This Bill is intended to supplement the measures taken by this Government and previous Governments to deal with the exceptional circumstances prevailing in the western areas. The necessity for such measures has been the subject of full debate in this House and in the Dáil during the consideration of previous legislation designed to eliminate, or at least to ameliorate the difficulties inevitably associated with the failure of industrial development in the western counties, to keep pace with such development elsewhere throughout the country. While I am sure that Senators do not need statistics to convince them that the western counties require our special attention, and that it is not necessary to relate again the full background against which the Bill is being considered, it is perhaps appropriate to refer to a number of the salient features of this background.
Remoteness from the main centres of consumption and the lack of indigenous raw material have combined to make industrial development in the western areas a matter of peculiar difficulty, and the fact is that in these areas the proportion of the population engaged in industrial employment is less than one-half of the proportion for the country as a whole. With the level of industrial employment thus significantly lower than elsewhere and with non-industrial employment insufficient to absorb the available labour force, emigration came to be traditionally regarded as the only solution of the problem.
It is clearly a matter of the most urgent importance that all possible steps should be taken to provide an ultimate solution. It is only by the provision of suitable employment at home that emigration can be checked. In particular, no opportunity must be neglected of promoting in the areas a wider variety of employment, with emphasis on the provision of industrial employment. To the extent to which it does not spontaneously present itself the opportunities of creating the means of employment must be sought out and developed. Positive steps to this end have already been taken by the Government. An example was the provision under the Undeveloped Areas Act, 1952, of substantial financial assistance to encourage the establishment of industries in the undeveloped areas in the West.
Industrial activity, based on agricultural products, appears to afford the greatest prospect of successful development in the western counties, and it is on this assumption that the scheme covered by the present Bill has been put forward. The natural wealth of these areas consists almost entirely of extensive peat bogs, and considerable progress has been made in the development of these bogs for the production of fuel for many years to come. If left unworked, these bogs will merely continue to grow peat-producing vegetation which will add only slightly to the potential fuel supply. The value of these bogs, and their contribution to the economic development of the western areas in particular, and of the country generally, would be immeasurably enhanced if it could be shown that, by drainage and cultivation, they could be utilised for the production of agricultural crops suitable for subsequent drying or other industrial processing.
Grass crops have already been grown experimentally on drained bogland. The primary purpose of the present measure is to enable further, full-scale experimental work to be undertaken to demonstrate the possibilities for the economic utilisation of drained bogland on a commercial basis. For this purpose it is proposed to set up a limited company, Min-Fhéir Teóranta, to acquire, drain and cultivate bogland in the Bangor-Erris area of County Mayo, and to process grass and other plants for sale. If and when required, Min-Fhéir Teóranta will have the benefit of the technical advice and assistance of Bord na Móna, as well as of Cómhlucht Siúicre Eireann Teóranta, who have already undertaken experiments in the cultivation of drained bogland in other areas.
Whilst the Bill was being debated in the Dáil, some Deputies suggested that the company should devote its attention to the growing of crops other than grass. It is my intention that grass will be used as the pioneer crop during the years which must elapse before a cultivated bog soil deep enough to grow other crops is produced. The Bill is sufficiently wide in its scope to permit the company to engage in the production of such crops as it may itself decide in the light of its experience.
As I mentioned in the Dáil, the company might also undertake the growing of medicinal herbs, which are in short supply, and some of which can possibly be grown more successfully on drained bogland than elsewhere. I am reliably informed that, even at the present time, there is growing on bogland and on other types of poor land in the West of Ireland very valuable plants capable of being distilled or otherwise processed to produce valuable commercial products used for medicinal and aromatic purposes generally.
The scheme is in the nature of an experiment, and it is not possible, therefore, nor is it desirable, to attempt to anticipate the method of working which may be adopted by the new company. It is obvious, however, that two or three years may elapse before grass is available in sufficient quantities to justify the economic operations of a full-scale drying plant, and other methods of disposing of the crop may have to be adopted during this initial period. It would be idle also to suggest that even the most successful outcome of the experiment would automatically solve the problem of industrial employment in remote western areas. As has already been indicated, the purpose of the experiment is to demonstrate the commercial possibilities for the successful cultivation of drained bogland, and it is the intention that expenditure by Min-Fhéir Teóranta during the experimental period should be limited to the amount necessary for this purpose.
Several considerations influenced the choice of the Bangor-Erris area for this experiment. Firstly, it is in the heart of one of the most extensive peat areas in the country, and Bord na Móna are in process of acquiring a substantial area of bog there (about 20,000 acres), out of which the much smaller area of 2,000 acres required for the grass meal experiment could readily be made available without in any way interfering with the plans for turf production. In fact, I have been informed that at least 2,000 acres would not be suitable for Bord na Móna purposes.
