Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 19 Jul 1960

Vol. 183 No. 13

Supplementary Estimate, 1960-61. - Vote 47—Industry and Commerce.

Minister for Industry and Commerce (Mr. J. Lynch)

I move:

That a supplementary sum not exceeding £1,200,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on 31st March, 1961, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, including certain services administered by that Office, and for payment of certain Subsidies and Sundry Grants-in-Aid.

On 22nd March, 1960, the House agreed to a Supplementary Estimate— Vote 50, Industry and Commerce—of £300,000 to enable payment to be made to Irish Steel Holdings Ltd., Haulbowline, Co. Cork, in respect of shares to the extent of £300,000 to be taken up by the Minister for Finance. The money was made available to meet initial instalments to suppliers of new plant and in respect of other items connected with the expansion of Irish Steel Holdings Ltd., which I outlined to the House at the time. In brief, the Company's expansion plans envisage the installation of a new oil-fired furnace to bring ingot output to 80,000 tons p.a., the installation of a new 750 mm. blooming mill, a new 650 mm. large section mill a new wire-rod mill, the rearrangement and mechanisation of the existing merchant mill and the completion of the sheet mill.

The House is aware that the Government have decided that the project should be wholly financed by share capital to be subscribed by the Minister for Finance. Arrangements are in train for the enactment of a Bill to give effect to this decision. As it has not been possible, however, for necessary legislation to be introduced in time to be passed before the Summer Recess, and as the £300,000 voted last March has all been expended, the provision of capital by means of a vote payment is necessary. To cover the additional expenditure of Irish Steel Holdings Ltd., until the end of December, 1960, a Supplementary Estimate is accordingly submitted to enable payments to be made to the Company in respect of shares to the extent of £1,200,000 to be taken up by the Minister for Finance.

Mr. Cosgrave

The proposal which the Minister has put forward in order to facilitate Irish Steel Holdings with sufficient money to carry on the develment programme which he has outlined is one that will be supported generally. This project has for a long time been under consideration by the company and is part of the long term programme which was decided on by Irish Steel holdings some time ago. There is only one point that I should like to mention at this stage, that is, whether consideration, in an undertaking of this sort, would not be given to floating a public issue rather than having all the shares subscribed by the Minister for Finance.

Where a State company is concerned, once it is sufficiently established and its progress maintained on a regular basis, confidence should be adequate to undertake a public issue, if not for the entire shareholding, at any rate for a considerable part of it, and while this proposal in itself is desirable, it seems to me that in an undertaking such as this which is of considerable significance and the only undertaking of its type in the country, the fact that it already had State support guarantees the future prospects of the undertaking. For that reason, therefore, consideration might be given to floating, if not the whole undertaking as a public issue, certainly a proportion of the shares.

Mr. Sweetman

May I ask the Minister one question? I know that the Bill is down for Second Reading. I take it that it is proposed to take the Bill immediately after the Recess. The Minister mentioned the 31st December next as the date appointed from the money point of view but I assume that the enactment of the Bill is aimed at long before that.

Mr. J. Lynch

The drafting of the Bill is so near completion that one might say it is almost completely drafted at the present time. As the Deputy is aware, there are quite a number of other Bills which have been put down for Second Reading on 26th October. The idea behind seeking sufficient coverage for the expenditure of the company up to the end of December was to ensure that by reason of the volume of legislation that the House will face in the Autumn there will be no necessity to come to the House again with another Supplementary Estimate.

The Bill will be circulated, I hope, very early during the Recess and will be taken at the earliest opportunity that I get of bringing it before the House but I cannot say at this stage how soon that may be.

In reply to Deputy Cosgrave's question as to whether or not the money which is now sought to expand the Irish Steel industry in Haulbowline might not have been raised by floating a public issue, all I can say is that full regard was had to all methods and means of financing the expansionist proposals and it was found that the better way of doing it would be to finance it in the manner proposed in the Bill, that is, the issue of shares which will be taken up by the Minister for Finance except for a small allocation to the directors who will be appointed. In time it might be possible to seek public subscription but at the moment it is considered that the better way of carrying out the proposals is the manner now proposed.

Vote put and agreed to.