It has been customary to take the discussion on Votes 9, 10 and 11, and also the Supplementary Estimate in connection with Vote 10, together. The salaries, wages, travelling and incidental expenses of the whole administrative staff of the Office of Public Works are borne on this Vote. The Vote also covers the staff dealing with special works financed out of the Vote for employment schemes, but it is recouped from that Vote. There are no unusual features in the provisions for 1940-41. The Estimate at £146,724 shows an increase of £13,694 over last year, due mainly to the rise in the cost-of-living bonus and to certain additional staff, particularly in the architectural branch largely for the purpose of schools. This branch has for some years been understaffed and it was necessary to make fairly considerable extensions in its personnel to cope with the growing building programme.
The reductions in Sub-heads E (1) and E (2) arise from a decision that loans under the Land Improvement and Land Law Acts are to be discontinued. Their extent has been negligible for some years, with the result that the cost of administration has been disproportionate to the amount of the loans issued. The service has for many years been confined to applicants with a valuation of £20 and under, and it will now pass to the Agricultural Credit Corporation which already deals with applications for loans from applicants with valuations in excess of that figure.
Vote 10, in which is found provision for expenditure on Public Works and Buildings, covers a wide range, including the erection of new and the maintenance of existing buildings acquired for the public service, and the rents, furniture and fuel charges incidental thereto. It also contains the estimates of expenditure and drainage works on airports and national school buildings. Difficulty has always been experienced in accurate estimation of the annual requirements of this Vote. In certain of the sub-heads, it is possible to make close forecasts, but, in others, notably such matters as purchase of sites, new works and drainage, the number of unforeseen circumstances which arise — many of them entirely outside our control—make estimation, at the best of times, a matter of considerable uncertainty. It will be readily appreciated, when the added uncertainty of the supply position at the time when these Estimates were prepared is taken into account, that there must be a considerable margin of error in this year's figures.
The net figure for 1940-41 is £1,234,765, showing a decrease of £136,563 as compared with the year just concluded. It is, nevertheless, larger than last year's actual expenditure. Whether we shall be able to reach the figure must depend to no small extent on the manner in which world conditions affect our supplies of building materials and other commodities. If they are seriously curtailed, we shall be unable to carry out our full programme; on the other hand, if there is no serious interference, our expenditure on certain items will, we hope, be considerably above our forecast. There is no need to take up time in dealing with many of the sub-heads, which are routine in their nature, and I propose to take the more important items out and refer generally to our activities under these heads.
The provision for grants for national school buildings is £175,000, £75,000 less than that inserted in last year's Estimate. The expenditure out of grant moneys on national schools has been steadily rising. In the three years, 1934 to 1937, it averaged about £130,000; in 1937-38, it rose to £160,000; in 1938-39, it rose to £197,000; and last year, it rose to approximately £230,000. These figures do not, of course, represent the full expenditure on schools. The local contribution represents a substantial additional sum. We reckon that if the war had not taken place, we should have been able to reach, if not to exceed, our estimate of £250,000 in the past year, and our commitments for 1940-41 would have been well over £300,000.
In addition to the acclerated programme for the replacement of old and obsolete school buildings, there are extensive demands for large schools in the new housing areas about Dublin and the completion of these schools is regarded as a matter of great urgency by the Department of Education. The reduction in the Estimate must not be taken as an attempt to economise at the expense of the school building programme. It represents the view—I hope an unduly pessimistic view—taken at the time the Estimates were framed of the difficulties which might beset school managers and building contractors as a result of war conditions. There will be no avoidable curtailment of expenditure on this service and if, as we hope, the figure of £175,000 proves too low, it can be dealt with by Supplementary Estimate in due course.
