The number of school leavers are not included in that figure on the live register, or professional people who are unable to find employment, or part-time workers. This could add possibly 30,000 more to the figure I have quoted. Therefore, we see there is a real crisis.
We know, too, that unemployment has been a remarkable feature of Coalition Governments here. When the last Coalition left office we had something in the region of 100,000 unemployed. At that time there was another outlet, emigration. A large number of young Irish boys and girls were seeking employment in foreign countries. Happily today the emigration figure has subsided and our young people no longer have to emigrate to Great Britain or the United States which they had to do during the last period of Coalition Government. When the Coalition ran away from their responsibilities this was the legacy they left behind them. Fianna Fáil had to come back and start to build up the economy. I have a sneaking suspicion that the same thing may happen on this occasion.
Yesterday the Minister for Labour said that the Government's response to the present position was positive, concrete and realistic but there was nothing positive, concrete or realistic in what he said. I hope that the other Ministers who will speak in this debate this evening will have something more positive to offer to the people who are seeking employment. We had hoped that we would hear some plans from the Minister for Labour since he is the Minister primarily responsible for the labour situation, but unfortunately we did not.
The present level of unemployment of more than 102,000 represents an appalling indictment of the Government, an indictment which is made all the more serious by the fact that there is no prospect of an early improvement. From what we have heard from the Minister for Labour, there is no evidence that the Government will take any action to remedy this situation.
Minister have been telling us that increased unemployment can be attributed to the international setback resulting from the oil crisis, but this is not altogether true. Even the Central Bank in its recent report demonstrates that this is not true. Inflation and price increases have been the main contributing factors to this unemployment problem. In Ireland, unhappily, the disease of inflation is progressing. The average annual rate of price increase has moved up from 3 per cent in the 1960s to 8 per cent in 1970, 11 per cent in 1973, 17 per cent for 1974 with the frightening prospect of it being in the neighbourhood of 25 per cent in 1975. If corrective action is not taken immediately Irish producers will become uncompetitive in the home and foreign markets, thereby creating further unemployment and industrial unrest.
We cannot hope to attract foreign industrialists to set up in this country if this is the prospect that awaits them. During the Fianna Fáil term in office every effort was made by the Government and various agencies such as the IDA to attract investment to the country. We see many of those industries today happily giving good employment and proving beyond any shadow of doubt that it was worth the effort put in by the Government to attract them here. One of those industries is Digital, which set up in the industrial estate in Galway and is today giving good employment to over 600 people with prospects for further expansion in the near future. We realise there have been failures, but by and large the number is very small. Since this recession began the level of industrial inquiries has been reduced mainly because of the uncertain economic situation in the country.
The Government have a duty to help in the establishment of new industries by providing the infrastructure or providing the money to local authorities for this purpose. We realise how difficult it can be for local authorities to acquire industrial sites and the long delays involved in their acquisition. Local communities should be encouraged to keep their towns tidy and incentives should be provided by the Department of Local Government for this particular purpose. Tidy towns are most important in any effort to attract foreign industry. A good telephone service and a good water supply are also most essential.
I would like to know what has happened to the plan introduced by Fianna Fáil some years ago to provide advanced factories in rural areas. How many of those factories have been erected since the present Government took office or are any new factories planned? This was a very laudable development by Fianna Fáil and it gave a ray of hope to many small towns, particularly in the West of Ireland. In Ballygar and Mountbellew in my constituency two of those advance factories have been established. This has been a great boost to the people in those areas. It has given valuable employment and is something which can be extended. I hope the Government have not forgotten about this particular scheme. I hope they will develop it and ensure that other small towns, which have the labour force and the industrial sites available and are anxious to provide the right infrastructure for industry, will not be let down and told there is no money available for this type of project.
In many constituency approximately 70 per cent of the work force in Galway city have to commute there daily. Some of them have to travel distances of 40 and 50 miles. This is a great hardship on them. We have only to consider the cost of having to travel that distance to work daily, consider what it costs to run a car for a week, a month or a year and what it costs to buy petrol for that car at the present terrible prices. Those workers are getting no help from the Government or anybody else. They have to pay income tax and get no concessions for the long hours they are travelling. The Government, to make things more difficult for them, put 15p per gallon on the price of petrol.
A better effort could be made by CIE to provide a service to take those workers to work. I have heard complaints from many areas in my constituency, where workers have to travel long distances by car, that CIE have not put on the necessary service. It should be possible for them to run a bus in the morning to ensure that workers get to work on time. The unemployment situation in my constituency is very bad. In the three labour exchanges we find a sizeable number are unemployed. In Ballinasloe labour exchange area, there are 661 people unemployed, in Loughrea we have 258 and in Tuam we have 1,268. Those are the latest figures available on the 18th April. This strengthens the case I have already made for advanced factories in those areas. We have the labour force available but we have no industry. The Government should make every effort in those areas, where there is such high unemployment, to absorb that labour force into some type of industry.
