asked the Minister for Finance if he will state, for each of the years from 1932-3 to date, the amount received by the Exchequer in respect of stamp duty on sweepstakes held in pursuance of the Public Hospitals Acts, 1933 to 1939.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Stamp Duty On Sweepstakes.
The information required will be found for each year in Account No. VII of the Finance Accounts for that year.
Mr. Morrissey
Is the Minister aware that the practice is growing up, apparently, in this House of not giving an answer to a question but of referring Deputies to some other document? I suggest that is not satisfactory. First and foremost, it prevents us getting the information set out in the question put on the records of the House, and, secondly, it deprives a Deputy of the right to ask, if he wishes to do so, supplementary questions. That practice is becoming quite a common one.
The Deputy is raising a very wide question on a rather small issue. The fact of the matter is that the information which the Deputy requires in this instance is already on the records of this House; it is in the Library. I think when a Deputy asks for information which has already been published—information in respect of which the State has gone to the expense of publishing for Deputies' information—that, rather than go to the further expense of repeating it in the Official Reports of the Dáil, it is preferable that the Deputy would refer to the publication in which the information is contained for his own guidance and for the guidance of other Deputies who may want similar information in the future. The Deputy asks for information with regard to stamp duty on sweepstakes. That information is published every year and I have given the Deputy an indication of the document in which it is published and it would be easier and better for him to consult that.
Mr. Morrissey
But there was something else I wanted to ascertain. The Minister's statement, in my opinion, makes the position much worse. It is obvious that this is now a deliberate policy.
Surely the Deputy can read?
The Minister for Local Government should not discuss the subject.
The Deputy wished to put over a quick supplementary.
Mr. Morrissey
The Minister has been busy enough writing letters to the paper—or rather sending Deputies' letters to the paper.