asked the Minister for Finance whether, with reference to compensation for post-truce losses, he will state the total amount of claims officially lodged in 1922/3, 1923/4, 1924/5; the total amount awarded in respect of such claims in 1922/3, 1923/4, 1924/5; the total amount actually paid to claimants in 1923/4 in respect of awards made in 1922/3, and, separately, in respect of awards made in 1923/4; also, the total amount actually paid to claimants in 1924/5 in respect of awards made in 1922/3, and, separately, in respect of awards made in the years 1923/4 and 1924/5; whether similar information as to claims, awards, and payments, in respect of compensation for pre-truce losses will be given, and, further, if he will state the total amount received, up to date, by the Saorstát Government from the British Government on this latter account.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - PRE-TRUCE AND POST-TRUCE CLAIMS.
In regard to post-truce damage to property, I regret that I am unable to give this information in the form in which the Deputy desires it, as it would entail an individual search of many thousands of files.
The aggregate amount of claims lodged under the Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923, in respect of post-truce injuries to property is approximately, £14,380,000. The amount of decrees and reports lodged with my Department is approximately £2,150,000, of which £720,000 is subject to a reinstatement condition, and can be paid only as the work of rebuilding proceeds. Of the remaining £1,430,000, there has been paid, £1,409,445 in cash and securities as follows:—1922/3, £7,718 (cash); 1923/4, £50,574 (cash), and £47,750 securities: (to date), £858,953 cash, and £444,450 securities.
These figures are exclusive of payments for damage to the property of railway companies, the amounts of which are as follows:—1922/23, £30,058; 1923/24, £285,655; 1924/25, £90,894 (to date).
Claims for compensation in respect of pre-truce property losses are not lodged with my Department in the first instance, but with the Compensation (Ireland) Commission. It is not possible, therefore, to furnish with regard to the lodgment, etc., of these claims the particulars which the Deputy has asked for. The total of the awards received by my Department from the month of June, 1922, when the Commission started operations, up to the present, is approximately six and a half million pounds. All of this has been paid with the following exceptions: (1) Conditional awards, totalling approximately £700,000, the owners of which have not yet completed the reinstatement of their premises, and which have consequently not yet matured for payment, and (2) unconditional awards, totalling approximately £200,000, which have only very recently been issued by the Commission, and which are being discharged as rapidly as possible.
The total amount received up to the present from the British Government in respect of pre-truce damage to property is, roughly, two and a half million pounds, but I may point out that the adjustment is not yet by any means completed, and that further substantial sums are still outstanding which it is expected will come to credit at an early date.