I move:—
That a Supplementary sum not exceeding £156,487 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1941, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Gárda Síochána including the Taca Síochána (No. 7 of 1925, No. 10 of 1926, No. 5 of 1937 and No. 28 of 1939); and for certain Expenses of the Local Security Force including Grants-in-Aid (No. 28 of 1939).
This Vote is mainly necessary for the provision of expenditure for the Local Security Force. The extra amount required for the Gárda Síochána under sub-head B—Allowances—amounting to £4,000 is mainly due to extra rent allowances. A change in the rent allowances was provided last year and the amount was under-estimated. It was thought that the rent allowance would be between £30 and £40 a year. The maximum in Dublin was £40 a year, and in most cases £40 had to be allowed. Some 78 per cent. of the serving rank and file are married. There is an item of £1,000 for plainclothes allowance, as more men have been employed during the emergency for protection duty of that kind. Under sub-head D—Locomotion Expenses—£2,700 is required. That was due to extra police activity. Car-hire involved £1,700 and £1,000 was for locomotion allowance to officers who used their own cars. Sub-head H— Transport and Carriage—£8,000. That is a big item and is due to increased expenditure in the maintenance and running expenses of Gárda transport, as well as the extra cost of petrol and oil. In Dublin the cost of petrol in bulk rose from 1/3½ to 1/8¼ per gallon, and in barrels from 1/7 to 1/11½, while spare parts increased by 10 per cent. A large proportion of the expense was incurred by Gárda officers doing Local Security work and in going to different parts of the country, organising it. Then there was an increase of cars for protection purposes. These are the items that make up the amount in that sub-head.
The next is sub-head I—Fuel, Light and Water—£5,100. Six months' supply of fuel was provided in advance—two months of that will run into the next financial year—for barracks throughout the country in case of a fuel shortage. That is the biggest item under this heading. As to sub-head K, Escort and Conveyance of Children to Industrial Schools and Places of Detention, £215, of course the expenditure depends on the number of committals which cannot be forecasted accurately, and it amounted to £406 for the year 1939-40. That item was not estimated correctly. As regards sub-head L—Telegrams and Telephones, £8,000—65 Gárda barracks outside Dublin which were not connected with the telephone system have now been connected.