I move:—
Go ndeontar suim breise ná raghaidh thar £31,710, chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh Márta, 1942, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Puist agus Telegrafa (45 & 46 Vict., c. 74; 8 Edw. 7, c. 48; 1 & 2 Geo. 3, c. 26; Na hAchtanna Telegrafa, 1863 go 1928, etc.); agus Seirbhísí áirithe eile atá fé riaradh na hOifige sin.
That a supplementary sum, not exceeding £31,710, be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1942, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (45 and 46 Vict., c. 74; 8 Edw. 7, c. 48; 1 and 2 Geo. 5, c. 26; The Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1928; etc.); and of certain other Services administered by that Office.
The net total of the Estimate for the Financial year ending on the 31st proximo, already approved by the Dáil, amounted to £2,515,143. An additional sum of £31,710 is now found to be required. The actual excess over the authorised Estimate amounts to £65,341, but there are offsets of £1,407 from increased Appropriations-in-Aid and of £32,224 from savings on other sub-heads, leaving a net excess of £31,710.
The additional money required under sub-heads A (1) and A (3) amounts to £9,500, representing cost of extra staff for increased telegraph and telephone traffic, extended hours of telephone attendance, substitution of officers on military service or on loan to other Government Departments; also increased payments to sub-postmasters, mainly in respect of work in connection with the issue of food vouchers, etc. There is an excess of £5,500 on sub-head E (1), representing additional payment to the British Post Office and to railway companies in respect of excess parcel traffic from Éire to Great Britain. Ordinarily the incoming parcel traffic from Great Britain exceeds the outgoing, but by reason of war conditions, the position in this respect altered during the past year, the postings in Great Britain for Éire showing a falling off, while the traffic in the reverse direction for a time materially increased.
The excess of £20,000 under E (5) is due almost entirely to the diversion from surface to air services, on account of the slowness and uncertainty of the former in existing conditions, of correspondence for places abroad, mainly for North and South America and countries beyond. The excess of £4,610 under G (1) results from increased purchases of miscellaneous non-engineering stores, in anticipation of shortage of supplies and rising prices. Of the £14,631 excess under K, approximately £9,000 represents the cost of stores due to be delivered in 1940-41 but delayed, the relative payments falling into the current financial year. The balance represents additional cost of storm repairs and rearrangement works, the outlay on which was greater than was anticipated. There is an increase of £11,100 under N (1). This sub-head covers superannuation, etc., charges and the explanation of the increase is that the number of retirements, deaths, etc., in the current year is larger than it was expected to be.
The offsetting savings amount in all to £32,224, the bulk of which results from postponed installation of radio equipment at the Dublin and Shannon airports which had been provided for under Q (2) of the original Estimate. There are savings under E (4) of £3,500 due to revised subsidy arrangements come to with the British Post Office in relation to the Dún Laoghaire-Holyhead service, resulting in a reduction by that amount of the Éire contribution for the current year; under G (2) of £5,700 due to delays in delivery of uniform clothing by contractors, the result mainly of difficulties in obtaining raw materials; under I (2) of £2,064 by reason of reduction in travelling of engineering officers owing to emergency restrictions.
The increase of £1,407 under sub-head T, Appropriations-in-Aid, is almost wholly due to additional receipts amounting to £5,682 in respect of items manufactured in the Post Office factory for other Government Departments, chiefly for the Department of Defence. The extra receipts are offset by deficiencies caused by curtailment of sales of engineering stores owing to emergency conditions; by reduced receipts from Savings Bank funds and by the cessation of receipts from the British Administration for excess parcels traffic.
