asked the Minister for Finance if he will state (a) the total amount of capital advances to date from the Exchequer to the E.S.B. and to Bord na Móna, respectively, and (b) the total repayments made in each case off such loans and the amount of interest due annually on the balance of the loans outstanding.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Capital Advances to Bord na Móna and E.S.B.
(a) The total amounts of capital advances to date from the Exchequer to the E.S.B. and Bord na Móna are the £51,124,636 and £7,461,385 respectively. The figure for the E.S.B. includes a liability of £6,030,066 for advances under the Shannon Electricity Act, 1925. It also includes a sum of £4,000,000, being 50 per cent. of the advances in respect of rural electrification, which is not repayable by the Board. The figure given in respect of Bord na Móna includes £389,801 originally advanced to the Turf Development Board Limited, the liability for which was transferred to Bord na Móna under Section 63 of the Turf Development Act, 1946, but which was subsequently reduced to £358,742 under Section 64 (1) of that Act. (b) The total repayments made by the E.S.B. and Bord na Móna to date are £1,869,821 and £107,717, respectively, and the amounts of interest payable in the current year on the outstanding repayable balances are £1,733,180 and £281,828, respectively. Further repayments of principal will operate to reduce these balances in future years with corresponding reductions in the interest payable. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 4 of the Turf Development Act, 1950, the advances issued to Bord na Móna for its second turf development programme are exempt from interest until a date to be fixed after the 30th June, 1955. The present total of these advances is £785,000.
Do the figures given by the Minister include any Grants-in-Aid of a non-repayable character which have been made to Bord na Móna and the Turf Development Board, as its predecessor?
I fear that I would have to have some notice of that question. This relates only to repayable advances.
Very well.