asked the Minister for Finance whether the attention of the Government has been called to the agitation in London to rush the settlement of compensation claims in respect of the pre-truce period on grossly exaggerated and one-sided representations, and the apparently sympathetic reception of the statements made; whether there is any chance of this throwing on the Free State finances the burden of claims not similarly investigated on its side, even though professing to have been investigated and passed by the British Authorities; whether in view of the agitation also going on in London against the legislation proposed here for the settlement in Court or outside of claims against the Free State, the Government have gone into the results of the close examination in Belfast of such claims in its area, and whether it is a fact that not one-fourth of the total amount claimed was awarded by the Courts there; and to ask if the claims made in the Free State will be similarly examined and decided.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. [ ORAL ANSWERS. ] - PRE-TRUCE COMPENSATION CLAIMS.
Awards are not made in London in respect of property compensation claims relating to the pre-truce period, and any agitation that may go on there, as to which I have no particular knowledge, cannot affect the awards which are made by the Compensation Commission sitting in Dublin. No burden can, therefore, be placed on Free State funds as the result of merely one-sided investigation. I have no official knowledge of how claims have been dealt with in Belfast.
Can we assume that no such impetuosity will induce the Minister to make any change in the sum that he has already estimated for this purpose here?
I do not quite understand the point of the question. If it be that the Compensation Commission costs or awards exceed the amount that we have provided, then it will be necessary to come down to this Dáil, and to ask for a further sum. This is only an estimate based upon the facts and information at hand, and the estimate may be in excess of the amount awarded, or it may be less, but all these facts will be duly reported to the Dáil.