asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he will state whether he has at any time since the 1st March, 1941, received any application from the Urban District Council of Galway for permission to enable them to take steps to fund any part of their debt, and if he will say whether any such permission has been given; and if such permission has been refused, if he will state the reason for such refusal.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Funding of Galway Council's Debt.
I would refer the Deputy to the reply given to Deputy O Mongáin on the 14th March, 1944, in regard to this matter. The funding of loans does not depend upon unilateral action, and the question of my giving or withholding permission to a local authority for the funding of debt cannot arise until the local authority submits evidence that the lenders of the loans proposed to be funded have agreed to accept repayment of the balance outstanding. The Deputy will see from the terms of the reply of the 14th March that such consent in the case of Galway Corporation was not forthcoming.
Is the Minister aware that, within the past ten years, the outstanding debt of Galway Urban Council has increased from £46,000 to £452,000 and, in view of the substantial burden which has to be borne in this way by the urban district council, will be enter into discussions with the council with a view to seeing how the matter can be met?
I do not think that it is necessary for me to initiate those discussions. While it is true that the debt of Galway Urban District Council has risen considerably in the past ten years, the assets of the urban council have also considerably increased.
Are the principal lenders to the urban council the Minister for Local Government and the Board of Works?
The Minister for Local Government is not a lender.
Will the Minister say whether virtually the entire amount of the debt of Galway Urban Council is owed to Government Departments of one kind or another and whether it is the Government, through those Departments, which is refusing to enter into funding arrangements with the urban council?
I cannot see any reason in equity why the Board of Works or the Minister for Finance should be put in any less favourable position than other creditors in a matter of this kind. The commitments of Galway Urban Council should be honoured even if they happen to be with the Minister for Finance.
When the Minister speaks of lenders, he is speaking of the Minister for Finance.
I am speaking of the machinery, established under the authority of this House, which has to be managed in a businesslike way.