This State is not long in existence as States go. It was founded in 1922 and the Government of the day had to face a very serious position. Instead of being able to devote themselves entirely to constructive effort to help the country, unfortunately, they had to face a situation which meant life or death for the State. An effort was being made at that time to try to put that State out of existence. It did not succeed. The effort was made by honest, God-fearing men, who believed they were right. I was one of them. I am not a bit ashamed of what happened then, not a bit. Unfortunately it happened so and the Government of the day had to face that situation and the aftermath of that situation for a number of years. They were unable to devote the attention that they might have given to constructive effort to lift up the country agriculturally and economically. That is a fact of history that historians will analyse and describe for us later, but we need not go into it now. We all know what happened and the fact is that the Government had a difficult time for a number of years. When this Government came in we had a difficult time— a very difficult time—we had another kind of fight on hands, but a fight as vital for the economic and political welfare of this country as any other fight that was made.
The two Governments then have had difficult times. I do not think anybody in this House will deny that we have been going through abnormal and difficult times during the last Government's period of office and during this Government's period of office. I do not hesitate to say that the last Government, at any rate in its first five or six years, in the way of doing constructive work were up against severe obstacles that they were not able to overcome. They were not able to do the constructive work they might have done. That was not entirely their fault. Similarly, this Government had what Deputy Keating reminds us is called the economic war. That had only just ended in 1938 and an agreement was made which saved £100,000,000 for the farmers, without talking of other things; £90,000,000 at any rate; £100,000,000, less £10,000,000 that we agreed to pay—that is putting a modest figure upon it—saved to the farmers alone, along with other things perhaps of more vital national importance that could not be measured in money. That period of strife was only just completed when the Great War started and, in less than a year, we were again into another abnormal situation in which we find ourselves still.
I am not offering that in any way as an excuse for not doing things that we might have done. But I think that anybody, sitting down calmly and quietly and trying to look at the situation here in an objective way, will realise that in our short history as a State we have gone through very abnormal times. It has not been easy for anybody. What will probably in history be termed the Cosgrave régime and the de Valera régime have gone through difficult times and we have come marvellously well out of them. I am only talking now from the point of view of agriculture. I am not going into higher politics, about the way that we have come out of the difficult times during this war so far. But, purely from the agricultural point of view, we have a lot to be proud of in respect of the way this country has survived.
If the war ends inside another year, as many hope it will—I hope to God it does, if not sooner; nobody knows when it will end—I hope that we will be in a position to start off with the prospect of making this country really prosperous and its people happy and contented. There is no reason why we should not. We have good fertile soil that has probably never been worked to full advantage. Our history of the last four years has shown us how the people stand up to sacrifices when they are asked to make them; how they stand up to hardship and trials; how they put their backs into the work for the nation's good when they are asked to do so; and how they are able to bear heavy taxation and bear it willingly without grumbling. It has been shown to us that all we have to do is to ask the people, the farmers as well as others, to put their backs into the work and, for their own welfare and for the welfare of the nation as a whole, they will rise honourably to the occasion, as they have done during the war and at other times. Judging by what we know of the recent history of the country the prospect for Ireland's future when peace arrives should be good. Instead of grumbling and grousing, I think we should be quite happy and proud of the position in which we find ourselves, despite the fact that the cost of living has gone up abnormally and that many classes of the community find it difficult to live. Food, clothes, boots, shelter, everything that man requires and that is essential for life, are difficult to obtain and, when you do obtain them, you have to pay through the nose for them. That applies to all classes of the community; it applies to the farmers. But, with all that, we have come through the trials magnificently so far and, with wise, prudent leadership in the days to come, first, until the end of the emergency and, secondly, after the emergency, in the period of development and progress that, please God, will lie before us when peace is restored, the brightest prospect I think can be held out for Ireland's future.
Now with regard to details. Deputy Hughes wants to know the amount paid annually for sinking fund and interest on our debt. That was published in a White Paper issued at the end of the financial year just before the Budget Statement. The actual figures for the service of the debt last year were: interest, £2,175,614; sinking fund, £785,403; total, £2,961,017. The estimate for the current year is: interest, £2,236,000; sinking fund, £864,000; total, £3,100,000. These are very different figures from what the Deputy had in mind. Deputy Hughes made a mistake when talking of the cost of administration as being something like £50,000,000. I think he had something else in mind when he mentioned £50,000,000 as the cost of administration. The cost of administration, that is the cost of the Civil Service, of the staffs and of the administrative work done, as set out in the Budget Statement, was £6,866,000.
Deputy Corish talked about no special provision being made to meet the increased cost of living of civil servants, teachers, Gárda, etc. It is proposed to spend this year, in round figures, £1,000,000 in paying bonuses to civil servants, national teachers, secondary teachers and Gárda, the actual figure being £989,000. That is a considerable sum of money. I know —nobody knows better—that civil servants, and particularly those in the minor offices, the lower-paid people, are feeling the pinch.
It is true, as Deputy Costello, Deputy Corish and others said, that those with fixed salaries or wages have felt the pinch more than others. There is no doubt about that, but these classes—civil servants, teachers and Guards—know that, at the end of the week or the end of the month, they will get their cheques. There is no doubt that their jobs will continue. They are in that sound position, although in some cases the cheque may not be very big and it is very hard to balance the budget if the family is large. Nevertheless, they are not in the position of the thousands of men and women who have been thrown out of employment as a result of the emergency, or of the many more who, it is almost a certainty, will be thrown out of employment between now and the end of the emergency. These classes are certain that their jobs will continue, that their pensions will be paid if they reach the pensionable age and that they will have, at any rate, a certain sum to meet the expenses of the following week, month or quarter, as the case may be. They are in a much more advantageous position than so many other classes of workers, but I do want publicly to acknowledge and admit that some of these people have been bearing a heavy burden. They have made a very heavy sacrifice in the interests of the community. They have been called on to make that sacrifice and they have made it without much grumbling.
Naturally they have complained. They have come on deputations to me and have put it to me that the Government is asking them to bear too heavy a burden. Civil servants have said that to me formally in deputations and many of them privately, during the course of the last election and the previous election when I met them outside; but while I, as Minister who has to bear the responsibility for that burden, that sacrifice which I ask civil servants and other classes to make, acknowledge that the sacrifice is heavy, that the burden is no light one, I say that, taking all in all, compared with other classes of the community, these people who are in permanent posts have a lot to be thankful for. If anything further can be done to lighten the burden, to make it a little easier for them, I should be glad to do it. This year, as I have said, we are spending £1,000,000 in the way of emergency bonus. When you divide that amongst members of the civil service alone, it does not represent a very big sum for each individual or each individual family, but for the present I think it is as much as the national exchequer can afford.
Deputy Hughes wanted to know the financial position of the Road Fund. After meeting all liabilities, it is estimated that the fund will have a credit balance of £397,000 on 31st March, 1945. We propose to take £100,000 of that credit balance.
