I propose to follow the practice of previous years by taking Votes 8 and 9 together.
Vote 8 bears the salaries and expenses of the administrative, executive and technical staffs of the Office of Public Works which is the office responsible for the administration of Vote 9.
Vote 9 provides the necessary funds for the purchase of sites and buildings for State purposes; for the erection, maintenance and furnishing of Government offices and other State-owned premises; for the erection and improvement of national schools and Garda stations; for the erection of major military buildings; for arterial drainage and other engineering works; for the maintenance of State-owned parks and State harbours and for a number of other activities.
There is a net increase of £30,800 in the Estimate for the Office of Public Works compared with the total of the sums voted for 1959/60. Subhead A, which bears the cost of Salaries, Wages and Allowances, shows a net increase of £31,850. This is due to the recent general increases in remuneration. The office establishment is slightly reduced and there had been some reorganisation of the higher posts. The increase under this Subhead and a minor increase of £300 under Subhead D—Telegrams, Telephones and Postage—arising from extensions of the telephone service of the office are offset to a small extent by a decrease of £1,350 under Subhead C—Incidental Expenses—resulting from a reduction in engineering technical equipment requirements and some economies in advertising. There is no change in the estimate of Appropriations in Aid.
The Estimate of £4,224,000 for Public Works and Buildings—Vote 9 —shows a net increase of £135,130 on the Estimate for 1959/60. This is accounted for by an increase in estimated expenditure of £156,270 partly offset by an increase of £21,140 in the amount expected to be realised from Appropriations in Aid.
The principal increases in expenditure are £60,000 under Subhead B— New Works, Alterations and Additions; £30,870 under Subhead C— Maintenance and Supplies; £115,000 under Subhead J.2—Arterial Drainage—Construction Works; and £15,000 under Subhead J.5—Arterial Drainage and Maintenance.
Subhead A—Purchase of Sites and Buildings—shows an increase of £4,000 in respect of purchases of miscellaneous sites and premises.
Deputies will have already received a statement showing the various amounts making up the bulk provision for Subhead B and it is unnecessary for me to go into detail. A few items, however, merit special mention.
Last year, £1,600,000 was provided for national schools and this year we are asking for the same amount— Item 44. As stated by my predecessors, the replacement and improvement of defective school buildings is a most important feature in our work. Over 700 schools require to be replaced and major schemes of improvement or extension are required for about 300 others. Serious efforts to increase building output have been made and are being continued. As the Minister for the Gaeltacht said here last year, 92 new schools and 62 major improvement schemes were completed in the year 1958-59. The figures for the year 1959-60 were 85 and 51 respectively. This does not mean any falling off in the work. The figures do not represent the full amount of work in hands during the year but only the number of works which happen to have reached completion within the year. Some of these may have been in hands the previous year or the year before that. For example, last year 85 new schools are recorded as completed: at the beginning of the year work was in hands on 111 new schools and on 102 at the end of the year. The best indication of the amount of work done is the expenditure, which last year was approximately £1,543,000, the highest yet recorded. We hope to do as well this year.
There is a provision of £100,000 for work on Major Fishery Harbours— Item 55. As the House is aware, the Government brought in an eminent Swedish consulting engineer to advise on these matters and his report has been received by the Minister for Lands. It is not for me to intrude on that because no doubt it will be mentioned on his Estimate. It has already been decided to proceed with some of the recommendations and this provision is in the nature of a first instalment to cover the work which is expected to be carried out this year at Killybegs and Greencastle.
It will be noted that a provision of £20,000 has been included for expenditure on the projected Garden of Remembrance at Parnell Square —Item 21—for which tenders have been received and on which it is hoped to commence work shortly. The cost of the project will be substantially higher than had been originally anticipated but I feel sure that nobody will quibble at the expense of providing this long overdue Memorial in the centre of our capital city, to all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish Freedom.
As Deputies are already aware it has been decided, subject to certain conditions, to hand over Kilmainham Gaol—Item No. 22—to a Board of Trustees who intend to carry out a scheme for the restoration of the premises and the establishment there of an historical museum. It is proposed to have the work done by voluntary workers and I trust that those responsible will receive the fullest possible support from the public in the execution of the project.
There is one other matter to which I might perhaps refer at this stage although no provision in respect of it is included in the Subhead this year. It has for long been recognised by all Parties in the House that the accommodation and general facilities for Ministers and the members and staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas are altogether inadequate and it is imperative that something should be done about the matter. During the past year the problem has been examined by an InterDepartmental Committee and their recommendation, which has been accepted by the Government, is that the only practical way in which the situation can be eased is by the erection of a new building here alongside the Natural History Musuem as an extension of Leinster House. A certain amount of preliminary planning has already been done by the architects in the Office of Public Works but it will be about a year before actual building operations can commence.
