I move:
Go ndeontar suim bhreise ná raghaidh thar £140,000 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1933, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Rialtais Aitiúla agus Sláinte Puiblí maraon le Deontaisí agus Costaisí eile bhaineann le Tógáil Tithe, Deontaisí d'Udaráis Aitiúla, agus Ildeontaisí i gCabhair, agus Costaisí áirithe bhaineann le hOspidéil.
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £140,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1933, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health including Grants and other Expenses in connection with Housing, Grants to Local Authorities, and sundry Grants-in-Aid, and certain charges connected with Hospitals.
This is an Estimate of £140,000 for purposes connected with housing and I should like to explain to the House how that amount is made up. Under Section 11 of the Act which we have passed, provision is made in respect of outstanding claims under previous Housing Acts from 1925 to 1930— houses upon which claims have been made which have not been so far granted. There are 600 of such houses. Both public authorities and private persons are concerned in this amount of £33,000. I think that about £15,800 is due to private persons and about £17,120 to public authorities. The sum which was originally granted under previous Acts, as amended by the Act of 1931, amounted to £1,280,000 and under Section 11 of the Act we have increased that by £33,000 to meet these outstanding liabilities. There are also grants paid under Section 5, subsection (1), paragraph (a) of the Act in which there is a provision that where houses have been already commenced but not yet completed, or at any rate where houses will be completed before 31st December, 1932, but which had been begun after 1st April, 1929, grants may be paid. I have no information as to the exact number of cases in that category but there is no doubt that there is a number of such cases outstanding. There are also a number of cases in which builders expected to get grants under the 1931 Act.
Since the announcement of our own housing proposals, we have had very heavy applications for grants from private persons and public utility societies. These applications are in respect of some 2,000 houses and inquiries are being received at the rate of 100 per day. It is estimated that a very substantial sum will be needed to meet these even during the current year because what we are going to do is to pay instalments as the work proceeds. We expect that the first instalment in respect of a considerable number of these houses, applications for grants for which are at present being considered, will have to be paid during the current financial year. With regard to the provisions of the Act dealing with loan charges, I should explain that we consider that we have sufficient financial provision under the existing Estimate for the Department to deal with the loan charges, at least sufficient until the Autumn Session. We think it is quite likely that further Supplementary Estimates will have to be introduced to provide for additional advances from the Loan Fund. There is only one other matter that needs explanation and that is with respect to a sum of £10,000 which has been already granted under the Estimate for the Department in respect of the grants under the 1931 Act. The financial clauses under which it was granted and under which that £10,000 should be spent have been repealed so that the £10,000 is not needed and is an offset in the Estimate against the total of £150,000 leaving a net Supplementary Estimate of £140,000.
