I move:—
Go ndeontar suim bhreise ná raghaidh thar £15,860 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1933, chun íocaíochtanna fé Acht na mBóthar Iarainn, 1924, fén Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883. etc.; agus chun crícheanna eile a bhaineann le hIompar in Eirinn.
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £15,860 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 payments under the Railways Act, 1924, the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, etc.; and for other purposes connected with Irish Transport.
There are three sub-headings to this Estimate. The first, repayment to the county council, is a payment in respect of the Government's subvention towards guaranteed shares of the Dublin and Blessington Tramway. Payments were made to the Dublin and Wicklow County Councils on their producing evidence that their liabilities in connection with the railway had been duly met. In respect of an instalment of £200 normally due to be paid to the Wicklow County Council in the year 1931-2 evidence did not become available until after 31st March, 1932. The provision in 1931-2 therefore lapsed, and it is now necessary to revote the amount in the current year. In consequence of the passage of the Act of last year for the abandonment of the tramway this provision will not again be necessary. Sub-head E. is payment in respect of steamer services. The original Vote was for £800 and the revised Estimate was £1,460. There was included in the original Estimate a sum of £300, the estimated loss on the working of the steamer services between Sligo and Belmullet and Sligo and Killybegs until 31st March, 1932.
As I have explained to the Dáil before, our predecessors decided in or about December, 1931, to terminate those services, but for some reason perhaps not dissociated with the fact that there was a General Election in February, 1932, an announcement of the decision was not made to anybody. When I took office in the middle of March, 1932, and this matter came to my notice I found that a decision had been made to terminate those services, that no provision had been made to continue them after 1st April, 1932, but that nobody connected with the services was aware of that fact. In those circumstances I decided that we could not terminate the services on that very abrupt notice. The service between Sligo and Killybegs was continued until the end of May and the loss on that service between January and May was £183. That service was not of long duration. It had been started upon certain undertakings that it would realise a profit. Those undertakings proved to be without foundation. The service realised a loss from the beginning and consequently ceased on 31st May, 1932. The service between Sligo and Belmullet was one of very long duration. It had been in existence for a very large number of years and it always realised a loss which had been met by annual Government subvention. In recent years the requirements of Belmullet were being met to a growing extent by alternative transport facilities, by sea from Westport and by road from Ballina, and consequently the service was terminated. The boat with which the service was continued was disposed of by sale. The £661 now asked for is required to make good the loss entailed by these services between the 1st April, 1932, and the date upon which they were terminated.
Sub-head FF, Payments to Railway Companies in respect of wages is, of course, the most important item upon this Estimate. This is portion of the amount required to make good the offer of the Government to the Irish railway companies to subsidise them to the extent of the difference between the wages paid prior to the 26th December of last year, and the wages which would have been paid after that date if the award of the Irish Railways Wages Board had been brought into operation. The Government offered to make good to the railway companies the difference between the two rates of wages in respect of railway employees whose headquarters were in the Saorstát until the 30th April of this year. As Deputies are probably aware, wages and conditions upon Irish railways are regulated by an agreement providing for a scheme of machinery in which all the Irish railway companies and the railway trade unions are parties. That agreement had been registered with the Department of Industry and Commerce at the instance of the trade unions, as the agreement contemplated in Section 55 of the Railways Act of 1924. On occasion the railway companies had intimated their opinion that they did not consider that scheme of machinery entirely appropriate to Irish railway conditions, but at the instance of the unions the machinery was maintained. In July of 1932 the railway companies considered it necessary to give notice of application to the Wages Board for a reduction in wages. After passing through the various stages provided for in the agreed scheme of machinery, the application came before the Wages Board on November 24th, 1932. It is not necessary, I think, to state here in broad outline the nature of the case made on behalf of the associated Irish railway companies, or the nature of the case made on behalf of the different unions that were represented. The finding of the Irish Railway Wages Board was that a reduction of 10 per cent. should be made in the rates of wages and salaries paid prior to May, 1931, which was equal to a reduction of about 6 per cent. from present earnings. It is, of course, to be understood that the Irish Railway Wages Board is in no sense an Arbitration Board and its findings are not binding upon any of the parties concerned. Opposition to the award was shown by the unions catering for the various grades of railway workers, and a proposal was made by them to the unions through me that that finding should not be put into operation for a period, and that the companies and the unions should await the transport legislation which was in contemplation, the intention being to secure from the Wages Board a new finding within the period after the nature of the legislation had become known.
