asked the Minister for Finance whether he will state (a) the total amount of English bank notes collected by the Central Bank and other Irish banks during each of the years 1949 and 1950 and sent back to England, and (b) the total amount of interest paid on the bank notes sent back to England for each of these two years.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Repatriation of English Bank Notes.
These particulars are given in the annual reports of the Central Bank. The figure for 1949 appears in the report for the year ended 31st March, 1950, and the 1950 figure will, no doubt, be given in the report for 1950-51.
I have no information regarding the second part of the question.
The statement has been made in a paper printed in this country that we were making a free gift of £1,000,000 a year to England by collecting £20,000,000 worth of her bank notes in 1949. That is the reason I put down the question—to find out if there was any foundation for that statement.
That is one of the old speeches of the Minister for Finance. He was only codding.