I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £1,250 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1954, for the Expenses of the Maintenance, etc., of Patients in Dundrum Asylum (8 & 9 Vict., c. 107; and No. 19 of 1945).
The main reason for this Supplementary Estimate is to provide funds for the purchase of equipment for the farm and garden attached to the institution. Provision was already included in the Estimate for the purchase of a tractor and the additional sum now asked for is mainly for attachments to the tractor, so as to mechanise practically all the farm work. At one time it was the practice to get most of that work done by patient labour but in recent years it has been found increasingly difficult to get the work done in that way, despite every facility given to the patients who wish to help. The result has been that the farm and gardens have not been efficiently worked and a potential source of production has been lost. This new expenditure should be reflected in savings on the Vote in future years, when the initial work of rehabilitating the farm has been done.
Another block of the additional sum now being provided is for the purchase of clothing. The incidence of the purchases varies from year to year. In the current year an increased amount of clothing and materials, not contemplated when the Estimate was framed, was purchased and this gives rise to the excess.
The remaining sum, £300, is in respect of foodstuffs, due to higher contract prices for certain items, notably farm produce, e.g. milk, butter and meat.
Estimate agreed to.