Vol. 27 No. 4
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Dáil Éireann debate - Wednesday, 21 Nov 1928
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IN COMMITTEE ON FINANCE. - VOTE 30—QUIT RENT OFF...
I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £1,360 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31 adh lá de Mhárta, 1929, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an tSaor-Chíosa.
That a sum not exceeding £1,360 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, 1929, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Quit Rent Office.
I note that the total expenditure for this office on Vote 13 on the other Votes amounts to something like £5,000, and I would suggest to the Minister that he should give to the House some information as to the work discharged by this Department for that expenditure. I remember writing some time ago to the Superintendent of the Quit Rent Office to get certain information which I thought he might have furnished me with by way of letter. I regret to say that my inquiry did not meet with any adequate response. In view of the fact that I cannot get the information from the office, I, and those associated with me on these benches, would like to get in the House some information from the Minister as to the work which is done by this Department. I understand that it originally existed to administer certain rents derived from properties and paid to what was called the Crown in Ireland. I would like to know whether these rents still continue to be paid to the Crown, or whether they come into the Exchequer of the Irish Free State Government.
The Quit Rent Office collects quit rents which do come into the Exchequer of the Saorstát. There was a considerable period of discussion, I think, up to last year or the year before, with the British Government as to whether quit rents were due to them or due to us. Finally, it was decided that they were due to the Saorstát and they come into the Saorstát Exchequer. The Quit Rent Office discharges certain other duties in connection with the management of foreshore, the Curragh at Kildare, and a few other items of State property. It is practically a dying service because, of course, quit rents are being gradually extinguished with the progress of land purchase.
I think the statement made by the Minister is a very interesting one. I understood the Minister to say that the British Government had contended that these quit rents were properly payable to them and that, on the other hand, his Department had been successful in their contention that the quit rents should be reserved to the Free State Government. I think it would be very interesting, and would be the means of giving the House a certain amount of useful information, if the Minister would state the respective grounds for this contention: upon what grounds the British Government claimed to possess themselves of these quit rents, and on what grounds his Department claimed to retain them. Would the Minister state the reasons why his claim was conceded, as this is a very important question?
I am afraid that if I were to go into that it would lead to a very prolonged discussion. I think that the matter could be dealt with on some other occasion. With all respect to the Deputy, I do not think I would have time to do it now.
Would the Minister be prepared to circulate or supply me with a memorandum of the case? I think that the fact that he has established the right of the Free State Government to retain these quit rents is a very important one. I would like to know upon what grounds the Minister succeeded in making his claim.
I will consider whether it is a case for a memorandum or not. If not, then the Deputy could raise the question on the adjournment on some occasion.
