I should like to begin by clearly associating myself with the remarks of welcome to the Minister for Transport and Power, Deputy Fitzpatrick, to this House. I have very clear memories of the generous response which he made to a number of amendments which were put down when legislation which affected his previous Department was introduced in this House. While I was not too happy with the result of some of them, his response was generous and I wish him every good fortune in his new ministry.
As a former ESB employee, I must confess a slight personal interest in the Bill, I have been fascinated by the operations of that board. In the interests of the provision of electricity and of the future of the board and myself, I think it is well that we parted in the 1960s. I might address those of you who may be interested in researching the meaning of that remark to a very fine play which has been written on the subject of the Electricity Supply Board entitled "The Board" which was produced in the Abbey some years ago.
I know the Minister will excuse me if I begin at the end of the Bill, or at the end of his speech, at that section which includes provision to enable the Electricity Supply Board to submit to him schemes amending the general employees and manual workers superannuation scheme to provide improved superannuation benefits for persons retiring from or being discharged by the board on grounds of ill-health. This is introduced on the ground that this provision is being added to bring the ESB superannuation scheme into line with recent similar improvements in the civil service superannuation code.
ESB pensioners—I am referring particularly to the body known as the Electricity Supply Board Retired Staff Association—have had unsuccessful meetings during the past five years with different people involved in the Department of Transport and Power. The representatives have had very reasonable requests. On one occasion I accompanied them myself to meet some officials and we had an argument as to whether a pension was a matter of contract or was something that took cognisance of a lifetime of work given in national service. I think that the very reasonable request not demand, of the employees on that occasion might have been met. I should appreciate the Minister's opinion on it. The ESB Retired Staff Association requested very simply something which was legislatively possible, that is, that they be allowed representation on the superannuation council of the board. Legislation provides that where one third of the signatures are gathered a meeting should be called by the board to enable a representative to be put on the council.
The board has systematically refused over the years to summon such a meeting. The ESB Retired Staff Association have secured more than one third of the signatures of retired people. They have pointed out that their request is legislatively possible, but the board still refuse to meet their request. May I say why one of the pensioners might be represented on this council? Members of the ESB Retired Staff Association, mainly elderly people, are worried in particular about two aspects of the use of superannuation funds. They are worried about the low returns on the capital sums invested by the fund and they are worried also that so far no scheme for the widows of manual workers exists or has been approved or suggested by the board. If for no other reason than to press the very reasonable demand that their pension be invested to yield a proper return and to express their concern about the widows of their fellow workers, they are seeking representation on the superannuation council. Their meetings with the board have gone on for over five years. There might be more appropriate occasions for raising this, but I am encouraged to raise it in so far as the superannuation benefits are referred to in the Bill itself as a result of a motion suggested in the other House.
The major substance of this Bill is of course a tidying-up operation that particularly affects two areas, the Black Valley and Ballycroy. I note from the Minister's speech that these two areas are the worst of the unresolved anomalies in provision of electricity supply. It is quite fair, too, that in the Minister's speech he mentions other people who are in the same situation. There was a long discussion in the other House as to who would be entitled to assistance and who would not.
One point which has confused me a little is the extent of other areas, peripheral areas particularly, which might be applicants for assistance under FEOGA schemes. These are also areas for which the capital contribution required or quoted for the supply of electricity might be high. I wonder whether a source of assistance under FEOGA might continue after this Bill has drawn a line. My own estimation of the operation of FEOGA is not encouraging and I believe that some grants which might have been available under this year's budget may not be available in the coming year.
The third and last part of what I have to say refers to the section in which the Minister addressed his appeal to persons proposing to build new houses to consult the ESB prior to actually becoming involved in the building. As one drives around Ireland one is continually aware of what a marvellous engineering achievement it was to erect poles on different parts of the Irish landscape. It is one thing to marvel at man's achievement, the technical achievement in bringing light where there was no light or light where there was dark, as other Members have said. It is not too unreasonable now to ask that there be a fit between what might be regarded as reasonable demands of visual amenity and the activities of the Electricity Supply Board and, indeed, the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. In the absence of a Department of the Environment different Ministers have to be careful about the operation of their Departments and ensure that they in fact are not environmentally detrimental. There are no rigid lines laid down as to, for example, the manner in which poles and low tension cables can be strewn across different small towns and villages which are otherwise attractive, not only for tourist purposes but because people want to live in a pleasing environment, and the environmental impact of electricity provision is something which should concern us.
May I say immediately that I do not want anybody to make me the reply that I am saying we have to make a choice between having no light and proper visual planning. Thankfully we do not have to make that choice in this country yet, and it is wrong for people to indulge in crude similarities and the general idea that no matter what the cost we must have poles strewn across the country. We do not have to make that choice. In addressing myself to the new Minister for Transport and Power I may say that it may not always be appropriate to rely on the provision of electricity in the conventional way for a number of parts of the country. I am aware that alternative energy sources are now being investigated within the Department of Transport and Power, and these alternative energy sources are often more in keeping and in a better fit with the natural conditions of communities, and I hope that we will have the applied or technical spin-off of those investigations quite soon.
I welcome the Bill as other Senators have welcomed it. In welcoming it I might reflect on something else. I think one gathers from the Minister's speech a concern that we are living in economically difficult times. Of course we are, but I have always argued that one should never ever judge the provision of basic necessities, the provision of transport, or, in this case, the provision of electricity by economic criteria. For many people the provision of electricity supply was a basic necessity.
Anybody studying the effects of the major demographic trends in our population over the last decade will know that the counties that have been most affected from the outflow of migratory movements have been the western counties and peripheral counties, and I might even mention islands. Now in the case of these, even when an outflow of migration from this country to Britain ceased and was replaced by an internal flow of population to the larger centres of population, it meant that a great number of old people were left in their houses on their own. For such people, in the absence of very sophisticated home care, medical care and other facilities, visiting facilities, the sheer existence of the possibility of having electricity was a basic, human and necessary requirement. We should set ourselves to it that no matter what penalties we may impose on people well off in our community we should always protect the interests of such people, who are after all the most vulnerable members of our community.
Let us be clear about what happened in an analogous situation in the case of transport. The people who were left at home when public transport was cut back were the least vocal lobby in this country. They were not a lobby at all. They were simply people who retired from active participation in life because they no longer had the railway. In exactly the same way, lost in valleys and in peripheral areas in Ireland today, there are people who are old or who, because they are not a vociferous lobby, sometimes do not have their needs pressed in the same way as other sections of the community.
I had been speaking about different aspects of this Bill, and the one so far that I would stress is the one concerning the position of ESB pensioners, particularly those I referred to who are members of the Electricity Supply Board Retired Staff Association.
I should like to clarify two points before I conclude. Reference is made to the Black Valley and Ballycroy. At the time an offer was made to these two areas, an offer was also made to and rejected by the people of Omey Island in the Clifden area. I quite accept the Minister's explanation that the Bill is limited in scope and that any review of the rural electrification programme will involve the making of special cases. Of course it is limited in scope. There is also the case of localised hardship. I mentioned Omey Island. This is an island when the tide is in, and it is a peninsula when the tide is out. The offer made to the people of Omey Island was unacceptable at the time the offer was made to Ballycroy and the Black Valley.