I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
The purpose of this Bill is to extend the duration of the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1953, for a further period of three years from the 1st April, 1959. In other words, the Bill proposes to continue the Agricultural Grant on its present basis for a further three years.
The 1953 Act provided for the making by county councils of the following allowances by way of abatement of rates to occupiers of agricultural land holdings in rural areas:— (a) A primary allowance of three-fifths of the general rate in the £ on the land valuation up to £20; (b) an employment allowance of £17 for each adult workman at work on the holding during the whole of the preceding calendar year, subject to the limitation that the total of the employment allowance shall not exceed the produce of the general rate in the £ on the valuation over £20.
The 1953 Act applied to the financial years 1953/54 to 1955/56. The Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1956, continued the allowances on the basis provided for in the 1953 Act for a further period of three years up to the 31st March, 1959.
The agricultural grant was first given under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898. It was a fixed annual subvention. Between 1898 and 1946 the amount of the grant and its method of distribution were altered on several occasions. The total of the grant in these years was, however, always a fixed amount.
The 1946 Act, which resulted in a large increase in the grant provided that the amount of the grant, instead of being fixed in advance as heretofore, should be related to the actual rates struck by county councils in a particular year. That Act provided that the grant would be the sum needed to give relief on the following basis:
(1) A primary allowance of three-fifths of the general rate in the £ on the land valuation up to £20.
(2) A supplementary allowance of one-fifth of the general rate in the £ on the land valuation over £20.
(3) An employment allowance calculated at the rate of 10/- in the £ on the land valuation over £20, subject to the limitation that the allowance should not exceed £6 10.0. for each adult workman at work on the holding during the whole of the preceding calendar year.
This method of distribution continued to operate until the passing of the 1953 Act, which abolished the supplementary allowance, increased the employment allowance, but left the primary allowance unchanged. While under the revised system of allowances some farmers gained and some lost, the intention of the change was to provide that the farmer who gave most employment would gain most.
The amount of the agricultural grant has increased from £1,870,000 in 1945/ 46 (the last year in which the amount of the grant was fixed in advance) to £4,647,000 in 1952/53 (the year prior to the last revision of the method of distribution) to £5,519,075 in 1958/59. In that year the agricultural grant afforded farmers relief to the extent of 44 per cent. of the rate levy on agricultural land.
The total payable in 1958/59 was divided as follows:—
Primary allowance |
£4,278,595 |
Employment allowance |
£1,224,988 |
Amount paid to certain county borough corporations and urban district councils |
£15,492 |
TOTAL |
£5,519,075 |
Under the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Acts the employment allowance is given to rated occupiers in respect of a workman who was at work on the holding during the whole of the calendar year prior to the financial year in which the claim for the allowance was made and who was otherwise qualified under the Acts. There is also provision that if two or more men are successively at work on a holding, or are employed in such a way that at all times during the calendar year there is one man at work, such workmen may be regarded as one man at work for the purposes of the employment allowance. The Acts also provide that every doubt, question and dispute in relation to employment allowance claims shall be determined by the local authority, whose determination shall be final and conclusive.
A matter which has been raised in discussions in previous Bills is the question of broken time. It has been represented that a too rigid interpretation of the provisions of the law in regard to the continuity of employment might result in hardship to individual farmers especially where, for instance, a break occurs through no fault of the employer. I fully appreciate the difficulties of farmers in this matter. I realise that it is not always possible for a farmer to replace immediately an employee who has left without giving notice, and that breaks in employment often occur through illness. I think, however, that local authorities may be relied on to use their discretion in cases of this kind. I know that some of them allow an employment allowance claim where the length of the break or the total length of the breaks in employment in any year is not greater than one month. I think that is a very reasonable attitude to adopt. Some local authorities may at times have difficulty in deciding as to the authenticity of claims where the break in employment is stated to have been through illness. A test which they might find useful would be whether the workman claimed or received disability benefit or unemployment benefit.
In regard to the present Bill no new principle is involved. The purpose is simply to continue up to 31st March, 1962 the present system of distribution of the agricultural grant.