I move:—
That the Bill be now read a Second Time.
This is a Bill to wind up the Department of Supplies and to transfer the powers and functions of that Department to the Department of Industry and Commerce. I made it clear, when referring to this Bill on the Estimate for the Department of Supplies, that its introduction is not because there is any appreciable easement in the general supply position. The present indications are that it will be necessary to continue all existing rationing schemes for some time, probably for at least another year, and possibly longer in the case of some commodities. These functions of the Department of Supplies will be functions of the Department of Industry and Commerce in the future.
When the Department of Supplies was set up at the beginning of the emergency, the intention was to terminate its existence as soon as the supply conditions would permit. Even though there has as yet been no substantial change in the general supply situation, it is believed that not merely can the Department be wound up safely, but that there will be certain advantages resulting from the amalgamation of its functions with those of the Department of Industry and Commerce. To an extent that we had not altogether foreseen, it has now become clear that, with the cessation of hostilities in Europe and the gradual return to more normal conditions, supply problems are tending to become more and more closely related to the question of post-war development and other considerations of general policy which are properly the concern of the Department of Industry and Commerce. It is considered, moreover, that the amalgamation of the two Departments should lead to greater expedition and efficiency in these circumstances and also to economies in staff. As it is desirable that, when two Government Departments are being amalgamated, a date should be chosen which would be convenient so as to reduce to a minimum any dislocation which may be caused, it is provided in Section 2 of the Bill that the amalgamation will not take place on the date of the passing of the Bill, but on a date to be fixed later by Order to be made by the Government. Sections 3 and 4 are the most important sections of the Bill. Section 3 provides for the transfer of the functions of the Minister for Supplies and for the abolition of his office. Section 2 of the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1939, created the Minister for Supplies as a corporation sole and constituted the Department of Supplies. The Minister for Supplies is therefore a corporate body and, having transferred all his powers, duties and functions to the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Section 3 proceeds to say that his office is abolished, which is the draftsman's way of saying that the corporation which he constitutes is liquidated.
Section 4 transfers to the Department of Industry and Commerce the administration and business of the public services allocated to the Department of Supplies. That section is necessary because of the existence of Section 3 of the Ministers and Secretaries Act of 1939, which made provision for the allocation of functions to the Department of Supplies. These functions will pass automatically to the Department of Industry and Commerce on the appointed day under Section 4 of the Bill. Section 5 deals with the question of the Estimates for the current year. The sum of £5,350,059 has been provided in this year for the office of the Minister for Supplies including the payment of certain subsidies and Grants-in-Aid. The principal items included are the Vote of £3,070,000 for food subsidies, £1,433,000 for fuel subsidies and Grants-in-Aid to the Turf Development Board of £640,000. I think it is quite clear that the services covered by the Vote will have to continue for the current financial year and that the sum voted for the Department of Supplies will be fully required. The purpose of Section 5 is to provide that these moneys can continue to be used for the purposes for which they were voted by the Dáil.
The remaining Sections 6 to 17 are merely enabling sections to ensure the carrying forward of the powers, duties and functions of the Minister and to the Department of Supplies. Section 7 provides for the reversion to the Minister for Industry and Commerce of functions which devolve on him under various Acts and which were transferred from the Minister for Industry and Commerce to the Minister for Supplies. Section 8 is necessary because Irish Shipping, Limited, and some of the emergency companies are required under their memorandum and articles of association to obtain the consent of the Minister for Supplies before doing certain things.
The property referred to in Section 11 consists of land and buildings bought through voluntary purchase by the Minister for Supplies in connection with the Government turf camp schemes. The principal items are the sites for the camps and buildings for housing the camp workers. Similarly, the reference in Section 12 to land possessed on behalf of the Minister for Supplies relates to land entered into for the production of turf under Government schemes. Section 15 has been included to ensure that proceedings commenced in the name of the Minister for Supplies for the breach of rationing or price control Orders will be continued.
The Bill has one main purpose and all the other provisions follow from that— it is, as the Dáil is aware, to abolish the office of the Minister for Supplies and transfer his powers and functions to the Minister for Industry and Commerce. That change might be of greater significance if there had been separate Ministers in charge of those Departments in the past, but in practice, as the House is aware, the two Departments have worked very closely together. Their headquarters staffs have been housed in the same building and many of the emergency functions of the Department of Supplies were, in fact, performed by the Department of Industry and Commerce, even to an extent that made it impossible for Deputies sometimes to distinguish between the duties of one Department and another. It is clearly desirable that we should get into a situation now in which only one Department would have responsibility for all these functions, as well as the obligation of gradually transferring the organisation set up to handle the problems created by the emergency into an organisation designed to secure the permanent operation and discharge of the functions of the Minister for Industry and Commerce.