I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £456,000 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1928, chun capital do sholáthar do Chiste na nIasachtaí Aitiúla, agus chun asíoc do dhéanamh le Rialtas na Breataine mar gheall ar iasachtai áitiúla atá gan íoc.
That a sum not exceeding £456,000 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1928, to provide capital for the Local Loans Fund and to make repayment to the British Government in respect of local loans outstanding.
I think Deputies on the Labour benches complain that the amount under sub-head A is reduced, and that consequently the money available for giving employment is also reduced. The practice in regard to the Local Loans Fund is not to sanction any loan except the money is actually available for the amount of the loan, so that the amount to be voted in any particular year is what will be necessary with the amount already available in the Fund, in order to enable sanction to be given to the loans that will come up during the financial year to which the Estimates relate. This is one of the Estimates difficult to frame because of the factors that have to be considered. You have not merely the amount you actually want to spend in a particular financial year, but you have to consider the amount that is available in the financial year in which the Estimates are being prepared; the amount that is likely to be sanctioned in that year, the amount of any repayments that may come into the Fund, and the amount that will remain at the end of the year. The amount of money sanctioned for loans does not depend on any particular department. It depends on other people. The amount sanctioned in land loans depends on the number of people who apply for such loans; the amount sanctioned for public health loans depends on the number who apply for these loans. The amount asked for this year, together with the amount that was outstanding in the Local Loans Fund at the end of the last financial year, will enable approximately the same amounts, or in some cases greater amounts, to be sanctioned in the coming year as were sanctioned actually during the past financial year.
For instance, it will enable land loans to the amount of £100,000 to be sanctioned. These are loans given for farm buildings, for drainage, and work of that nature. It will enable drainage maintenance loans to be given to the extent of £30,000. The amount is somewhat less than that sanctioned last year. But the work under the Drainage Maintenance Act is drawing to a close and the money will suffice for all that could be done this year. It will enable arterial drainage loans to the extent of £100,000 to be sanctioned. It will enable public health loans to the extent of £175,000 to be sanctioned. The amount of public health loans sanctioned in the previous financial year was £146,000. A new sub-head, sub-head B, has been substituted, because under the annuity agreed to be paid to the British Government of £600,000 it is not possible to distinguish between the amount that will be payable in respect of each of the two previous subheads—Local Loans or Local Loans under the Land Acts.