I could not agree more with the remarks of the previous speaker about the turnover tax. Since the introduction of this Budget I have had the opportunity of travelling around many towns. God knows it was depressing enough before to watch these rural towns decaying, particularly in the west. The original turnover tax was responsible for putting hundreds of small businesses out of business. That applies particularly in Mayo and especially in east Mayo. Towns like Swinford, Kiltimagh, Balla, Charlestown, Ballina, Crossmolina, Killala and many others, instead of expanding were dwindling. The Parliamentary Secretary looks across at me when I mention Killala. I know a small development was opened there recently, thanks initially to local initiative and thanks also in small measure to State help. I hope that that small development will only be the forerunner of greater things for that town.
I knew that town many years ago when it was a prosperous town and when the farming community round about it were prosperous too. It is not prosperous today and it will not be prosperous for many years to come. Indeed it is my belief it will never be restored to its former prosperity. I remember when the shops in the town of Ballina employed many hands and were packed with customers. The same was true of Crossmolina, my home town of Foxford, Charlestown, and many others. Mayo County Council has done a great deal in laying on water and sewerage and in carrying out certain house building for workers, but to no avail. The west has gone into reverse and is going backwards all the time. I have mentioned this before on many occasions: so bad was the position that a committee was formed comprised of churchmen of all denominations, merchants, farmers, professional people and others and protest meetings were held in Charlestown and in Foxford protesting against the treatment meted out to the people in the west and pointing out that the rural areas were becoming depopulated and unless the Government did something, the time was coming when very few people would be left in the west.
I know of nothing which has so crippled, so hindered and so inhibited progress in the west as the rule of Fianna Fáil and the imposition of the turnover tax. Small businesses all over the country have been crippled as a result of that tax. I know what I am talking about because I was engaged in business and I and people like me employed five, ten, 15 or 20 others. That sort of employment was widespread in the rural areas and it resulted in making rural families secure and happy on their small holdings. The wages were not very high but the cost of living was quite low. An eight stone bag of flour could be bought for 12s or 14s. I remember Fianna Fáil saying that, if they got into office, they would reduce the cost of living. We all know what has happened. Far from reducing the cost of living, an eight stone bag of flour today would cost in the region of £3 10s. I never see an eight stone bag now; it is all stones and half-stones. I am not sure of the actual price because the price has gone up several times. So has the price of the loaf of bread, of the pound of tea, of the pound of sugar, and all the other items. The situation might not have been so bad had the Fianna Fáil Government taken the necessary steps to provide employment. They did not do that, though that was a promise at every election. The picture in the West of Ireland is a sorry one. It is a sorry one in other parts of the country too.
I was in Longford/Westmeath recently and, despite the fact that the farmers there have quite good land, one could not but notice the depopulation. I know why that depopulation occurred. We had a market on our doorstep, the British market, a market fought for by the Danes, by the Dutch, by the Australians and others. The Fianna Fáil Government alleged that they would get us a market in Europe which would be more beneficial than anything our farmers had ever known. We remember the story about the shipment of 3,000 cattle to Germany. When the cattle trade was depressed the Minister for Agriculture at the time came in here and told us he had been in Germany and had struck a deal for 3,000 cattle to be shipped at once to Germany, with more to follow. The cattle never went out. The promise was not kept. I do not know what happened. These things result in loss to the farming community and it is very difficult for people on the land to climb back up once they have come down. I do not want to go back to the economic war during which a great many of our farmers were forced into debt and some have never really got back on their feet again. They are in no doubt as to the cause of their misfortune.
The 2½ per cent additional turnover tax will hit the poorest sections of our community. Speakers on the Government benches have tried to tell us that this imposition would not result in increasing prices but this evening we had one Fianna Fáil Deputy, Deputy Foley, telling us that already prices have gone up and that overcharging is the order of the day in many shops in this city. There are ruthless business people in our community—they are not in the majority, thank God—who will take money wrongfully from their customers.
I hear complaints of overcharging but, when I ask these people if they will supply all the information, quite naturally they do not want to do so because they may be a little indebted in that particular shop and they are naturally reluctant to supply the information. They have no real protection against such ruthless treatment. They are the hardest hit section of the community today.
Fianna Fáil pretend that increased social benefits will not only cover these extra costs but will leave money to spare. That is not the case. It is not my experience. I have been speaking to business people in the past few days. These small shopkeepers, as Deputy Esmonde said a while ago, gave great service by providing credit for poor families to assist them until circumstances improved. They knew these families, their parents and relatives and all about them. It was the custom to give long-term credit which went into the book and when a couple of pigs or, perhaps, cattle were sold the family concerned came along either to clear the debt in full or reduce it to reasonable proportions. That type of trading is negligible now because small shopkeepers have suffered severely due to depopulation and lack of employment in small towns and rural areas and they are rapidly going out of business.
This week two of these traders told me the only breather they got in the past two months was the bank strike. While it lasts they feel they can go to bed with an easy mind but when the banks reopen they will not know where they stand. They told me they were trying to pay by cheque and were sailing close to the wind but while the bank strike lasted they could breathe a little more freely. On the other hand, we know how difficult it is for poor families to have ready money at all times. It cannot be done and today they are being refused on all sides. Along with that, we have a Fianna Fáil Government whose Budget imposes a further 2½ per cent tax on the weaker section of the community. Many people are already going hungry but, without exaggeration, before the year is out there will be thousands going hungry.
One cannot mention an item that has not already gone up or is not in the process of going up. Bread, butter, flour, tea, sugar, clothes and footwear all have the turnover tax added on. Recently, in a draper's shop I had personal experience of this. I was told the tax applied and I paid it. It did not hit me as hard as it would others, perhaps, but I can imagine the situation in which people will have to go without. In many cases if it were not for the secondhand clothes dealer parents would not be able to provide clothes and footwear for their children. That is a sad situation but it is one which I know exists.
