I move:—
That a Supplementary sum not exceeding £9,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1945, for Transport and Meteorological Services.
Additional sums are required under a number of sub-heads on this Vote. The first is in respect of payment for steamer services. As the House is aware, the steamer service between Galway and the Aran Islands is subsidised by the State, and during the emergency, because of the higher price of coal and less frequent sailings, a substantial loss upon that service has accrued, which was not offset by the amount voted in the subsidy. During the course of this year a position arose in which additional money had to be made available to the company operating the service, or they would have to stop it, although authority had been given by various Orders to the company to enable it to increase freights. The amount of the subsidy was fixed by the Aran Island Transport Act, 1936. It was necessary to make a temporary amendment of that Act by an Emergency Powers Order, to permit additional subsidy being made available. The service, of course, is essential to the people resident on the Aran Islands, and the £700 which is asked for, in addition to the original subsidy of £300, will merely meet the loss on working the service during the present year.