In moving the adjournment of the House, I wish to take advantage of a provision in the Standing Orders by which matters of importance may be raised, and as I have already given notice to you, Sir, and, as you have announced, I propose to draw attention to certain aspects of the A.R.P. services at the present time, and to suggest that the importance of these services does not appear to be fully realised by many individuals or properly emphasised by the Government itself.
I should like, first of all, to express the sympathy which, I am sure, is felt by everybody in this House with the relatives of the first air-raid victims in this country. I do not want to refer to what occurred in County Wexford beyond expressing that sympathy, and pointing out that what, for want of any other information, we must assume to have been an accident, was an accident that might quite easily have occurred, say, over Dublin or Cork; if the area in which the bombs had dropped had been one which was very thickly populated the results might have been much more serious. I think that the apathy of the public is due to a certain amount of misunderstanding. I think it is also due to the feeling in the country, which I find amongst all classes, that either nothing is happening and that what the Government has told us with regard to danger is false, or that things are happening and that the truth is not being told. We have rumours of all kinds as to the landings of foreigners. We have news only of three. We have rumours that in hundreds of cases there have been mines laid, and that mines have been found in various places along the coast. Nothing has appeared in the Press about the finding of mines, and the general impression is that either there is no real danger or that every serious event is being censored. I think it would be a healthy thing, if there be any truth at all in these rumours that more information should be given.
I know that amongst a very large number of the men who have joined the A.R.P. there is the feeling that they are a sort of Cinderella, in which the Government is scarcely interested: that appeals have been made for recruits for the Army, for the Local Security Force, for the Red Cross and, last of all, a sort of half-hearted reference to the A.R.P. services. I am told that when these services were started some nine or ten months ago arrangements were made for the issue of badges: that the badges were designed and prepared, but that then instead of being issued to the A.R.P. services, they were handed over to the Local Security Force, although the latter body had not been formed until months after the badges were designed. Badges may seem to be of very little importance, but it has given the impression to the men in the A.R.P. that they are scarcely wanted and that their work is not to be taken seriously. Now, I believe that impression requires to be rectified, and in order to have it rectified we need not only a clear statement but a series of clear statements on the part of the Government and of the Ministers concerned. I raised this matter in a somewhat different form last May. The Minister for Finance was present, and he admitted quite frankly that he himself had discouraged any expenditure on A.R.P.; that he was one of those who was responsible for the fact that whereas there had been at first a general appeal to people to join A.R.P. service, that it had later been more or less stopped. He admitted that he had now changed his mind. He said he recognised that he was wrong, and admitted that the Government attitude had changed. Since last October quite a large number of men have been giving their service in the A.R.P. They fitted themselves for A.R.P. duties only to discover that the Minister for Finance thought expenditure on A.R.P. to be wrong. Those men have been giving their service during all that time, but still they feel that they are regarded as a sort of Cinderella: that to a certain extent they are ignored and treated in what I call a mean way.
I should like the Parliamentary Secretary to understand that I am making this statement because I think it is in the public interest to do so. I cannot prove all this positively, but I am satisfied that my statements are made on reasonably good authority. I am told that the equipment provided is scanty—that in certain posts full equipment has not been supplied. Take one thing which may not seem very important. Where you have an A.R.P. post it requires at least three wardens. For a 24-hour service you must have at least two shifts. I think most people would say that there should be three shifts, but the official attitude is that you need issue only three helmets. The position, therefore, is that the A.R.P. authorities, in order to provide that service, must find a number of men with the same size of head or else some of the men serving must feel uncomfortable, apart altogether from the unhygienic aspect of the matter. Most wardens would gladly pay for individual helmets if they could find out exactly where they are to be had. That, of course, is a trifling matter and I do not want to overrate its importance. I do, however, want to point out that while many of us have been wobbling and doubtful, these men, at the request of the State, gave their services voluntarily, and fitted themselves for the duties to be performed. They seem to have done their work remarkably well. There is nothing very spectacular about it, and they feel that to a considerable extent they are being forgotten.
I am satisfied that it is a serious mistake to regard their work as being in any way less important than the work performed by other voluntary defence services. I should like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary if it is true that the Government do regard recruitment for the A.R.P. as being less important than for, say, the Local Security Force. Is that impression a wrong one? If the Parliamentary Secretary says that the Government do regard the A.R.P. as being less important I would ask him whether he can conceive any emergency in this country requiring the assistance of the Army and the Local Security Force in which we would have no danger from air raids. I certainly cannot. If the answer is that they do regard it as equally important, I want to know why in the speeches of Ministers and in broadcasts there has been so little reference to the A.R.P., and why this impression I have referred to has been allowed to get abroad.