Secondly, the larger area of choice would permit the selection of a location suitable for the use of the mechanical equipment proposed to be used. Finally, as the ultimate objective in the bog development at Bangor-Erris was the erection by the E.S.B. of a peat-fired electricity generating station, the availability of any electric power required for the industrial processes would be ensured.
Grass meal is used here mainly as a constituent in the manufacture of compound feeding stuffs, for which purpose there is a demand both at home and for export. Grass meal may also be used as a source of chlorophyll, a substance now used extensively in pharmaceutical preparations, and it may be possible to develop a new export market for this purpose.
I am informed that the plant for the extraction of chlorophyll would necessitate a capital outlay to set up an economic industrial organisation of something in the neighbourhood of £500,000. I have no method of assessing whether that is an accurate estimate, but my source of information is reliable and I have no reason to believe that chlorophyll could be produced economically in sufficient quantity at less than £500,000 even though some people in the country maintain that it could be produced economically at less than that.
It is estimated that, approximately, 4,000 tons of grass meal will be produced annually and that, on the basis of present costs and prices, the company, when in full production, will operate at a profit. Adopting the least favourable figures, the grass meal is estimated to cost £22 7s. per ton at plant against the current delivered sale price of £31 to £34 per ton, according to quality.
Some comment was made in the Dáil about the discrepancy of cost per ton between grass meal produced by the proposed company and the grass meal as at present produced, but Senators will observe that I have referred to the sum of £22 7s. as cost per ton at plant. There would also have to be taken into consideration the cost of bagging and other costs.
On the question of a market for the grass meal, it was suggested in the Dáil that the domestic requirement of this commodity cannot be expected to absorb more than 7,000 tons annually, and that other producers are in a position to produce 5,000 tons. In this connection, I wish to point out that, in 1948, which, as far as I am aware, was the first year in which grass meal was produced commercially in this country as a constituent for feeding stuffs, production was of the order of 650 tons. Last year the total production was about 4,000 tons. That increase in that comparatively short period was achieved without any wide publicity campaign on behalf of the producers.
I believe, therefore, that there is still ample scope for the production of grass meal as a constituent in compound feeding stuffs. I would like at this stage to assure Senators, however, that it is not intended that the Bangor-Erris project should be used to prejudice existing producers of grass meal.
Capital expenditure on the grass meal project is estimated to amount to approximately £165,000, and provision is made in the Bill for the making of grants up to this amount out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. Senators will be aware that the Minister for External Affairs informed the Dáil on the 10th June, 1952, that proposals for the utilisation of moneys in the Grant Counterpart Special Account were sent on the 4th June, 1952, to the American Ambassador for transmission to the United States authorities. These proposals included the grass meal project, for which it was proposed that £150,000 be provided from the Grant Counterpart Special Account to meet capital expenditure. Irrespective of the outcome of this proposal for the use of counterpart funds, it is intended that capital expenditure on the project should be met in the first instance out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.
Under the terms of the Bill, the activities of the new company are restricted to the processing of grass and other plants, but there is provision under which licences may be granted to the company permitting it to manufacture other products suitable for use as animal feeding stuffs or fertilisers. The licensing provision in this Bill might be described as merely precautionary.
In introducing the Bill in the Dáil, I mentioned that one of the products that might be produced under this licensing provision was seaweed meal but no decision has been taken with regard to its production. That will be a matter for the new company, having regard to their experience and having regard to the chances of producing seaweed meal on a commercial basis. One of the major obstacles to the development of the production of seaweed meal up to now has been the absence of a suitable organisation within a reasonable distance from the source of supply of the seaweed, adapted to undertake the actual drying and grinding processes. The occasion of the introduction of legislation to provide for the production of grass meal has been availed of to provide that the proposed new organisation might undertake, under licence, the production of seaweed meal. That, however, is not its primary function and if a decision were taken to introduce a comprehensive scheme of seaweed meal production, separate provision would have to be made for the financing of such a scheme. There is no financial provision for it in the Bill.
I commend this Bill to the House because I think it shows an earnest of our desire to deal seriously with the problem of creating work and maintaining the people on the land in the West of Ireland. Furthermore if, as a result of this experiment we can illustrate that the utilisation of the extensive tracts of bogland in the West is economically feasible, we will have achieved something really worthwhile.
No doubt, Senators familiar with conditions in the West, and particularly where congestion is concerned, having regard to the immense tracts of bogland that are available, particularly in this Bangor-Erris area, are aware that it can be readily accepted that, if we can show that bogland can be used successfully to grow crops, it will in some measure—and I suggest in some significant measure—tend towards the solution of what appears to be now an almost insurmountable problem of relieving congestion. Therefore, from every point of view I recommend the Bill to the House and I hope that it will meet with the approval of Senators.