I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. Deputies are aware that the purpose of the Appropriation Bill is to authorise the issue from the Central Fund of the balance of the amount granted in respect of those Supply Services which have already been considered in detail by the Dáil. The Bill is, therefore, complementary to the Central Fund Act, 1943, which authorised the issue from the Central Fund of the propertion (£13,820,000) of the total of the Estimates for the current financial year which had been granted on account by the Dáil: the further release from the Central Fund provided for in Section 1 of the Bill will make available the balance of the total amount already granted for the public services for the current financial year.
The Bill also provides for the appropriation to the proper Supply Services and purposes the sums granted on account, or in the case of those Estimates which have been considered in detail and approved by the Dáil, the full amount voted for the current financial year. Provision is also made for the formal appropriation of such of the supplementary and additional grants for 1942-43 as were voted after the Appropriation Act, 1942, had been passed.
As to individual sections and schedules, Section 1 provides for the issue from the Central Fund of the sum of £9,551,899 which together with the sum of £13,820,000 authorised to be issued from the Central Fund under the Central Fund Act, 1943, represents the total amount estimated to be required from the Central Fund to make good the grants voted for the supply services for the current financial year. So far the Estimates (including two Supplementary Estimates) for only 29 Supply Services have been considered in detail and the sum of £9,551,899 mentioned in the section represents the total of the amounts granted to complete the sums necessary to defray the cost of these 29 services during the current financial year.
Section 2, sub-section (1), empowers the Minister for Finance to borrow up to £9,551,899, that is, the amount mentioned in Section 1, and to issue any such securities as he thinks fit for the purpose of such borrowing. It also provides that the Bank of Ireland may advance to the Minister any sum or sums not exceeding in the whole £9,551,899.
The purpose of Section 3 is specifically to appropriate to the various services set out in Schedule B annexed to the Bill the total amounts granted for the Supply Services since the passage of the Appropriation Act, 1942. The grants making up the total as set forth in Schedule A are:—
(1) Supplementary & Additional grants for 1942-43 |
£1,295,608 |
(2) Vote on Account for 1943-44 |
£13,820,000 |
(3) Balance of Estimates approved for 1943-44 (including Supplementary Estimates already passed) |
£9,551,899 |
Total |
£24,677,507 |
Sub-section (2) of this section provides the necessary authority for the utilisation of certain Departmental receipts as Appropriations-in-Aid of the grants for the specific services mentioned in the Schedule.
Schedule A gives particulars of the issues out of the Central Fund provided for by the Central Fund Act, 1943, and the present Bill.
Schedule B sets out in detail the specific services to which the sums so granted are to be appropriated. Part I, of this Schedule is, in effect, an extension of Part III of Schedule B of the Appropriation Act, 1942, since it shows the additional grants for 1942-43 provided to meet Supplementary and additional Estimates approved by Dáil Eireann subsequent to the passing of the Appropriation Act, 1942. Part II of Schedule B forms the basis of the audit of the Appropriation accounts for the current financial year which will be carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor-General.