Many of these people also have to bear a heavy rates bill. Along with the decline in trade they face increased rates in the coming financial year, to make the prospect still more gloomy. Hundreds of people told me last year that it was only with the greatest difficulty that they succeeded in paying their rates, that it was only due to the kindness of the rate collector who allowed them extra time and who had to raise money in the bank himself to cover these items. I can well imagine that next year in Mayo there will be a further increase of 10s in the £ in rates as a result of the imposition of the additional tax. The county mental hospital which has about 1,000 patients employs nursing staff; it also has maintenance staff to look after the boilers, the electricity and so on. As a result of the extra 2½ per cent we are bound to face further demands from the workers for wage increases. We have been warned of it already. Some of the staff have told me that their cost of living has gone up and that they will want pay increases.
Where will it all end? Nobody knows. We are and have been for a long time drifting along in the wrong direction. It seems futile to warn the Government. Deputy Esmonde referred to the warnings given by Deputy Dillon and others hundreds of times in this House about inflation. It seems to be all to no purpose. We have gone to the four corners of the world to borrow money, to Nova Scotia and God knows where else. The national debt today stands at over £1,000 million in round figures and is continuing to rise. Similarly, we are in difficulties with our balance of payments. Under Mr. Wilson they have succeeded in Britain in reducing their balance in this regard to manageable proportions but we are still indulging in this mad spree and nobody on the Government side seems to care.
In the west of Ireland we can boast of our wonderful scenery, rugged mountains, lakes and rivers. Many new hotels and guesthouses have been erected and others renovated on private initiative and in some cases with the help of Bord Fáilte. This would have been a good development if the tourist industry had been given a fair chance. Many of these people have gone into the business only in the past two or three years. Their overheads will be substantially increased by this Budget. Although we sometimes criticise them here, they work on pretty small margins for the most part. Sometimes we hear an outcry because somebody has been overcharged. This usually happens in the luxury type hotel. If we go to an ordinary guesthouse or to a hotelier we know personally, we usually find that the charges are reasonable. These people are faced with substantial increases in their food bills. They will also have demands for increases from their workers, their chefs, the staff who work at the tables. The tourist industry is very important but, at the moment, we are going along a road which will set us back for years and years.
Due to the cement strike and other difficulties, people who wanted to reconstruct their hotels, or build additions to guesthouses, or build new hotels, could not do so. There was not a bag of cement available. As I came along the road this morning. I looked into what was a concrete blockmaking plant up to a few weeks ago. There was one man roaming around the yard keeping an eye on the machinery. Some months ago 30 or 40 persons were employed there but not one concrete block was in sight today. I hope when the cement strike is over—and I hope that will be soon—that little industry in that part of the country, which is an area of smallholders with small valuations, will be able to start up again. The employment that industry gave helped those people to provide a way of living for themselves and their families.
These are the difficulties and problems that have been created by travelling along this road of inflation. One wonders whether one is wasting one's breath in referring to these matters at all. We have enough closed homes in the West of Ireland. I related this story here on previous occasions. At one time I was asked by the ESB if I would mind them stacking poles in my yard. I said I did not mind. I said: "Put them in such and such a place. They will not be in my way. You can leave them there as long as you like. Are you doing some further development work?" They said: "No. We are disconnecting a number of houses in this region." No fewer than 500 homes were disconnected and the poles taken up again. The Parliamentary Secretary can check that with the ESB.
Still we find people on the Fianna Fáil benches telling us that this country is prosperous and that the economy is on an even keel. They certainly will not convince me with their arguments. I live in that region. I have lived in it all my life and my parents lived there. I know how the people there live. Even in the days of British rule they could stay there. Even the British landlords of old failed to drive them out. The Fianna Fáil Government, their own Government, are driving them out. That is the thanks they get. In the days of Davitt and the Land League they stood firmly and solidly by faith and fatherland. They are now being driven out of their smallholdings by the policies of Fianna Fáil. The facts and figures are there. It is a cause of regret to me that I should have to mention these matters.
Not so long ago on a television show a certain television commentator showed a film of a certain section of Sligo and Mayo. I believe he was abused and insulted by many people for showing such film, but he showed things I see week in and week out. He showed the tumbledown homes of families I knew and did business with, and he was criticised for it. He must have a fairly good "leg in" since they kept him on, even though what he showed was true and honest and fair.
This country is plagued with strikes at present. When you get up in the morning and turn on your radio you do not know what new strike you will hear about. It is like a litany: cement strike, dock strike, bank strike, strike at the fruit market, strike somewhere or other every day. When one is settled, two more break out. I know there are a variety of reasons for this, but the main reason is that, while workers may get an increase of 5 per cent or 10 per cent, while the ordinary workers may get an increase of 10s or £1, and the boss probably gets an increase of £1,000, they have not got it in their pockets for a week until the increases, and more, are taken from them again. They are being driven to despair.
What is to happen about housing loan charges? What is to happen about the people who were marching in this city last year looking for homes, young men and women who want to get married? Can they afford to go into a house costing £5,000 or £6,000? Where will they get the deposit? I cannot answer that one. It is no wonder they are marching and there will be more marching before this year is out on that issue alone. This is into the barrow of the Fianna Fáil Party because, if this Government are in office for some time to come, I have no doubt that they will give the cement strike as an excuse for their failure to build more houses. Who is responsible? I do not say the Government are to blame for everything but they should have taken corrective measures long ago. Deputy Haughey, when Minister for Finance, went on television and announced a crisis. I forget exactly when.
