I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. The purpose of this Bill is to extend the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1946, for another year. The House will remember that the Act was originally intended to apply only to two years and would cease to have effect on the 31st March next unless, of course, it were continued by further legislation. The Act of 1946 was passed following on an announcement by the Minister for Finance that he intended to provide an additional £1,000,000 towards the relief of rates on agricultural land. In doing this, of course, he was merely continuing the general policy of this Government in relation to agriculture. I think that it can be said that one of the outstanding characteristics of the Fianna Fáil Administration has been the continuous sympathy and practical help which it has manifested and given to the farmer to enable him to meet his obligations to the local authorities. In the first Budget, which I had the responsibility of introducing when Minister for Finance, the grant towards the relief of agricultural land was substantially increased and was maintained at approximately that increased figure by successive enactments, so that it stood at the figure of £1,861,000 until the close of 1945-46.
In the Budget of the year 1946, as I have indicated, the grant in relief was increased by no less than £1,000,000 until it stood at £2,900,157. Not only was the grant so substantially increased but a new system of distributing it and of determining it was introduced. The system of distribution was not new in principle because in preceding years we had the grant divided into three parts, consisting of a primary allowance, a supplementary allowance and an employment allowance. These features, though substantially modified and improved, were retained by the Act of 1946 but perhaps the most farreaching innovation which was made under that Act was definitely to relate the amount of the grant to the total amount of the rates which, but for the grant, would be leviable on agricultural land. For the first time, we had introduced the principal of a proportionate contribution from the State. Under this scheme of proportionate contributions, the first allowance, called the primary allowance, was fixed and granted on land valuations not exceeding £20 and the first £20 of higher valuations, at a rate equivalent to three-fifths of the general rate. The second allowance, or supplementary allowance as it is called, was given on the land valuation of holdings above £20 and was equivalent to one-fifth of the general rate. To these two allowances there was added an employment allowance for each man at work, and this employment allowance was fixed at the rate of 10/- in the £ on the valuation above £20 and was limited to £6 10s. Od. for each man. It will be understood, therefore, that the grant, in so far as the first two allowances were concerned— that is, the primary and supplementary allowances — varied, as I have already indicated, with the amount of the rate.
In the year of its introduction—that is, the year which began on 1st April, 1946—the amount of the grant was £2,900,157. The primary allowances— that is, the allowances on the holdings up to £20 in valuation and the first £20 of the larger holdings — absorbed £1,830,000, the supplementary allowances took £470,000, and the employment allowances £600,000. It is not possible to give exact figures for the amount which will be required to meet the State's obligations under the Bill for the current year, but it has been estimated that over £3,175,000 will be required and this will be distributed in the following way: The primary allowances will take £2,036,000, the supplementary allowances will take £514,000, and the employment allowances, £615,000.
The purpose of the Bill before the House is to provide that no change will be made this year in the existing system of grants. That will be done under Section 2, which applies the Act of 1946 to the financial year ending on the 31st March, 1949. The effect is to preserve the three allowances on the same basis as before.
Section 3 advances the latest date for the receipt of applications for employment allowances to the 15th October, 1948, instead of the 1st January, 1949, which is the date prescribed in subsection (3) of Section 7 of the 1946 Act. This change is made for the purpose of expediting the submission of employment claims so as to facilitate earlier estimates of the cost to the State. The date fixed gives ample time to all claimants and, indeed, much longer than was allowed under the Act of 1939.
I think I may remind the House that the present provision for the relief of rates upon agricultural land is so generous that it is almost five times the grant originally made under the Local Government Act of 1898. I may further emphasise that, notwithstanding the very generous increase of £1,049,000 which was made in the grant by the Bill of 1946, farmers this year have enjoyed a further substantial increase in a grant of no less than over £250,000 for the current year. It is the main purpose of the Bill to ensure that this system which, no doubt, has been of great help to our agriculturists during the past two years, will be continued during the coming year.
I make no apology for recommending it to the House. It is merely an indication of the general solicitude which the Fianna Fáil Administration has always manifested for the position of the farmers and it is a practical expression of concern for their welfare which certainly did not emanate from our predecessors.