This Bill is for the purpose of repaying sums borrowed by Dáil Eireann in the years 1919, 1920 and 1921, in Ireland and in America. The terms of the prospectus have not been literally fulfilled. Interest on the money in certain cases was to be repayable six months after the Irish Republic had received international recognition, and after the English had evacuated Ireland. The conditions of the American prospectus were somewhat similar. At a certain date after the freeing of the territory of Ireland from Britain's immediate control, the said bonds were to be redeemable at par. But the conditions have been substantially fulfilled. We have succeeded in getting control of the national destinies. We feel that the people who put up the money which enabled the successful fight to be made, that was made, should have their money paid back to them, and that payment should not be delayed or avoided because of any quibble with regard to the literal fulfilment of the conditions laid down in the prospectus.
The amount raised by the internal loan was £378,000. It was issued on the 1st August, 1919, and the list closed on the 17th July, 1920. The amount was received in very small sums. Only £114,000 was raised by means of subscriptions of £10 and upwards. It is because of the fact that the subscriptions were, generally speaking, so small in amount that we do not think it desirable to issue stock. It would mean that a very large number of people would hold stock of the value of £1 or £2, and the payment of 1s. or 2s. a year interest would involve an enormous amount of clerical work. Under the terms of the prospectus the loan need not be paid off for twenty years. We propose to pay it back really in about seven years—that is, on the 1st June, 1927. We propose to issue to the people, whom it is definitely established have subscribed to the loan, Savings Certificates; to allow the interest to accumulate, and to pay principal and interest off on the 1st day of June, 1927. We think that this is fair to them, that it is in conformity with the spirit of the agreement entered into when the loan was issued, and that in the majority of cases it will be more satisfactory to the people themselves. Once these Certificates have been issued they can be exchanged, and people who want the cash before the Certificates reach maturity will be able to obtain it by transfer, no doubt.
There were two loans issued in America, one on the 1st January, 1921, which realised 5,236,955 dollars. The second American loan was issued in November, 1921, and it, of course, had hardly got started when the Treaty came. That loan realised 622,720 dollars. The total raised in America, therefore, was 5,859,675 dollars. There is at present held up in America and the subject of litigation two million, three hundred thousand odd dollars. There are provisions in connection with the redemption of the American loan which correspond roughly to the requirements of the American prospectus. That is, stock certificates will be issued to those who have subscribed to the loan. Interest will accrue on these stock certificates, and they can be redeemed either at par, or they can be purchased in the market.
There are one or two small points in the Bill which will be the subject of slight amendments in Committee. I need hardly refer to them now, except to say simply that this Bill provides for the discharge of a moral obligation. There are certain assets remaining still, but in any case the country received very good value for this money. There are shares in the National Land Bank, and there are deposits in the name of the Natland Auxiliary Society, which was simply a device that was thought of to make difficult any British action against the Land Bank.
The National Land Bank was formed at a time when an agrarian agitation was arising in some parts of the country, which seemed likely to cut across and to destroy the national movement. Towards the end of 1919 and the beginning of 1920, there was every disposition on the part of people to indulge in what we would now call irregularism. That centred mostly round the desire of people violently to seize land. For the purpose of checking that agitation and of making some arrangement for the purchase and distribution of land the funds which were being raised by the loan were devoted by the Dáil to the establishment of the Land Bank. There had been previously set up a Land Court under the Dáil which arranged for the purchase and for the division of certain estates. By means of the Land Bank the Dáil was able to see that a certain number, at least, of these estates were bought and divided or made available to various small holders and landless men around them. The result of the operations of the Land Court and of the Land Bank undoubtedly was to settle and to calm the agitation which was threatening to disrupt the national movement for independence at the time.
Certain difficulties did arise later on in regard to these purchased estates and the societies that acquired them, because the slump that followed came very heavily on these particular people. At any rate, a very good purpose was served, and the shares in the National Land Bank are certainly a very valuable asset. In addition to that, there are held by this Natland Auxiliary Society something like, I think, £91,000. There are other sums, of which I have not now the amount, in the hands of trustees and others. Apart altogether from the assets that remain out of this loan, which are being brought into the Exchequer, the payment to the subscribers is a moral obligation. These people cast their bread upon the waters, and it is now up to us to see that it returns. I think very few people, certainly only a small number, thought they were making an investment or that money given in this way would come back. Many people at great sacrifice subscribed substantial sums, for people of their means, in order to enable the struggle that was getting under weigh when the Loan was issued to be carried on successfully. If it had not been for the generosity and the faith of the people who subscribed to the Loan there would be no Free State to-day. The struggle could not have been carried on without the financial resources that this Loan provided. It was used as economically and as sparingly as possible by the elected Government of the Irish people of the day. I believe that we have got very good value. It is up to us to return the money, and I think we must all feel now the sense of victory and the sense of achievement that is due, when we are able to pay back what we at one time regarded as an enormous sum, and pay it back without any great stress. One could hardly help casting one's mind back to the time when the Loan was issued, but when we do we realise the enormous advance that has been made, an advance which I think very few people believed or hoped, when they subscribed, would be realised in their generation. However, they did subscribe, and it is due to us to see that they are paid back in accordance with the terms of the prospectus.
