asked the Minister for Finance if he will state the amount of interest payable to the Exchequer by the Electricity Supply Board on foot of the sum of £132,450 advanced from the Shannon Power Development Fund for the improvement of the River Shannon navigation, the dates upon which such interest payments fell due, and the date upon which the last of such interest payments was made.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - E.S.B. and Interest Payments.
By virtue of the terms of Section 3 of the Electricity (Finance) Act, 1929, no interest is chargeable against the Electricity Supply Board on account of the advances aggregating £132,450 made for the improvement of the River Shannon Navigation. Prior to the enactment of the measure in question no distinction was drawn between advances for the improvement of the Shannon navigation and other advances, and interest was accordingly claimed for this period, but in the claim for the half-year ended 31st December, 1929 (first half year after the coming into operation of the Electricity (Finance) Act, 1929), credit in respect of all interest previously paid on these advances was allowed and no interest thereon has since been claimed.
Arising out of the reply, did we misinterpret the Minister when he said, in the course of a debate in this House, that one of the reasons for introducing a Supplementary Estimate to repay the advance referred to in this question and answer was that he no longer required the interest that he had been receiving on this sum; and, if that was his statement, how does he reconcile that with the reply which he has made to the Parliamentary question addressed to him to-day?
I did not say that the interest was received from the Electricity Supply Board.
Does the Minister remember that the reason he sought to appropriate money to repay this sum was that he had been receiving interest for it up to a certain time and no longer required the interest, and that, therefore, he proposed to repay it now?
To repay the advance.
Is not that the same advance which he now describes in his Parliamentary answer as bearing no interest?
I would refer the Deputy to the question I have just answered, which asked me the amount of interest paid to the Exchequer by the Electricity Supply Board.
In fact, the Minister directly contradicts in his Parliamentary answer the statement he made in the course of the debate.
Not at all. It is quite clear that the Deputy does not understand the question.
That is not a supplementary question.
The Deputy does not understand the question put down by his colleague.