Before referring to the programme of works proposed for the current financial year I shall give a brief review of the work done in the year ended 31st March last. The amount provided by the Oireachtas for employment and emergency schemes in the financial year 1945/46 was £1,250,000, of which £1,197,204 was expended within the financial year. To this expenditure should be added the contribution by local authorities amounting to £182,851, making a gross expenditure of £1,380,055. Subject to possible amendments in detail, the expenditure on the various sub-heads was as follows:—
A. -E. Salaries, travelling expenses, etc., £42,575; F. Public Health Works in Urban Areas, £89,700; Housing Sites Development, £20,788; Road Works in Urban Areas, £171,263; Amenity Schemes in Urban Areas, £39,000; G. Public Health Works in Rural Areas, £2,813; Road Works in Rural Areas, £177,668; Amenity Schemes in Rural Areas, £219; H. Minor Employment Schemes, £99,000; I. Bog Development Schemes (Landholders' and other private producers' bogs), £111,300; J. Reconditioning or repair of Public Roads subject to heavy turf transport, £31,665; K. Farm Improvements Scheme, £388,000; L. Seed Distribution Scheme, £61,300; M. Lime Distribution Scheme, £6,900; N. Rural Improvements Scheme, £129,300; O. Miscellaneous Works, £8,564.
Of the expenditure of £1,380,055 approximately £467,000 was expended during the period 1st April to 30th September, and the balance of £913,055 during the winter months, when unemployment is at its peak. The maximum number of workmen employed at any one time during the year was: Farm Improvements Scheme, 10,691; other schemes, 16,165; total, 26,856. The average number employed each week on all schemes during the period up to September was 8,379 and from October to March, 18,442. Of course, approximately 44 per cent. were workmen who would otherwise have been entitled to unemployment assistance; but if the figures for farm improvement, bog development and rural improvements schemes, on which the numbers of unemployment assistance recipients engaged are relatively low, be excluded, the proportion of workmen who would have been entitled to unemployment assistance if not engaged on employment schemes was approximately 73 per cent.
The average period of employment given to individual workmen varies with the class of work, and in the different areas, but the total amount of employment afforded in 1945-46, apart from the Farm Improvement Scheme, which is of a different order, is equivalent to 31,000 men each receiving part-time employment for four or five days per week, for the average period of 12 weeks.
The total number of applications received for minor employment schemes during the year was 2,207 and about 5,300 proposals were investigated and reported on, including proposals already partially carried out.
During the spring and summer, approximately 500 minor drainage schemes were carried out at a cost of £32,000, principally for the development of bogs used by landholders for the supply of their domestic requirements of turf.
The total number of effective applications received up to 31st March, 1946, was 4,306, of which 3,165 had at that date been investigated on the ground by inspectors and reported on. Of these, 345 were for various reasons found to be unsuitable, and offers of grants were issued in 2,737 cases. The number of such offers accepted in the course of the year was 906, for which grants totalling £108,270 were sanctioned towards a total estimated expenditure of £138,205, the balance of £29,935 being contributed by the applicants.
Good progress was made during the year in carrying out works — the total expenditure incurred being approximately £129,300. By the end of the year under review the number of individual works completed since the inception of the scheme in 1943-44 had reached 1,000, while a further 390 schemes were in progress.
As Deputies are aware, the rural improvements scheme is supplementary to the farm improvements scheme, and enables groups of farmers to carry out various kinds of works for their joint benefit, principally small drainage works, and the construction and repair of accommodation roads to houses, lands and turbary. The usual rate of contribution by the landholders is 25 per cent., but this may be reduced in special cases where the work, in addition to being of benefit to the landholders immediately concerned, also serves members of the outside public. The increasing popularity of this scheme is an evidence of its usefulness to the farming community.
It will be observed that there was an under-expenditure of approximately £53,000 on the Vote in the last financial year. In explanation of this I should state that the employment schemes programme consists each year of upwards of three thousand separate works, administered by several agent departments, and carried out by local authorities all over the country; and that, in addition, the works in the rural areas must for the greater part be carried out within the space of the winter months: in those circumstances it is virtually impossible to achieve the expenditure of the exact amount voted for employment schemes.