The largest item of expenditure is that for airports. The engineering works at the Dublin airport have been virtually completed and the civil aviation services were transferred from Baldonnel to the new aerodrome in January last. An elaborate and up-to-date system of field lighting has been installed, and the utmost care has been taken to ensure that the largest planes can land and take off in safety. The building works have taken longer than was anticipated, but they are now well on the road to completion. The provision of £313,000 for works on the Shannon airport includes the estimated expenditure for this year on laying down concrete runways and the development of an anchorage for seaplanes, as well as works on the hangars and terminal building. The contract for the concrete runways has been placed and work on them is at the moment in hands.
The programme of drainage work has necessarily been curtailed. It has been obvious to us for some years that the existing drainage code is not sufficiently elastic to permit of satisfactory schemes for many of the larger rivers. It has become increasingly impossible to find any new proposals which were not wholly uneconomic and existing districts were not being adequately maintained. The Drainage Commission, appointed towards the end of 1938, has been working strenuously throughout the year hearing evidence and investigating the various catchments in an endeavour to find a solution of the problem. We have laid before it all the information at our disposal—and this, I may say, was considerable — regarding the possibilities and requirements of the various districts. Local representations also have been received on the same subjects and it is to be hoped that the deliberations of the commission will result in presenting us with material upon which a useful programme for the future can be based. I am hopeful that that report will be available at an early date. It is well forward at the moment.
Meanwhile, we are engaged in bringing to completion our works under the Arterial Drainage Act, 1925. The sums provided in this year's Estimate are, with one exception, intended for the final clearing up of districts upon which the main works have been completed and which are in process of being brought to award. The only exception is the Kilmastulla River, which is the last under the 1925 Act dispensation. In all, 51 schemes were confirmed under this Act. All but this one have been virtually completed. Final awards are still outstanding in a number of cases, but we propose to tidy up this situation as rapidly as possible, so as to have the decks clear for action under whatever new code may emerge.
Considerable publicity has been given to complaints regarding the Barrow drainage scheme. In so far as they relate to the finances of the scheme, they are not open for discussion at this stage, as the finances are regulated by existing statutes; in so far as they relate to the works, I am quite satisfied that they are grossly exaggerated. We have had the flood conditions under pretty close observation in the most adverse circumstances and there is no doubt as to the effectiveness of the discharge. Photographs of selected areas showing wide flooding immediately after abnormal rainfall have been published as part of a Press campaign against this scheme; we have in our possession photographs of the same areas taken 24 hours later which show that the flood waters have been carried away, as it was intended they should be carried away, by the improved channels constructed under the scheme. The scheme was not designed—no drainage scheme is designed—to prevent all flooding: the cost would be prohibitive; it was designed to prevent flooding under normal conditions and to expedite the run-off of abnormal floods—both of which it has shown itself capable of doing. It is true that some of the tributary drains have fallen into bad condition due to siltage, and weed growths; there has been a considerable hold up in getting the maintenance machine into action; the difficulties have, however, been now overcome, and it is to be hoped that any arrears will be overtaken this summer. Half the cost of the maintenance works is refunded by the State for the first 35 years after award. I think that is the only case of drainage in which such provision is made.
A new drainage service appears on the Vote for the first time—hydrometric surveys. An interim report of the Drainage Commission, recognising the absence of reliable data regarding rainfall and river flows, recommended the extension of the rainfall statistics collection and the organisation of a service to record the river flows throughout the country. The Government accepted the recommendation and we are in process of installing discharge gauges and providing current velocity meters, so that this information which is essential to the scientific design of drainage works of any magnitude, may be made available and placed on record. I might mention that during the past year part of the Rotunda Gardens have been acquired for conversion into a memorial park to those who lost their lives in the struggle for freedom and that Iveagh House, the generous gift to the State of Lord Iveagh, has passed into our possession.
Vote 11—Haulbowline Dockyard — amounts in all to less than £5,000; and presents no unusual features. The decrease of £2,965 from last year's figure is mainly explained by the fact that the new watermain from the mainland to the island has been completed. The position has now been reached, as will be seen from the figure for extra Exchequer receipts arising from rents, etc., at the island, that this service is almost self-supporting.
