Vol. 170 No. 4
I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £4,680 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1959, for the Salaries and Expenses of Commissions, Committees and Special Inquiries.
How many commissions are now sitting?
The Civil Service Arbitration Board is one, the Atomic Energy Committee, the Commission on Income Taxation, the Commission on Industrial, Provident and Friendly Societies.
There are a good many more than those. I put down some questions the other day and elicited the information.
There are more than those, I know. There are also, of course, the Arbitration Board for National and Technical Teachers, the Tribunal of Inquiry into cross-Channel Freight Rates—I think that is completed—and there is also the Commission of University Accommodation, which was set up only recently.
What are the special committees as distinct from commissions?
Some of them are called special committees.
How many of them are there?
I could not tell the Deputy. The university one is called a committee, as far as I know.
Does the list the Minister has given exhaust committees and commissions?
As far as I know, I have given the full list.
No, it does not. What about the Commission of Seanad Éireann? This Government, after criticising us for appointing committees, every week appoints a new commission or a new committee.
The Minister does not seem to take much interest in their welfare—where they are, whether they are finished or still sitting. That is not a great compliment to them.
Each Department looks after its own committees.
You should watch the money-bag.
I think the Minister might tell his colleague, the Minister for Local Government, that he should be a little more polite to the Capital Investment Advisory Committee.