Furthermore, as the actual schemes on which the year's programme is based are not lodged until after the beginning of the financial year, it is generally impossible to make a close estimate beforehand of the amount required for each sub-head of the Vote. A considerable degree of latitude is, therefore, required in adjusting the amounts between the sub-heads, as the year progresses. I should also point out that in a vote designed to cover emergency services it is necessary to keep in reserve until a late stage of the financial year a certain proportion of the moneys available, in order to provide against contingencies.
Turning now to the programme for the financial year 1946-47, it will be observed that the provision in the Vote remains the same, at one and a quarter million pounds. In this regard I should mention that the allocation of those sub-heads of the Vote which are provided specifically for the relief of unemployment amongst the various urban and rural units of area is broadly in proportion to the number of unemployment assistance recipients in each such area, and the programme for each financial year is based on a census of unemployment assistance recipients, including former recipients working on employment schemes, taken in the beginning of each year, usually in January or February, at a time when unemployment is at a maximum. The total number of men returned in the census taken in January, 1946, was approximately 57,000, as compared with 60,000 in January, 1945. The figure for the census taken in February, 1940, before there was any significant movement of workmen to Great Britain, was about 111,500, compared with which this year's figure shows a reduction of roughly 49 per cent.
Of the sum of £1,250,000 included in the Estimate for the current year, £752,500 will be spent on the continuation of schemes sanctioned before the 31st March, 1946, leaving a balance of £497,500 available for expenditure on miscellaneous new schemes. To the amount of the Vote must be added contributions from local authorities and beneficiaries under the rural improvements scheme, estimated at £200,400. This gives an aggregate of £1,450,400 available for expenditure within the financial year 1946-47; and to enable this expenditure to be achieved as far as possible within the time limit, it is proposed to authorise schemes to the extent of £712,000 (State Grant) in excess of the amount of the Vote. This sum, together with a proportionate amount for local contributions, will be carried forward at the 31st March, 1947, to form part of the ensuing year's programme.
In this regard it is desirable to remind the Dáil that a large portion of each year's Vote is allocated to local authorities and the expenditure of the full amount of the provision depends largely on the acceptance of the grants on the terms offered, and on the prompt submission of schemes by local authorities.
Subject to the foregoing remarks, the proposed allocation of State Grants for each class of work in the current year's programme is as follows:—
Schemes administered by the Department of Local Government and Public Health:— Public health schemes in urban areas, £20,000; housing site development schemes, £20,000; urban road and amenity schemes, £180,000; public health works in rural areas, £20,000; rural road and amenity schemes, £120,000; reconditioning and repair of public roads subject to heavy turf transport, £50,000.
Schemes administered by the Department of Agriculture:— Farm improvements scheme, £400,000; seed distribution scheme, £70,000; lime distribution scheme, £12,000.
Schemes administered by the Special Employment Schemes Office:— Minor employment schemes, £100,000; bog development schemes, £90,000; rural improvements scheme, £90,000.
Administration expenses are expected to amount to £46,760, leaving a balance of £31,240 for miscellaneous schemes of an emergency character, or for the relief of unemployment and distress.
With regard to the foregoing allocations I should call attention to the fact that there is very little change as compared with last year, the principal variations being as follows:— The provision for the farm improvements scheme has been increased by £50,000 which is necessary to meet the very large increase in the number of applications under the scheme; while the provision for rural road and amenity schemes has been reduced by £40,000 owing to the fact that the number of units of area in which there are sufficient unemployment assistance recipients to form economic gangs has shown a considerable reduction in recent years.
The figures I have just given make up the full amount of the Vote, namely, £1,250,000, and as previously stated a further sum of £200,400 is expected to be forthcoming in the form of local contributions towards the cost of certain types of schemes, making a grand total of £1,450,400 available for expenditure in the year.