The provision of £6,000 under Subhead BB—Coast Protection—is for the continuance of the survey and experimental works in connection with the coast erosion problem at Rosslare Strand.
The increase of £30,870 under Subhead C—Maintenance and Supplies— is mainly due to wage increases granted to workers in the building trade.
The provision for Furniture, Fittings and Utensils, Subhead D.1., is little changed, and that for the Central Furniture Stores, Subhead D.2, is the same as before. A reduction of £8,000 under Subhead E—Rents, Rates, etc., is attributable to the inclusion in last year's estimate of some exceptional provisions and non-recurrent charges in respect of premises abroad. The small decrease under Subhead F and the provisions for the minor Subheads G, H.1 and I, scarcely call for comment.
The provision of £15,000 under Subhead H.2—River Shannon Navigation (Grant-in-Aid), is required to make good an anticipated deficit in the Shannon Navigation Fund Account which, despite staff economies and reduced incidence of maintenance, shows an increase of £4,500. This increase in the estimated deficit is due to the reduction in C.I.E. traffic on the Grand Canal system and the Navigation.
There is a reduction of £2,000 in the provision for Subhead J.1—Arterial Drainage Surveys. This does not mean that there is any diminution in the arterial drainage survey programme but is due to the fact that the outdoor work on the special preliminary investigations in connection with the River Shannon flood problem is almost completed. We hope to have the engineering report available for consideration about the end of the year.
Deputies will notice a substantial increase—£115,000—for arterial drainage construction works under Subhead J.2. It was decided in 1958 that the programme should be accelerated as far as practicable having regard to the availability of technical staff, labour and machinery, and the provision for 1960-61 continues that trend. In the programme drawn up some 15 years ago for the purposes of the 1945 Act there are 28 major catchments and 30 minor catchments. Progress in the beginning was necessarily slow as an organisation had to be built up: engineers had to be recruited, plant acquired and a central workshop and stores established. This has now been done and we can look forward to an increased volume of work in future years. Of the 28 major catchments, schemes for three have been completed, works are in progress in three others, and seven more are at various stages of survey and design. Two minor schemes have been finished, one is in hands and four are at the survey or design stage. This is a big bite out of the listed programme and I think Deputies will agree that we are now well launched on the project.
It was decided recently to extend activities still further by bringing within the scope of the 1945 Act what, for want of a better term, have been called "intermediate rivers". By these are meant the smaller independent catchments with clear outfalls which were not included in the original lists. When arrangements get under way we hope to have works on four of these catchments in hands each year. Surveys of the first group are in progress and work will be begun as soon as we can. It is perhaps no harm to impress on Deputies that this new arrangement does not indicate that any piece-meal work will be undertaken. The areas dealt with which will be treated as a whole must be independent catchment areas and must not form part of any larger catchment already listed in the main programme.
In Subhead J.2 provision is made for all the schemes featured in last year's Estimate except the Feale which has been completed. The Corrib-Clare scheme is past its peak and the provision is reduced by £45,000. Work is expanding on the Maine and the Ballyteige and Kilmore schemes as well as on the Fergus Embankments scheme, which last year was covered by the provision for Additional Minor Schemes. The sums provided for the Moy and Inny schemes show increases of £50,000 and £55,000 respectively as this year they are intended to cover almost a full year's work. We hope that the £15,000 under the heading "Additional Minor Schemes" will be needed for work on the Killimor, Co. Galway and Broadmeadow, Counties Dublin and Meath, which we expect to reach the works stage later in the year. In respect of the Nenagh, Clareen and Bunratty-Rineanna schemes, provisions of only £2,000 in all, are required, as certificates of completion are expected to issue shortly.
Subhead J. 5—Arterial Drainage: Maintenance, covers the estimated expenditure on maintenance of the schemes already completed as well as the Nenagh, Clareen and Bunratty-Rineanna Schemes which are expected to come under maintenance in 1960/61. The expenditure under this Subhead is recoverable from the County Councils concerned.
Plant released from the Corrib-Clare drainage scheme will be available for use on other schemes and, accordingly, it is possible to make a reduction of £62,000 under Subhead K—Purchase and Maintenance of Plant and Machinery, and Stores.
An increase of £21,140 in Appropriations-in-Aid is due principally to an increase in recoupments in respect of the outlay on drainage maintenance as two additional drainage works, the Feale drainage scheme and the Owenogarney river embankments, were completed in 1959, and to estimated receipts, previously surrendered to the Exchequer, from sales of property. The principal decrease is in receipts from hire of plant for drainage works financed from the National Development Fund.
That is a factual statement and without being unduly wordy, I have tried to cover the activities of my office as adequately as possible. If Deputies in the course of the debate wish me to elaborate, to elucidate or to refer to some activities of my office which may not have been mentioned in the statement, I shall be only too glad to do my best to give them whatever information they may require.