I move:—
"Go ndeontar suim bhreise ná raghaidh thar £10 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1931, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Tionnscail agus Tráchtála, maraon le Coiste Comhairlitheach na Rátaí.
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1931, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, including the Rates Advisory Committee."
The Supplementary Estimate, as circulated, gives an indication of the purpose for which this money is required, namely, "Legal costs and liquidation expenses in connection with guarantees under the Trade Loans (Guarantee) Acts, 1924 to 1930." This, in fact, only refers to part of the legal expenses which are losses sustained in connection with trade loan guarantees, and with a particular trade loan guarantee. The whole question of guarantees that had to be made by the State and of all expenses, other than this item, will fall for consideration later, as under a particular section of the Trade Loans (Guarantee) Act the Oireachtas has to have before it, within a month after the close of the financial year in which a loss has been sustained, a statement in regard to the guarantees. The present financial year will be the first in which such a statement will have to be laid before the House. It will have to be laid in April next. The main matters remain over until that statement is before the Oireachtas.
This Estimate is to meet a bill of a firm of solicitors who were acting for the plaintiffs in an action in which an injunction was sought to restrain the Receiver on behalf of the Government from selling certain assets claimed by the company as theirs. Acting on legal advice, we decided to fight the case. We fought it and lost. The solicitor for the plaintiffs is pressing for his costs, and they cannot be met out of the ordinary guarantee money; at least it is thought more desirable to meet them out of a Vote such as this. The expenses on the Receiver's side will form the subject of another Vote in the financial year in which they have to be met. As I say, this Estimate is to meet a pressing claim of plaintiffs' solicitor in the action to which I have referred.