The case which has been put against this Vote is mainly that it is inadvisable and it is not good business to spend £3,000 on this particular service, and that there is an inconvenience to a large number of people by reason of the Park being closed for two days. Most of the rest of the arguments, so far as I heard them, were filling-up stuff, with a view to presenting perhaps as favourable a complexion to that particular criticism as was possible. When we speak of a sum of £3,000 being a big sum, we speak in a relative manner. If this sum be made available this year for this purpose, the races will be held in the Phoenix Park this year. Last year, a sum of £5,500 was spent to put the course in order. I do not know whether any of the Deputies who have spoken on this matter had conversations with any of those who took part in the races; I do not know whether they ever pay attention to the fact that races take place in other countries, and I do not know whether they advert to the fact that if people come here and see what suitable roads there are for motoring in this country they may tell their friends about the suitability of the roads, with the possibility of having a greater number of visitors coming here in future—in other words, developing the tourist traffic.
Assuming for the moment that all that Deputy Lemass has said is quite correct, and that we spent £5,500 last year in putting this course in order, what has been the effect? We have had some of the most remarkable racing motorists in the world on the Phoenix Park course. What was their verdict on it? Perhaps the most celebrated of them stated to me that of all the courses over which he had ever travelled this was by far the best. That was Colonel Campbell's tribute to the Phoenix Park course. Is it likely that he has told anybody else that? It is one of the peculiarities of motor racing that the course is the main consideration. That course was a safe course; a remarkable competition took place over two days, and not a single person was injured. That was a great personal satisfaction to the members of the Royal Irish Automobile Club, to those who took part in the races, and to all the people who attended, and it was an advertisement in respect of the suitability of this country for a test of that sort of a character perhaps unequalled anywhere else.
A sum of £5,500 spent on the part of the State to make that course suitable for that purpose was one of the main reasons, with the help of God, why we had no fatalities, no accidents, nothing to mar the great competition which took place on those two days last year. Large numbers of people did not come, it is said. How do we know? A considerable number of business people in the City of Dublin have come forward and they agreed to guarantee practically the same amount as was guaranteed last year. If this sum is not voted, no races will take place this year. Was the sum that was voted last year voted only for the purpose of two days' races in that year? Was that money all lost?
Occasionally we hear representations from various sections of the community for the spending of public money. The money spent on these roads was mainly wages—more than half of it. That is not money that is lost. There has been a permanent improvement to the roads there. The moving of the Phoenix monument was of very considerable advantage to the Park. It was one of those things which might in the normal ordinary course have taken place, even if there was never a race meeting held there. But the fact is that not alone did people come here, but that for a considerable portion of a week people in every country in Europe and a large number of people in America read about this contest, read of the large number of people taking part in it, and noted the fact that no fatality and no accident occurred on this racecourse. The State spent £5,500 last year, and practically the only income in respect of a reduction of that was a sum of something like £1,400 received in connection with entertainment tax, so that the net cost may be put down at about £4,000. This year much money will not be required to be spent on the course in order to enable another test to take place, and the putting up of this money by the State made it much more easy to get guarantees. If this money is not voted, the guarantors of last year will presumably have to pay, no race meeting will be held next year, and no further information will go forth regarding the suitability of that course.
It was a remarkable performance last year. There were two great days in connection with motoring here. I am one of those who, like the antediluvians on the far side of the House, would wish that the invention of the motor car had never been perfected, that we should be using horses and cars still, or saddle horses, but unlike them I do not seek to stop the tide with a pitchfork. I admit that they have come and come to stay and that we ought to be in a position to provide for these modern inventions and to provide facilities in so far as it is possible within our limited means for such wonderful contests as took place here last year. Again, if I were to adopt the phraseology of the Deputies opposite, I would say that larger numbers of people will attend the races this year. I think Deputies opposite who saw the performances, if they did not persist in these powerful economic principles which apparently agitate them when they are here, were certainly impressed by the remarkable exhibitions that took place. Are the ordinary people of the State not to be afforded an opportunity, at the small cost involved, of seeing such contests simply because of Deputy Lemass's views on imports and exports? When these race meetings take place in America, they are advertised from one end of the continent to the other and are the subject of speech and consideration by the people, either the friends of those taking part or those interested in the contest.
The cost this year, in so far as the State is concerned, will be relatively less. A further advertisement of the advantages of this country to the motor-tourist will be provided at a small cost. Those interested in the motoring business, of which I think the Deputies opposite can boast at least one member, are satisfied that it is good business. I observe with some dismay that a Deputy who is usually on the front bench opposite is absent on this occasion. I believe if we could manage to spirit him in here and if he was asked what was his deliberate opinion on the usefulness of this Vote he would say that it might be granted.
