Seumas O Riain, Loch gCarmain, asks the Minister of Finance—
"Whether monthly payments have been made to Deputies of the Dáil since the last Session; by what authority were these grants made; under what estimate have they been voted or will a supplementary estimate be introduced; what are the names of the Deputies who received these grants?"
Answer:—It will be observed from the Finance Report that a total sum of £1,500 was paid to Deputies in the period January 1st to April 10th. The amount paid for the month of March was £125. The items appear on page 3 of the report under the heading of "Special allowances to Deputies." No estimates have ever been introduced for these payments. They are made under the resolution of the Dáil of the 24th September, 1920, to the effect that Deputies may, on application, receive a monthly allowance at a rate not exceeding £250 per-annum. Application is made to the Finance Department according to that resolution and the payments are made without any question. In view of the understanding there was at that meeting of the Dáil, that there would be no divulgence of the private position of members I do not propose to give the names of the members to whom these payments were made, unless the House desires it.
The next question by Seumas O Riain is—
"Whether Deputies have been allowed any expenses other than those incurred in attending meetings of An Dáil since the Articles of Agreement were approved; if so, what are the names of those Deputies and in what connection were those expenses incurred?"
The answer is that, with the exception of the amounts mentioned in my reply to the previous question, I have no knowledge of any expenses having been paid. It is, of course, possible that payments of expenses may have been made in different Departments. That would be an accounting matter and it would be necessary for me to have more definite details before I could make the required examination into the accounts.
The next question is by Seán Etchingham—
"Whether a special compensation grant has been made to the staff of the Freeman's Journal out of Dáil Funds and, if so, of what amount; what estimate passed at the last meeting of the Dáil provided for such expenditure, or whether a supplementary estimate will be introduced and whether the writer of the scurrilously insulting article in the Freeman's Journal of January 5th on President de Valera received compensation?”
Answer: The Dáil Ministry, at its meeting on the 10th April, passed £2,692 18s. 2d. to the Minister for Labour to enable him to pay the full wages bill of the unemployed staff of the Freeman's Journal for a period of two weeks. This payment appears in the accounts submitted and it will be observed that the money was used entirely for the payment of the unemployed staff. As to the latter part of the question, there was no payment made to any writer of any article in the Freeman's Journal out of Dáil funds. It is not necessary for me to specify the reason for which that was brought in at the end of that question.