I should also like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary if the Government consider it the duty of individuals and of families who can afford it to provide air-raid shelters for themselves. Is it the opinion of the Government that I, as an individual, if I can afford the £12 or the £20 necessary, ought to have an air-raid shelter in my garden? As far as I am concerned I am in a public position and I thought it was my duty to do so. I, therefore, obtained one. I am not dealing with this as a personal matter, I am referring to it because a great many people have spoken to me about it. They take the view that there has been no statement from the Government and that, in fact, to put it in plain English the Government themselves are not agreed on the matter. I believe we should have a clear statement from the Government. A matter of much more importance on which there is considerable doubt is that concerning the duty of employers to provide air-raid shelters. Is it the opinion of the Government that it is the duty of an employer, if he can afford it, and of limited companies, to provide shelters and, if so, are they to do so only for their employees or are they expected to make provision for customers and others who may live in their districts? My own personal view is that if the present danger is a serious one, and as a loyal citizen I accept the view of the Government that it is, then I think that a business which can possibly afford it ought to make provision for both employees and customers. But I want that statement from the Government.
I want to know why it is that the A.R.P. Act was followed by an order which provided that if the expenditure on a shelter in the case of a limited company was of a capital nature, the Government would allow a refund of 5/6 in the £, which was then the income-tax rate, but only to the extent of the provision made for employees. If the company made further provision for the public or for persons other than employees the refund referred to could not be made except only to the extent that employees were provided for. If it be the policy of the Government that additional shelters should be provided for the public is it not absurd to discourage limited companies from making provision for other persons in addition to their employees? If we could have a clear statement from the Government as to what is to be regarded as expenditure of a capital nature in regard to this, difficulties would not be likely to arise later with the income-tax authorities. The position at the moment is unsatisfactory. If a clear statement were made by the Government that ample provision in this direction ought to be made, then I imagine that claims made later could not be disputed by the Revenue Commissioners. Suppose, for instance, the basement of a large building is strengthened, the building will be permanently improved and, clearly, might be treated as capital expenditure. If, on the other hand, trenches are dug in a yard at the rear of business premises and shelters are put in them the latter will be of no capital value to the company that erects them. As soon as the emergency has passed they will be removed and additional expenditure will have to be incurred in filling up the open trenches and in making the yard again fit for ordinary purposes. Businessmen have asked me what the position is, but I have been unable to give them any kind of clear information on the matter. I referred on a previous occasion to the order made with regard to capital expenditure on air-raid shelters and to the allowance of 5/6 in the pound for expenditure of the kind set out in the order. I should be glad if the Parliamentary Secretary would clarify this position. I have been told that people applying for this refund in connection with air-raid shelters must do so before next September. That means that the question as to whether the expenditure is or is not of a capital nature must be decided before then. If the expenditure is made bona fide I think the period for making a claim for a refund should be extended over a year or 18 months, which would give the income-tax authorities time to decide whether or not the expenditure is to be regarded as being of a capital nature. If expenditure on air-raid shelters is not of a capital nature it can be deducted as an expense before profits are assessed. The dear knows what the income-tax rate will be next year, but it is certain to be higher than 5/6.
My main object is to draw the attention of the House and of the Government to the need for a clearer statement on the A.R.P. service generally, and whether or not that service is to be regarded as of first importance. We should also be told whether there has been a sufficient number of volunteers for A.R.P. If not, why is not the same appeal being made for volunteers for A.R.P. as is being made for the Local Security Force? What is the real attitude of the State to this problem? I still hope that we may be saved the sufferings and the horrors of war in this country, but should that not be the case, I am absolutely convinced that the provision of trained men and women—it is mainly men's work in A.R.P.—to deal with the situation that may arise in the event of an air raid is absolutely essential. The work connected with A.R.P. is not spectacular; you do not carry a gun; you do not march round with bands. Instead of that you have to go in for serious study, you have to be adequately trained. The work of training may be of a rather tedious character. Air wardens have to find out the position in each particular area. They have to call on the inhabitants to find out how many people there are in each house in the area so that, in the event of an air raid, they will know how many people should be there. They will also have to decide which houses should be demolished immediately after a raid has taken place, a matter in which they probably must have the assistance of architects or other experts. Generally speaking, the work is not spectacular, and it has not the same kind of appeal as other services connected with the present emergency, but it is quite as or possibly more important for the safety of the people of the country.