in the White Paper that Gaeltarra Éireann would be encouraged to play a positive role. I can only assume from that statement, that up to now it has played a negative role in the economic activities for the restoration of the area.
The Parliamentary Secretary said that if any Deputy requires any particulars about the activities of Gaeltarra Éireann, he will be pleased to furnish them. I should certainly like full details of the activities of Gaeltarra Éireann. I consider it essential that the Department provide a lot more for the Gaeltacht areas than is being provided. This is just a sham and hypocrisy on their part in relation to what they are providing. Nothing positive is being provided for the Gaeltacht areas.
It is time we looked at this matter in a realistic light. I should prefer to see something more concrete coming from this Department for the Gaeltacht areas.
The Minister says that since the passing of the Gaeltacht Industries (Amendment) Act, 1965, Gaeltarra Éireann is the principal instrument in the Department of economic activities of an industrial character in all Gaeltacht areas. We are setting out to do two things here and we should not lose sight of that fact. It is wrong to emphasise the development of economic activities. There is a social aspect to this, too. We are trying to keep the people in the west of Ireland. We are trying to keep the west from being depopulated and to keep some sort of economic activity there. We are also trying to use it as an instrument for preserving and promoting the Irish language. On that account, I do not think it should be a requirement that these industries should necessarily be economic, certainly at the outset and for some time after they have been developed.
There is extreme difficulty, in my view, in getting many industrialists to go to the remoter parts of this country because of a large number of considerations. The technical men and the people at management level in the industries, come, in the main, from countries where they were living in industrial areas and they refuse to go to the remoter areas of the west of Ireland. As well as that, I think the only type of industry that could be established there, at the outset, is one that could give employment to a small number of people. No industry requiring a large number of people to be present all day and every day could hope to survive in the west because there is no such thing as a large pool of labour available in any area there. It would mean travelling very long distances in order to keep an industry going, and with bad weather and other considerations, it would not be possible for an industry requiring a large labour force to be set up in the west of Ireland. For that reason, we should at all times try to develop small specialised industries there. These are the types of industries which I think have not received very much consideration from the Industrial Development Authority.
Since Gaeltarra Éireann have been brought into this, I would hope they would act in a different sort of way and make a different approach to this problem in their efforts to establish industry. I agree that unless we set up some sort of economic activity whereby the people in these areas will get a reasonable living, we shall arrive at a point where we shall have no native speakers. There could be no more effective instrument for the preservation of the language—and we have it in those areas—than the setting up of some sort of economic activity and employment opportunity for the people there.
Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis na Teachtaí uile a labhair ar an Meastachán seo agus a d'aontaigh leis. Labhair an Teachta Coogan faoi mhonarcha i nGaillimh ach níl aon bhaint ag Gaeltarra Éireann leis sin. Is féidir liom a rá go bhfuilimid ag déanamh ar ndíchill chun fostaíocht a chur ar fáil do na daoine i nGaeltacht Chonamara agus tá súil agam go leathnófar an fhostaíocht sin. Labhair na Teachtaí O'Leary, L'Estrange agus Clinton faoi fhadhbanna atá le réiteach. An leanfaidh mé i nGaeilge?
Lean leis an gcaint as Gaeilge.
Is cúis áthais liom go dtuigeann siad na deacrachtaí atá le réiteach. Tuigtear go bhfuil níos mó ná fadhbanna eacnamaíocha sa Ghaeltacht: tá fadhb na teanga, fadhb shóisialach agus fadhb eacnamaíoch. Tá sé an-deachair na fadhbanna uile sin a réiteach le chéile. Dá ndéarfadh duine liom: "Is cuma mar gheall ar an fhadhb shóisialach, lean ar aghaidh agus cuir déantúis ar bun sa Ghaeltacht", is é an rud a dhéanfainn, agus sílim an rud a dhéanfadh aon deantúsóir, ná na monarchana go léir a thógáil le chéile agus líon mór daoine a chur ag obair iontu; ach dá ndéanfainn é sin, bheadh deireadh leis an nGaeltacht.
Is é an rud is tábhachtaí ná an easpa fostaíochta.
Tuigim, ach táim ag iarraidh dhá thrá a fhreastal, rud is deacair a dhéanamh. Ar thaobh amháin, thiocfadh liom déantús a bhunú agus gan ach Béarla á labhairt ag na teicneoirí go léir ach i gceann tamaill bheadh Béarla ar fud na Gaeltachta uilig. Ar an taobh eile, mura mbíonn deantúis ann ní bheidh na daoine ann.
Faigh cúpla Gearmánach.
Sin í an fhadhb atá le réiteach agam. Tá ath-eagar á chur againn ar Ghaeltarra Éireann agus, nuair a bheidh sé sin déanta, tá súil agam go mbeidh Gaeltarra Éireann níos foirfe ná mar a bhí agus go mbeimid in ann níos mó fostaíochta a chur ar fáil do na daoine.
Níor thug tú freagra ar mo cheist.
Tá Gaeltarra Éireann ag cailleadh airgid fós agus caillfear airgead go ceann tamaill eile.
Dúirt tú go dtabharfá gach eolas.
Dá dtabharfainn gach eolas anois ar gach rud a bhaineann le Gaeltarra Éireann, bheimis anseo go deo na ndeor.
Ba mhaith liom é a fháil anois.
Más maith leat, tá leabhar anseo agam agus tabharfaidh mé duit é mar bhronntanas.
