I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £22,757 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1936, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Dlí agus Cirt.
That a sum not exceeding £22,757 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, 1936, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Justice.
The Estimate for this Vote is practically the same as that for last year. There is a reduction of £574 in salaries of headquarters staff which is due mainly to the filling of vacancies by officers at lower salaries. Against this the sum of £100 has been provided as a rough estimate of the cost of professional assistance in drafting Rules of Court under the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1934. There is the regular increase to cover increments of salary. Ministerial control of the various services of the Department of Justice, including police, prisons, court officers and so forth, is exercised through the staff for which provision is made in this Vote. The District Court branch, which is shown separately, controls the work of District Court clerks throughout the country and checks the receipts of fines paid in the District Courts, the Circuits Courts and High Courts. These amounted to about £9,000 last year. In addition, a sum of approximately £1,485 was transferred to the Exchequer in respect of fees received in cash from the Dublin Metropolitan District Court.
The Accounts Branch, also shown separately in the Estimate, is responsible for the payment of salaries and expenses of the Gárda Síochána, the prisons, District and Circuit Court staffs, Land Registry and Registry of Deeds and the Supreme Court and High Court of Justice. All the accounts work connected with the activities of the Department is performed by this branch. The only staff provided for outside Dublin is in the immigration office at Cobh. A fulltime officer is required there to carry out the provisions of the Aliens Order, 1925, made under the Aliens (Restriction) Acts, 1914 to 1919. He is assisted by a part-time assistant with an inclusive allowance of £100 per annum in addition to the salary he receives from Vote 35 as District Court clerk.
In addition to the provision of £1,627 under sub-head A (2) for the Film Censor's Office, expenditure in connection with this service is estimated to amount to £508, as shown in note (n) on page 110 of the Estimate. Fees received in stamps, that is, the fees charged for film censorship, are, however, estimated to amount to £2,500, so that allowing for overhead charges, such as the time of staffs of various departments occupied with film censorship and the provision for insurance of films and machinery and consequential damage and so forth, the service is, in fact, self-supporting. It has not been found necessary to increase the scale of fees since the introduction of machinery for the censorship of sound films.
The items of expenditure provided for in sub-heads (b), (c) and (d) are self explanatory and do not call for any comment, except the increase of £97 in sub-head D which is due to the increase in a number of extensions in Government buildings, and particularly of the Gárda Síochána Accounts Branch.