I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £924 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1941, chun Roimh-íocanna Ilghnéitheacha áirithe d'aisíoc leis an gCiste Teagmhais.
That a sum not exceeding £924 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st March, 1941, to repay to the Contingency Fund certain Miscellaneous Advances.
As the House is aware, this Vote, which is taken towards the close of the year, is required to enable repayment to be made to the Contingency Fund of any moneys advanced from it since its replenishment the preceding year, other than advances for services covered by and recouped out of other Votes. In the past year, up to the time of preparation of this Estimate, no advances had been made from the fund to other Votes. The purposes for which the money covered by the present Estimate was needed are stated in Part III of the Estimate. There are only two items, namely (1) stamp duty remitted on deeds and other instruments for public Departments, and (2) triplets bounty, both of which are hardy annuals, being featured in this Vote every year.
Nearly all the requirement of £923 8s. 6d. is in respect of the remissions of stamp duty. It is a practice of long standing of the Revenue Commissioners, when dealing with deeds and other instruments for public Departments, to stamp them without insisting on payment of duty at the time; but as there is no power to remit such duty, which is imposed by statute, the amount is made good to the Revenue Commissioners from the Contingency Fund. This is handier than if each Department concerned made separate provision in its own Vote. The Department of Lands and the Department of Education present the majority of the instruments for stamping, the former in connection with lettings and the acquisition of land for forestry purposes, the latter in connection with agreements between the Minister for Education and authors and between the managers and teachers of national schools. The triplets bounty item of £15 represents five bounties of £3 each.