The two industries I have mentioned in Ballygar and Mountbellew are a case in point. There has been a lot of controversy about the Regional Fund and how it will be used. The people in the west had hoped to benefit from this fund, but we now find that the money being given by the EEC is to be taken by the Government and put into the Exchequer to help get the Government out of their terrible plight. It should be remembered that during the EEC Referendum campaign my party, who were then in Government, and the Fine Gael Party committed themselves to devoting the money from this fund to the development of the west. If that money was devoted to the west it would help to provide the infrastructure to attract industries, help to improve the telephone service, provide the necessary water and sewerage facilities and the acquisition of sites for houses and industries.
Even though the amount of money we will receive from the Regional Fund—I believe it will be £4 million —is small, if it was used properly it could boost industrial development in western counties. It would prove a valuable supplementary grant to the £10 million already given to the IDA to modernise existing industries, thereby ensuring competitiveness and consequent expansion.
I should like to know what has happened to the Social Fund which was set up in a period of economic expansion to cope with regional and sectional problems. We are faced with economic recession and widespread unemployment, and to meet this drastic change we must adopt drastic measures. The Social Fund should be more flexible in its application and, where necessary, extended to cover the areas worst hit in the present unemployment crisis. Have private firms been helped by this fund or are all the applications for assistance from State agencies? The private sector should be encouraged to avail of this fund which should be used for training and retraining in a period when few industries are expanding and few new jobs are being created.
The construction industry is the second largest industry here. Its gross output is £450 million which is 14.5 per cent of our GNP. There are 82,000 people directly employed in the industry while another 25,000 people are employed in other sectors associated with the construction industry. If the industry is in trouble the entire economy is affected. The industry is in trouble in spite of what the Minister for Local Government has stated. I should like to pinpoint the decline in cement sales during 1974 and this will indicate that there was serious unemployment in the industry during that year. In the first quarter of 1973 the sales increased by 65.8 thousand tons, 23.3 per cent; in the second quarter the increase was 75.7 thousand tons, 20 per cent; in the third quarter the increase was 30.8 thousand tons, 8.1 per cent and in the last quarter of that year there was an increase of 70 thousand tons, 1.9 per cent. In the first quarter of 1974 we had an increase of 5.1 thousand tons, 1.5 per cent while in the second quarter there was a decrease of 1.0 thousand tons, 0.2 per cent. The decrease in the third quarter was 23.4 thousand tons, 5.7 per cent while in the last quarter the decrease was 18.9 thousand tons, 4.9 per cent. In spite of what the Government tell the people about the construction industry doing well there has been a serious decline in cement sales. When cement sales decline workers have to be laid off because they cannot work without cement.
I should now like to give figures of the numbers unemployed in the private sector of the building industry in the years 1973 and 1974. In January 1973 59,831 were unemployed while in January 1974 60,907 were unemployed, an increase of 1,076. The figure for February 1973 compared with February 1974 showed an increase of 1,615. March, 1974 showed an increase of 741 on 1973 while the April figure was up by 1,010. The figure for May, 1974 was up by 1,408, June by 1,145, July by 135. The figure for August, 1974 showed a decrease of 68; September a decrease of 606; October a decrease of 1,145; November a decrease of 808, and December a decrease of 1,211. In March of this year, the month for which the latest figures are available, 3,903 people were unemployed in the private sector of the building industry.
These figures were released by the Central Statistics Office and Members will see from them that there is a serious problem in the building industry. There are 3,903 persons unemployed in the private sector at present, when the industry should be picking up and when normally the industry is improving and workers are finding their way back into employment.
Building material manufacturers and merchants are working on short time. Why is this so if the industry is booming, as the Government would have us believe? We see that a number of houses are left unsold. Is it because there is no money available? People on dole queues cannot buy new houses. This is a bad situation.
There will be new EEC road transport legislation in 1976 which means that the maximum daily driving time will be reduced to eight hours. This will add to the operational costs of many industries and will create further problems for them. Are the Government prepared to do anything about those problems? Are they prepared to help those industries that will be affected by this legislation in 1976?
A very large number of young persons will be leaving school next autumn and coming on the labour market. What efforts are being made to accomodate them? Have the Government any plans to create employment or to ensure that they will be given employment within the shortest possible time?
The population is increasing and even when this recession is over many new jobs will be required. Our accession to the EEC has given us excellent opportunities of which we should make full use. Full advantage should be taken of the schemes in operation in the EEC so as to ensure that the country gets maximum benefit from them.
A long dole queue is no answer to our problems, neither is social insurance benefit, nor the redundancy fund which was introduced by Fianna Fáil. They alleviate hardship in the short term. A man who cannot find work is entitled to some kind of benefit. Workers have their pride. No worker wants to remain on the dole forever. The dole is a temporary measure. It is the Government's responsibility to ensure that the dole queue is reduced and that drastic measures are taken to ensure that those on the dole at present will find suitable employment before long.
