I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1946, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Agriculture, and of certain Services administered by that Office, including sundry Grants-in-Aid.
This Supplementary Estimate is concerned entirely with the National Stud and is necessary because we did not succeed in transferring the Stud from the Department to the new board as soon as we expected. There were a lot of legal delays, which are now coming to an end, but we have to ask the Dáil to vote this amount of money for carrying on the ordinary operations of the farm there, that is, the purchase of stock, payment of wages, and so on. The appropriations against that are coming from the sale of stock and income from the National Stud itself. Now that we have the legal position almost put right, it is hoped we may be able to make the transfer in or about the 1st April, so that the board would be put in control from that date.
It was explained before that the new board will get a licence—which is the technical term, meaning something similar to a lease—to carry on. During the time we had the Stud, there was a lot of necessary repairing done to buildings, including the setting up of paddocks and fields, and so on, as well as a lot of cleaning up on fences.
Perhaps it is all to the good that we had it for this couple of years so that we can hand it over to the new board in a fairly fit condition. I cannot say definitely the date from which they will take over and carry on, but I hope it will be about the 1st April.