The interest of the Workers' Party in this issue is not just of recent origin. My party's weekly newspaper, The Irish People, has been raising questions about Gaeltarra Éireann and subsequently about Údarás na Gaeltachta since they took over in 1980. We have been raising questions about this matter for the past five years. The reasons for our interest and concern have been based on our interest and concern for the Irish language and the development of the Gaeltacht. Huge sums of taxpayer's money are involved and that means the money of those within the PAYE system. We question whether we are getting value for the money invested.
Our suspicions were sharpened when, despite continuing questioning by us, the national media did not take up the important issues we raised concerning Údarás na Gaeltachta. It is clear from what we have found that things have been going wrong for a very long time and a policy review is long overdue.
The purpose of Gaeltarra Éireann and subsequently of Údarás na Gaeltachta was the industrial development of Gaeltacht areas. By any yardstick that has been a failure because the Gaeltacht continues to decline and because the cost of jobs provided has been an astronomical £100 million for a net creation of 3,000 jobs, most of which were lame ducks if not dead ducks from the start.
Another vital question is why this waste of State resources continues even though each project has to be passed by Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Department of Industry and Energy, the Minister for the Gaeltacht and the IDA. We believe the reason is that proposed industrialisation is not subject to rigorous examination as to viability but results from the operation of a massive patronage system. Every Member wants a factory in his backyard and when advance factories are built it is a question of finding somebody to set up there, whether he will provide five or 20 jobs. The curious thing is that the larger the number of jobs provided the less critical the examination of the viability of the project.
In effect we have had the operation of the worst form of parish pump gombeen politics, a vast system of patronage whereby politicans could provide sops for their areas to cover the lack of any real planning for real industrial development. There was no criticism of this policy because the whole thing fitted into a system and the Gaeltacht was, in effect, a sacred cow and for that reason it was very rarely questioned. Anyone who questioned the validity of spending this money ran the risk of being dubbed a traitor to the language.
The real position is that a lot of money is being made by a small group of sharp gombeen business people while the language and the Gaeltacht slowly die. Is it not ironic that in areas such as Ballymun and Inchicore people who have a genuine interest in developing the language are finding that obstacles are being placed in their way? They have been trying to find a site for a school in Inchicore for the past five years and still have not succeeded.
Last December the Coalition decided to have an investigation into the activities of Údaras na Gaeltachta, a decision brought about mainly through a combination of pressure and exposure in The Irish People and growing concern among the staff of the Údarás at the massive waste of public money. Four months later nothing had been done to investigate anything and the Coalition finally “copped out” by ordering a Fraud Squad investigation. While on the surface that decision seems to be a bigger step than having an internal investigation, in reality it sidesteps the main issue. Why was so much money spent with so little return? Is the strategy of building chewing gum factories on the rocks of Connemara a realistic industrial development when the area is without infrastructure? Who makes the policy decisions? What are the objectives? Are they attainable? The Fraud Squad will not be able to answer those questions. I have no doubt that it is not a question of misappropriation of funds but the misapplication of funds and the Fraud Squad will probably say that there has not been any fraud apart from slight errors in accounting procedures which occur in any company.
There must be a total review of policy in relation to the Gaeltacht from the very basic question of whether it is realistic to talk in terms of saving the Gaeltacht right through to the question of how that can be done.
It is extremely difficult to industrialise geographically remote areas and it is impossible if the infrastructure of roads and telecommunications is not present, apart from the fact that such a policy is attempting to restructure society away from the urbanisation which has been a constant feature of development over generations. It has not succeeded to date and unless there is a serious review of policy it will not succeed in the future. It is no excuse for the Údarás or anybody else to say that failure is due to the lack of infrastructure. The infrastructure did not exist 20 years ago when this policy was conceived and it still does not exist.
Údarás na Galetachta are a good example of how State agencies are abused by the gravy train merchants. CIE are another good example of this. State companies are used to shore up private enterprise and to provide handouts to people who have not any worthwhile economic or industial ideas. There is no reason why a person who has a worthwhile industrial idea should not receive grants from the IDA. Gaeltacht grants are not much larger than IDA grants and the main reason that factories locate in the Gaeltacht is that they are marginal high risk investments. One must compare the treatment meted out to Ardmore Studios by the Minister for Industry and Energy, when they incurred comparatively tiny losses, and the manner in which the Údarás throw money into companies with wild abandon. There is clearly a double-think in relation to the Gaeltacht and industrial development.
The most obvious symptom of the problems of the Údarás arises from the accounts released during the past few days which show a declared loss of £11.5 million for the year 1980. From the proceedings of the last couple of hours I feel that a more realistic figure would be £14.5 million not of a loss but rather a write-off of assets. Reliable sources also indicate that the write-off for the year 1981 could be a further £6 million or £7 million which would make a total write-off for the first two years in the operation of Údarás na Gaeltachta of almost £20 million.
Possibly the most disturbing aspect of it is the question which is continually avoided, and that is the manner in which it would appear that this House has advanced money to Údarás na Gaeltachta over and above the limits set by this House in the 1979 Act which states clearly that the Údarás should not have an advance of more than £50 million. I put a question down to the Minister and I got a written answer the other day which indicates that Gaeltarra had advances of £41.7 million and that a further £22 million was given to Údarás na Gaeltachta, and clearly that adds up to more than £50 million. No good answer has yet been given to me or to anybody else of whom I am aware which indicates how £22 million and £41.7 million can add up to £50 million.
To conclude, it is essential for the Government to establish immediately a public inquiry into the affairs of Údarás na Gaeltachta and to review the policy of development for the Gaeltacht areas.
