I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £8,302 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 Tuarastail agus Costaisí eile Coimisiún Sealadach, Coistí agus Fiosrúchán Speisialta.
That a sum not exceeding £8,302 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, for the Salaries and other Expenses of Temporary Commissions, Committees, and Special Inquiries.
Deputies will see that there is a considerable decrease in this Vote. It is down by something like £13,658. The reduction is due to the winding-up of various Committees. The Banking Commission, the Commission of Inquiry into the Preservation of the Gaeltacht, the Committee on National Health Insurance and Medical Services, and the Greater Dublin Commission of Inquiry have concluded their work. Only a small provision has been made for the Board of Assessors under the Military Service Pensions Act of 1924. The work of that Committee is almost completed. There is a small provision for the Food Prices Tribunal, and for the Committee on the Relief of the Destitute Sick and Poor, including the Insane Poor. There is fairly full information in regard to the various Commissions in Part 3 of the Estimates. The Bankruptcy Laws Committee was set up on the 8th March, and it is impossible to say when that Committee will finish its work. It was regarded as essential that there should be a full verbatim report of its proceedings, and so provision was made on the Estimates.
The Central Savings Committee, for which, perhaps, the biggest provision in the Vote is made, is carrying on a great deal of very useful work for the State. In addition to the Central Savings Committee, there are Committees in Cork City, Limerick and Rathmines. A great number of Savings Societies have been set up, most of them in schools, but also in Army units, in commercial firms, and in various Government Departments. Altogether the number of such associations is 1,935. The sales of Savings Certificates, up to date, amount to £2,457,249. There is a very steady sale of certificates, a certain decline during the holiday period in the summer, and a decline also about the Christmas period. For instance, in March, 1926, the sales were £14,000; in April £12,000, and in July and August they went down to £9,300. In October they were up again to £11,000. In December they went to the lowest point—£7,600. Then in January they went up to £15,000; in February to £18,000, and in the month of May last they went down again to about £9,500. It is regarded as very beneficial work. It is useful to the community. It does, actually, encourage habits of thrift and saving. It provides the State with a source of borrowing, which is not the cheapest source of borrowing, but it has certain advantages. It does mean that a great number of people are interested in State stability. As a matter of fact, we saw, during the recent elections, that people who do not think much of the Constitution, or of the State, as at present established, found it necessary to state that they would not think of repudiating any obligation which the Government had incurred in respect to savings certificates.
