There are a couple of matters arising out of the financial provisions of the Transport Bill which can be more conveniently discussed on the Money Resolution than on the relevant sections of the Bill. The matters I have in mind at the moment are two — one, the question of the adequacy or otherwise of the provisions made in the Bill for the raising of new capital by Córas Iompair Éireann, and the other, the future financial prospects of the board to be established by the Bill.
I confess, however, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to discuss these aspects of transport policy in view of the fundamental and extraordinarily rapid changes which appear to be taking place in the Minister's attitude towards them. Since the introduction of the Bill, there have been changes in the Minister's policy of an extraordinary kind. For example, we learned yesterday afternoon for the first time that it is the intention of the Government that the new Córas Iompair Éireann Board is to be subsidised by the taxpayer, on the basis of an annual vote by the Dáil, to meet working losses as they emerge. I think most Deputies will agree that it was strange, if the Government had that idea originally in mind, that the Minister did not make some reference to it when moving the Second Reading of the Bill. Anybody who heard his speech on the Second Reading, or read it in the Official Debates, was entitled to assume that subsidisation was not part of the Minister's policy. In fact, until some time after 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, it appeared clear that the Minister's policy was quite the contrary, particularly when we noted that he proposed to insert in the Bill as an obligation of the new board that it "should so conduct its undertakings as to secure as soon as may be that, taking one year with another, the revenue of the board shall be not less than sufficient to meet the charges properly chargeable to revenue".
That fundamental change in policy which became known to the Dáil yesterday afternoon necessarily involves also some revision of our attitude to the Bill. I think it is well known, from the debates that took place here on the Transport Act, 1944, that we on this side of the House do not believe in the policy of subsidising public transport. I do not propose to repeat the arguments which I advanced then. Anybody who is interested in the case to be made against the policy of subsidisation will find it set out in the report of the debates on that Bill.
It is, however, necessary to recognise that once the practice of subsidisation is begun it cannot be easily or abruptly ended and, while we believe that the policy will inevitably mean the creation of a situation which somebody will some day have the difficult and painful task of clearing up, the announcement made yesterday represents a very definite change in the whole position. Deputies on this side of the House have not yet had ample opportunity of considering fully the significance of that change. We have proposed a number of amendments to the Bill based upon the assumption that the aim of the Minister's policy was to put the transport system of this country on an economic basis, operating with such costs and striving to earn such revenue that subsidy would be unnecessary. In view of the announcement made, it is clear that the Bill will require reconsideration on our part.
I give, as an instance of the difficulties which the Minister's announcement may cause in considering future transport policy, the significance of the introduction of the element of subsidy in relation to the provisions of earlier transport legislation which impose restrictions upon private road hauliers. The justification for these restrictions was to be found in the necessity as well as the difficulty of putting the public transport services on a paying basis. If the taxpayers of the country are now to be requested to provide subsidies for transport, if the preservation of the main public transport service is now to be the concern of the taxpayer as well as the concern of the management, then I think we will have to ask ourselves whether we are justified in maintaining these restrictions upon private road hauliers in full. These restrictions, as many Deputies know, impose considerable inconvenience upon some sections of the community. We thought that inconvenience was justified in view of the difficulties of the main transport operating company. If those difficulties are to be relieved by the taxpayers, including people who are suffering the inconvenience, then clearly there is another position which will have to be considered. If, having considered it, we decide that it is necessary to submit further amendments to the Bill, I presume there will be an opportunity of doing so.
The matters I wish to refer to particularly at this stage are the two I have mentioned. The Bill provides for the establishment of a new board which, amongst other powers, will have the right to raise new capital, with the consent of the Minister for Industry and Commerce and the Minister for Finance, by the issue of transport stock to the extent of £7,000,000. Whether that is enough, or more than enough, to meet in full what we regard as the requirements of the situation, the need for the reorganisation and re-equipment of the transport system is a subject with which the Dáil must naturally be concerned.
Deputies will remember that when the Minister introduced his Bill he thought fit to open his speech by reading a list of the items of capital expenditure which he stated the present Córas Iompair Éireann Board had entered into or were about to enter into. The total of that long list of heads of contemplated capital expenditure, as detailed by the Minister, was £17,235,000, and the Minister later in the course of the debate described that programme as mad, harebrained and extravagant. I hope Deputies have examined that programme since. We have got now to relate it to the provisions of this Bill and to the arrangements which the Minister has recently made for the advance of money from the Exchequer to the company for capital purposes. We know that Sir James Milne, in his published report, estimated the capital needs of Córas Iompair Éireann for the next five years at £10,500,000 and the Minister has based his Bill upon Sir James Milne's recommendation, even though the Bill only provides for the issue of new stock to the extent of £7,000,000. That was the amount required to implement the Milne recommendations which contemplated the provision of the additional £3,500,000 by the reinvestment of depreciation funds. In addition, however, as I understand, to the £10,500,000 which will be available to the board under the provisions of this Bill for the next five years, the Minister has induced the Dáil to agree to advance out of the Exchequer a further £2,500,000.