Dáil Éireann debate -
Friday, 14 Jul 1933

Vol. 48 No. 19

In Committee on Finance. - Vote 61—Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office.

Mr. Derrig

I move:—

Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £11,429 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 3ladh lá de Mhárta, 1934, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí na hOifige Clárathachta Maoine Tionnscail agus Tráchtála. —(Uimh. 16 de 1927 agus Uimh. 13 de 1929).

That a sum not exceeding £11,429 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, 1934, for the salaries and expenses of the Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office. —(No. 16 of 1927 and No. 13 of 1929).

There is a considerable reduction in the amount provided for salaries, wages and allowances. Last year the sum was £20,425. This year the amount is £16,569, showing a decrease of £3,856. That is the main change in the Vote. I am informed that has arisen owing to the fact that certain vacancies were unfilled and the temporary staff that had to be engaged in this office to deal with a big rush of work in connection with patents has no longer been found necessary and has been discharged.

Mr. McGilligan

In connection with that item of saving on salaries, may I ask what was the actual sum got in last year in connection with patents? If the Minister cannot answer that, perhaps, he could tell us what was the estimate of the reocipts? If the temporary staff is dispensed with, because the rush in connection with patents was over, it seems to follow that the receipts from patents are gone down, or are likely to go down immediately.

Mr. Derrig

I take it that no figures are available for a period later than the year ending 31st March, 1932.

Mr. McGilligan

The Minister must have before him last year's estimates of the receipts.

Mr. Derrig

The amount in this particular case is £32,255.

Mr. McGilligan

That is to say, they have gone down by £9,000. The receipts estimated this year for fees are, in respect of patents, £17,850; in respect of trade marks and designs, £4,475, and miscellaneous, £675. Would the Minister mind giving us a segregation of that £30,000 odd item of which he spoke into patents, trade marks and designs?

Mr. Derrig

I regret that I cannot give the Deputy figures at the moment.

Mr. McGilligan

Will the Minister, then, state if there is any truth in the story current throughout the city that there is a great falling off in regard particularly to trade marks and designs because it is believed that trade marks and designs previously taken out will no longer be protected in this country? Patents I can understand falling off because there was a big accumulation of arrears of work owing to the fact that the office was not established for a year or two after the Treaty was passed and there was a gap, so far as work was concerned, but the arrears that accumulated in respect of trade marks and designs were got rid of in the first couple of years and, thereafter, the office was supposed to be running fairly steadily with annual receipts in relation to trade marks. The question of accumulation of arrears and their working off might still have some application to patents but the office, as I say, was supposed to have been put on an absolutely secure foundation in regard to receipts for trade marks and designs. It would be interesting to know if the estimate of £4,475 is lower, and, if so, by how much, than the estimate made at this time last year.

Mr. Derrig

I regret that I cannot give the Deputy the information he asks for at the moment.

Mr. McGilligan

At any rate, the position to be taken from this is that the estimated amount from all these sources is down by from £6,000 to £7,000, so that the saving of £4,000 in the office, mainly from salaries— £3,800, almost £4,000—has to be offset by the decreased receipts, so that, although there is an apparent saving, the office is, in fact, costing this State more in respect of the year we are in than it did last year. That is what arises from the Vote.

Vote put and agreed to.