Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 4 Feb 1937

Vol. 65 No. 2

In Committee on Finance. Supplementary Estimates. - Vote 22—Stationery and Printing.

Mr. MacEntee

I move:—

Go ndeontar suim Bhreise ná raghaidh thar £17,487 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1937, chun Páipéarachais, Clódóireachta, Páipéir, Creamuíochta agus Leabhra Clóbhuailte i gcóir na Seirbhíse Puiblí; chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an tSoláthair d'íoc; agus chun Ilsheirbhísí Ilghnéitheacha maraon le Tuairiscí Díospóireachtaí an Oireachtas.

That a Supplementary sum not exceeding £17,487 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1937, for Stationery, Printing, Paper, Binding, and Printed Books for the Public Service; to pay the Salaries and Expenses of the Stationery Office; and for sundry Miscellaneous Services, including Reports of Oireachtas Debates.

Mr. Dockrell

The Minister has not given any explanation of the items which go to make up this Estimate. I should like to ask him, for instance, if the increase in sub-head A is due to the recent increase in wages in the printing trade. Under sub-head C— Carriage and Transit—there is an increase from £810 to £1,250. That is an increase of 50 per cent., and it seems to me that some extraordinary transformation has taken place, because stationery is not a very bulky item. You would transport a lot of stationery for £400. There are some other items in which increases are shown, but of course we can understand that the price of paper has risen recently. I should like to ask the Minister for some information about sub-heads A and C.

General Mulcahy

I should like the Minister to deal with the question generally. We find that the cost of carriage and transit is up by 50 per cent., that the cost of binding is up by 10 per cent., paper by 25 per cent., and that miscellaneous office supplies are up by 50 per cent. There is, therefore, a substantial increase in the Estimate. It would appear as if that increase is to meet the cost of a new and extended service. I should like the Minister to state what are the services that have brought about this extension in cost. Perhaps he would explain if these higher amounts are due to the increased price of materials or to the extension of services.

Mr. MacEntee

In reply to the question put by Deputy Dockrell, part of the increased provision required under sub-head A does arise from the fact that wages were increased in the Dublin printing trade in 1935 and 1936.

General Mulcahy

Surely that does not come under sub-head A.

Mr. MacEntee

It does.

General Mulcahy

Sub-head A refers to salaries in the Stationery Office.

Mr. MacEntee

It does come under that sub-head because, naturally, the Stationery Office has to make an allowance to its contractors to cover the cost of these increases.

General Mulcahy

And that comes under "Salaries?"

Mr. MacEntee

Part of the extra provision is also due to increase in the office staff.

General Mulcahy

The Minister said it was due to the cost of printing.

Mr. MacEntee

I am sorry.

Mr. Dillon

How simple it is to say that. That settles the whole thing.

Mr. MacEntee

I meant sub-head E.

General Mulcahy

But there is no sub-head E.

Mr. MacEntee

If the Deputy turns to the original Estimate, he will find that there is.

General Mulcahy

It is not accounted for here.

Mr. Dillon

The Minister means sub-head F (3).

Mr. MacEntee

He does not. In the debate on the last Estimate, Deputy Mulcahy at last understood that the proposal was to pay money and not to receive money. If the Deputy will now turn to the Stationery and Printing Vote, he will see that what I said with regard to the sub-head is true.

General Mulcahy

What sub-head?

Mr. MacEntee

That is to say, that some part of the increase in due to the increased provision which has to be made for printing and other work and because of the rise which has taken place in printing wages in Dublin and elsewhere. The other question which I was asked was as to what the additional social services were which necessitated this increased provision for printing. The Deputy is as well aware of them as I am. They are services which were not known when he was in office.

General Mulcahy

Widows' pensions.

Mr. MacEntee

And unemployment assistance and housing.

General Mulcahy

In Bray.

Mr. MacEntee

In the Deputy's own constituency and throughout every one of the Twenty-Six Counties. There is also to be taken into consideration the Conditions of Employment Act and the extended provisions in regard to the Old Age Pensions Act. The social services initiated and the social services expanded by this Government account for the greater part of the increased provision necessary to meet the cost of printing, of paper and miscellaneous office supplies. In addition to that, correspondingly increased provision has to be made to cover the cost of carriage and transit and there is, then, the additional facility in regard to the printing of the Oireachtas Debates which was conceded since the original Estimate was framed and for which provision must now be made.

Mr. Dillon

And which is being met under sub-head F (2).

Mr. Hogan

Would the Minister give us the names of the reprinted Irish texts the sales of which are estimated at £40, which is nine times less than the Estimate for the sale of waste?

Mr. MacEntee

I cannot give those details.

General Mulcahy

The Minister mentioned, as two of the services which required extra printing, unemployment assistance and housing. Will the Minister say why additional expenditure on printing is required in connection with either of these services? Is he not aware that £500,000 less is proposed to be spent on unemployment assistance this year than last year? Is he not aware that there is substantially less employment on subsidised housing at the present time than there was, and that a smaller number of houses are being built by State assistance?

Mr. MacEntee

These are Departmental questions, and ought to be addressed to the Ministers responsible.

General Mulcahy

They arise directly out of the Minister's assertions.

Vote put and agreed to.