I beg to move the Second Reading of this Bill. The purpose of the Bill broadly is to carry out the arrangement in regard to the College of Science which was announced and discussed in the Dáil a considerable time ago. The Bill enables the actual premises of the College of Science to be given over to University College, Dublin, subject to certain conditions. It enables the equipment and apparatus of the College of Science likewise to be given over to University College, Dublin. It provides that the grant of University College, Dublin, shall be increased by the amount of the non-agricultural portion of the expenditure on the College of Science. The remaining portion of the expenditure on the College of Science, together with further provision, goes also to University College, Dublin, but is earmarked for the Faculty of General Agriculture. Since the decision was come to in regard to the College of Science, it has been determined that a fully-equipped Faculty of General Agriculture shall be provided in University College, Dublin, and a fully-equipped Faculty of Dairy Science shall be provided at University College, Cork.
It also provides for the transference of the Albert College to University College, Dublin, and the provision of funds for the purchase of the necessary land and for the erection of buildings for the purposes of the Faculty of Dairy Science in Cork. The Bill also contains a provision for the increased sum that will be given to University College, Cork, for the general work of the College. It provides for the payment of grants for capital purposes to the University Colleges in Cork and Dublin which have been already actually voted by the Dáil. There are provisions of a minor character in the Bill, as, for instance, the provisions in regard to the grant for the purchase of buildings to the National University, and in regard to the surrender of certain sums which had been paid out of the Exchequer prior to the Treaty to the University for the purchase of buildings and which had been invested; also provisions in regard to the transfer of existing officers of the College of Science to the University College, Dublin. As I said in the beginning, the principle of the Bill was in the main discussed when the decision in regard to the College of Science and to the transfer of the functions of the College of Science to University College, Dublin, were discussed in the Dáil almost two years ago.