I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £2,650 16s. 9d. be granted to make good an Excess on the Grant for Superannuation and Retired Allowances for the year ended 31st March, 1944.
Committee on Finance. - Excess Vote, 1943-44 (Superannuation and Retired Allowances).
Mr. Boland
The total expenditure on the Vote for Superannuation and Retired Allowances for the financial year 1943-44 amounted to £562,580 16s. 9d. which was £2,650 16s. 9d. in excess of the grant of £559,930. The Committee of Public Accounts, in their Interim Report of the 17th May, 1945, on the Appropriation Accounts, 1943-44, stated that they saw no objection to the sum required, £2,650 16s. 9d., being provided by an Excess Vote.
The excess on the Vote for 1943-44 arose mainly on sub-head B (additional allowances and gratuities in respect of established officers) and was due to expenditure of unanticipated magnitude on that sub-head in the last quarter of the financial year. Savings on certain other sub-heads left the total excess at £2,545 0s. 7d., but deficiences in the Appropriations-in-Aid brought the total deficit to £2,650 16s. 9d.
It is apposite to say at this stage something which, I am sure, the Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, Deputy Cosgrave, will agree with me about, and that is that the practice of seeking this Excess Vote is one on which the Department is to be congratulated. It is the correct procedure to pursue and shows clearly the resolution of the Department concerned to resort, or attempt to resort, to no subterfuge in order to communicate to the Dáil full knowledge of the expenditure and, secondly, it reflects credit on the Department in that such a deficit is evidence of the attempt of the Accounting Officer to bring his estimate as closely as possible into conformity with the actual expenditure, a practice which, I regret to say, not all Ministers adhere to strictly, but which is vital if the Minister for Finance is not to be given specious grounds for excessive budgets.
I mention this so that the records of the House may bear a testimony from this House of approval for the procedure here envisaged with a view to encouraging all Ministers (1) to secure the practice of close estimation and (2) to resort to this procedure where the necessity arises without hesitation, in the assurance that Excess Votes of this kind will not be looked upon as any reflection upon those responsible for them, but rather as evidence to serve the House conscientiously and well.
Question agreed to.
Excess Vote reported and agreed to.