I should like to say that I have never been enthusiastic about increasing State control in every department of our lives as has gone on here since 1922. Aesthetic control is the kind of control that the State and civil servants are least able to exercise satisfactorily. I realise, of course, that these grants might have lamentable results from the point of view of the landscape, and the visitor's eye. At the same time, I rather think that if there is to be any form of control with regard to the type of chalet or building that is to be put up, that control should be as little as possible from Dublin. If it is to be exercised from Dublin, it should be done by some people who know something about the local landscape.
An effort should be made not to put something up which would be beautiful to the eye of a Dubliner, but something which blends with the landscape, which, by the way, the old comfortable unhygienic house did, and which a number of new houses built under the 1929 Act did not. I happen to know that very well. I have lived in some of these houses and they are hard to live in. The old houses were built by very intelligent country people in shelter and when the prevailing wind was blowing, you were always sheltered from it in the kind of house which a countryman built.
The house which an inspector built which was condemned in Irish as "tig ar árd""house on a height" was full of doors and in the month of July you were blown out of it. There is something to be said for the ordinary countryman as against the inspector or even the Dublin architect. I say that with bated breath and in a humble whisper. I feel it is a problem which cannot be solved by somebody in a Dublin office drawing up a plan and saying: "There now, put that up in Connemara or in Gweedore." He should know something about Connemara and Gweedore. If we are going to build these houses, an effort should be made to put them in the kind of place where they will have the most shelter and where they will blend best with the landscape. Notoriously, a number of newly built houses do not so blend.
There is another point with which I should like to deal, that is, the Irish language point. This whole scheme is supposed—I should not say supposed; I give the Minister credit for sincerity —to be in the interest of the Irish language and to enable people to provide accommodation for visitors in these areas. They are the Gaeltacht areas and, by definition, they are remote and they are all the more beautiful for being so remote. In them you get cleanliness, good food and great friendliness from the people, and if you add to that the advantages this Bill confers, you make them very satisfactory as resorts for the visitors and very cheap. I know people who go to Connemara who have not a word of Irish, and have no interest in Irish, but they find it very cheap, very friendly and very beautiful.
I do not know if the Minister or anybody else can frame any regulations to prevent this kind of building from being used simply for pecuniary benefit by people who have no regard for the Irish language. For example, when a grant has been made for this type of chalet, can it be sold? Can it not be sold without the Minister's consent? Is that right? Can it be transferred to other people who have no interest in Irish? I do not object to that but I think since people are getting these grants because of their situation and because of the Irish language, it should be used for the benefit of the language.
There is a considerable influx already into these areas, which are beautiful by definition and which are now clean, have good food and can be frequented by people who do not want to go to a luxury hotel in Dublin but who want a holiday and who want to benefit from the great friendliness and charm of the people, with no regard at all for the Irish language. If regulations can be made to prevent that situation from arising I should be glad, but I think it is a matter of very great difficulty.
I come back now to the first point about the aesthetic control. With regard to the bigger building which is contemplated here, the £5,000 building, I think great care should be taken to see that it is suitably built—and "suitability" to me means that it should blend with the landscape in the area. That would be my definition of "aesthetic control" in that matter.
I strongly recommend that the Minister should endeavour to get that done and not in accordance with new ideas, strange ideas, and so on. I recommend that he should see what happens in the particular area and see that any building put up is suitable for that particular area and blends with its features.