I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £19,500 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1949, for contributions towards the expenses of the Organisation for European Co-operation.
The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, of which Ireland is a member, was established by the Convention for European Economic Co-operation which was ratified by the Dáil on the 1st July, 1948.
The convention provides for the expenses of the organisation being borne by member nations in accordance with the scale approved by the council of the organisation. In the case of Ireland the rate of contribution approved is .89 per cent. of the annual budget.
The ordinary financial year of the organisation commences on the 1st July and ends on the following 30th June and the Secretary-General is required to present an annual budget to the council for approval. The initial budgetary period, however, covers the period between the 16th April, 1948, when the organisation was first set up, and the 30th June, 1949. An estimate has been prepared for this period and approved by the council at 1,461,730,308 French francs. On the basis of our assessed contribution the amount which we are required to contribute towards this estimate is about £12,280 and provision for this sum is made under sub-head A of the Estimate now before the House.
I should perhaps mention that the sum of 1,461,000,000 odd francs includes the sum of 485,000,000 francs which represents the cost of the acquisition by the organisation of real estate and property which will remain the property of the member nations and can always be realised on their behalf subsequently. The proportion of our contribution in sterling towards this 485,000,000 francs is approximately £4,100.
Under sub-head B the sum of £7,220 is provided as a contribution towards the working capital fund of the organisation. The necessity for this fund arises from the fact that there is a timelag between the assessment of member nations' contributions and the payment of those contributions. This time-lag arises from the necessity for them to be voted by the Parliaments of the member nations. It naturally creates a certain delay and leaves a certain deficit.
The total amount of the working capital fund is assessed at the counter-value, in the currency of the member countries, of a sum of 700,000,000 francs calculated on the basis of the rates of exchange obtaining prior to the recent devaluation of the franc. Here again our contribution is assessed at .89 per cent. of the fund, or 6,230,000 francs, the equivalent of which in sterling at the pre-devaluation rate is £7,216. The slight excess between our actual contribution and the amount provided for in the Estimate is to meet the bank charges on the transfer of funds. All contributions to this fund remain the property of the contributing nations and are refundable on the termination of the organisation or on the earlier withdrawal of a member nation. By arrangement between the organisation and the French Government contributions to this fund will be refundable at the same rate of francs to the contributing currency as the rate at which they were originally paid, that is, in the case of sterling, at the rate which obtained prior to the recent devaluation.
At the urgent request of the organisation we paid part of our contribution towards this fund in December last, the amount involved—£5,753—being advanced from the Contingency Fund. The £7,220 now proposed is made up, therefore, of this £5,753, which will be refunded to the Contingency Fund, and a balance of £1,467 to cover the amount which remains to be contributed by us.
