asked the Minister for Finance if he will state why no provision is made in the Estimates for Public Services, 1954-55, for expenditure in respect of the National Development Fund.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National Development Fund.
As I explained when introducing the Vote on Account, and as is indicated in a footnote to the tabular statement prefaced to the Volume of Estimates for Supply Services, 1954-55, the Estimate for the National Development Fund will be introduced in the course of the financial year 1954-55. I shall refer further to the matter in my Budget speech.
asked the Minister for Finance if he will state what sum of the £5,000,000 voted in respect of the National Development Fund for the current financial year has been spent and what it is estimated will be spent from the fund before 31st March, 1954.
So far allocations aggregating £3.6 million have been made out of the fund. Details were given by the acting-Minister for Finance in the course of the discussion in the Seanad on the National Development Fund Bill last month.
It is estimated that actual expenditure out of the fund by 31st March, 1954, will be of the order of £1,000,000.
Could the Minister for Finance say why the information asked for in the question cannot be given now?
Because it is available in an official publication.
Up to what date?
The date of the introduction of the Bill.
Can the Minister for Finance say why when a parliamentary question is put in the Dáil and the information is available, the Minister for Finance does not give the information in the Dáil? Can he say what precedent there is for referring a person asking a question in the Dáil to the debates which took place in the Seanad?
It is a well-established principle that where information has already been furnished in an official publication the Deputy is referred to that, and I am following that precedent.
Is the Minister not aware that he is asked for specific headings here and will the Minister say why he considers that courtesy as well as tradition would not dictate that he would give the information here? Is the Minister not further aware that any information that was given in the Seanad on behalf of the Minister was given in the course of a speech and not in the form of a tabulated statement?
I think the speeches of the acting-Minister for Finance in matters of this sort are always worth reading and therefore I desire to encourage the practice.
They are different from the Minister's speeches.
They may be worth reading, but is it reasonable, when a Deputy asks the Minister for Finance for specific figures, to refer him to a debate in the Seanad, in order to find out from a speech made there the specific figures that were asked for? In any case, they are not there. How long ago was the speech made?