I move:
Go ndeontar suim Bhreise ná raghaidh thar £5,257 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1938, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an tSoláthair; chun Páipéarachais, Cló-dóireachta, Páipéir, Creamuíochta agus Leabhra Clóbhuailte i gcóir na Seirbhíse Puiblí; agus chun Ilsheirbhísí Ilghnéitheacha maraon le Tuairiscí Díospóireachtaí an Oireachtais.
That a Supplementary sum not exceeding £5,257 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1938, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Stationery Office; for Stationery, Printing, Paper, Binding and Printed Books for the Public Service; and for sundry Miscellaneous Services, including Reports of Oireachtas Debates.
The purposes for which this Supplementary Estimate is required are set out very fully in Part III of the Estimate. There is a number of accidental and casual variations there, due largely to the additional work which was imposed on the Stationery Office last year, first of all by reason of the general election, by reason of the debates on the Constitution, and other matters. There is one new sub-head to which I might refer, and that is sub-head F (8), which provides for the preparation and publication of the Oireachtas Handbook. It is proposed to issue at the expense of the Government a sort of compendium on the lines of the Free State Parliamentary Companion, because it is felt that it is desirable that such a publication should be at the disposal of members of the Oireachtas, and incidentally of those persons who have business with Government Departments, and of the general public who may be interested in matters of Parliamentary Government. We have come to the conclusion that it is not possible, in view of the circumstances here, for such a handbook to be undertaken as a private enterprise, and we are accordingly undertaking that obligation ourselves. We propose, in fact, to purchase whatever rights there may be in the existing Free State Parliamentary Companion, and to continue it as an official publication.