An agreement upon that basis was not found possible, and after negotiations with the various parties and when it seemed that a general strike upon the Irish railway system was the only alternative, the Government decided to make the offer to the railway companies to which I have referred. It was proposed by us, and agreed to by the companies and the unions, that the rates of wages paid prior to the 26th December, 1932, and the rates which had been payable since May, 1931, would continue until the 30th April, the Government making good to the companies the difference between the amount which they would have to expend in consequence of that arrangement and the amount which they would otherwise have paid in wages if the award had been brought into effect. The main criticism which might be directed against the action of the Government in proposing the subsidy is that it deferred, at the expense of the taxpayers, a strike upon the Sáorstat railways but may not have prevented it, as in fact it did not prevent it, upon the Saorstát portion of the cross-Border systems, and that we will be presented on April 30th with a situation as grave as that which we were faced with in December. The Government considered, however, that before the situation was allowed to go to a head which might have had irreparable consequences for the Sáorstat railways ample time should be allowed to all parties to think it over and that the nature of the contemplated legislation should be made known and that an effort should be made to create and to maintain an atmosphere conducive to agreement before and not after a strike had taken place. The trade unions, at the time the subsidy arrangement was agreed to, stated their intention following the publication of the Transport Bills to endeavour to effect an agreement with the companies either by direct negotiations or by invoking the machinery of conciliation again. I would like to take this opportunity of saying that so far as the Great Southern Company is concerned, I trust that when that effort is made a satisfactory result will not be prevented by any undue advertence to what has gone before, and that both parties will wholeheartedly endeavour to effect a settlement in the full knowledge that a stoppage is likely to have disastrous results for the country and for the future of the railways and of railway employment.
The position of the cross-Border services is, I think, known to Deputies. A strike is in progress and shows no signs of an early termination. The position of those companies operating cross-Border services is not, of course, affected to the same extent as the Great Southern Company by any legislation which may be enacted here. Our legislation will, no doubt, improve their position and strengthen their prospects of earning increased revenue in the future. Heretofore, agreements as to wages were made between the associated railway companies on the one hand, and the trade unions on the other, and applied to all Ireland. If that position is to be maintained the cross-Border companies must be interested in any effort made to effect an agreement which will obviate the possibility of a stoppage on the Great Southern system on April 30th, and such an agreement will presumably be capable of an all Ireland application. If I might make a suggestion, therefore, it would be that the Companies and the Unions should separately and jointly reconsider the position as affected by the proposed legislation, the terms of which have now been published, and mutually endeavour to effect such arrangements for such period as will ensure the continuity of railway services during the time the new legislative proposals are being put into effect, and until the present trade depression is past and the future of railway transport can be more clearly estimated. It would certainly help considerably towards the making of such arrangements if service on the cross-Border systems could be resumed while such reconsideration of the position was taking place.
It should be understood that the Government does not propose to continue the subsidy now payable to the Great Southern Company after April Deputy prepared to take the Second 30th, so that decisions as to the situation which is to prevail after that date must be made in the near future. The payments provided for in the Estimate are: to the Great Southern Company, in respect of January and February, £13,138; the Irish Railway Clearing House for the same period, £260; the Great Northern Railway Company, to January 30th only, £1,230. As the strike took place upon the Great Northern system and upon all the cross-Border systems on January 30th, the subsidy ceased to be payable from that date. The payments further include the Sligo and Leitrim Railway, £55; the Donegal Railways, £147; the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway, £120; the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway £50, making a total of £15,000. The amount payable to the Great Southern Company on 30th April will be provided for in the Estimates for next year. I move the motion and I merely wish to say that the total sum required under all headings is £15,960.