I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
The purpose of the Bill is to enable a sum not exceeding £450,000 to be withdrawn from the funds of suitors and applied towards the cost of rebuilding the Abbey Theatre and the Cork Opera House.
The funds of suitors are the cash and securities belonging to suitors and other persons which have been transferred to or paid into or deposited with the High Court. These funds arise from many sources. They include statutory deposits made by insurance companies, banks, trade unions, auctioneers and house agents, moneys lodged by defendants in certain types of actions, funds of wards of court, trustee funds and moneys lodged in administration suits. Part of the funds is represented by unclaimed dividends and balances which have been accumulating over a long period. These are known as dormant funds and may be defined more precisely as balances in accounts which have not been active for 15 years or more. The funds of suitors are under the control of the High Court, and subject to that control, are managed by, and stand in the name of, the Accountant of the Courts of Justice.
The total liability of the Accountant in respect of funds of suitors on 30th April, 1966, was £17,640,000, of which dormant funds amounted to £998,000. Assets held by the Accountant, consisting of cash and securities, amounted to £16,812,000. The difference between the amount of the liabilities and the amount of the assets on hand, £828,000, represents the aggregate of the moneys which have been withdrawn from the funds of suitors over the past 200 years under the authority of various Acts of the Parliament of Ireland, the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Oireachtas. All these Acts indemnified suitors for any loss which they might sustain by reason of the withdrawals, and these indemnities are backed by the Central Fund. Another way of saying this is that portion of the funds of suitors amounting to £828,000 is not represented by cash or securities held by the Accountant but simply by the liability of the Central Fund to indemnify suitors against any loss.
Moneys withdrawn from the funds of suitors under Acts passed prior to the establishment of the Oireachtas were applied for such purposes as building and improving the Courts of Justice and enlarging the Law Library. Withdrawals from the funds were authorised by the Oireachtas in 1959 and again in 1963. The funds of Suitors Act, 1959, enabled a total of £323,000 to be withdrawn for three purposes, namely, to provide assistance towards the rebuilding of the Abbey Theatre, to finance the repair and renovation of the buildings of the Society of King's Inns and to provide for the creation of a fund for the maintenance of the Society's Library. The Funds of Suitors Act, 1963, authorised the release of a sum of £50,000 to help finance the rebuilding of the Cork Opera House.
The sums withdrawn to date from the funds of suitors, amounting, as I have said, to £828,000, have virtually exhausted the dormant funds. Depreciation in the value of dormant securities has accounted for a further reduction of £95,000, so that the balance of dormant funds remaining is now only £75,000. Accordingly, the bulk of the withdrawal of £450,000 proposed in this Bill will be made not against the dormant balances but against the current funds standing to the credit of suitors in accounts less than 15 years old. Deputies will, how ever, appreciate that, from the practical standpoint, all funds vested in the Accountant of the Courts of Justice, whether dormant or otherwise, have the same standing; the so called dormant funds are distinguished from the others merely for accounting convenience. The fact that the dormant balances will be overdrawn is of no practical significance, as the indemnity to be provided by the Minister for Finance under section 3 of the Bill will afford complete protection to suitors in respect of moneys withdrawn from the funds held by the Accountant.
The money to be withdrawn under the Bill will actually be taken from the sizeable cash balance which is maintained by the Accountant in a current account in the Bank of Ireland. This cash balance amounts at the present time to £860,000 and is constantly growing. Apart altogether from the fact that suitors will enjoy a complete indemnity, I am fully satisfied that the sum of £450,000 may safely be withdrawn from this cash balance.
As I have mentioned, part of the funds of suitors has already been applied to meeting the cost of rebuilding the Abbey Theatre and the Cork Opera House. Under the Funds of Suitors Act, 1959, £250,000 was allocated for the Abbey, and under the last Act, passed in 1963, £50,000 was advanced for the Opera House. Estimates of cost for the two projects, furnished when these Acts were being prepared, indicated that the amounts in question would be sufficient to enable the projects to be completed. However, events proved otherwise, making necessary the further payments provided for in this Bill.
In the case of the Abbey, the estimated cost of rebuilding was put at £235,000 in 1959, with a further £20,000 for professional fees and an unspecified sum for furniture other than seating. It was accordingly considered that an allocation of £250,000 from the funds of suitors would suffice for the purpose. However, rising costs since 1959 have rendered that estimate obsolete. The successful tender, accepted in June, 1962, was for £310,000 for the Abbey and the "shell" of the Peacock Theatre, with an additional £34,000 for fees. The cost of the work is now put at £555,200 to which must be added £95,000 for the Peacock. These sums include professional fees; and the figure for the Peacock covers the full equipment of this theatre. This gives a total cost of £650,000, leaving a gap of £400,000 over and above what has already been made available. Allowing a small margin for contingencies, section 2 (3) of the Bill provides for a further withdrawal from the funds of suitors of not more than £415,000 for this purpose.
The increases in the cost of the Abbey and Peacock Theatres, though substantial, are inescapable. They are due to increases in the cost of wages and materials, the effects of the building strike of 1964, changes in plans involving the installation of additional stage equipment, extra dressingroom accommodation and an increase in the height of the stage tower, special reinforcement work on the basement and additional work on adjoining property.
The Abbey authorities have no funds which might be used to meet the increased costs. The sum of £30,000 received in insurance following the fire which destroyed the old Abbey has long since been eaten up by current deficits. The directors of the Abbey are, however, prepared to arrange a public appeal for funds to help meet the cost of the Peacock Theatre, although they are not very hopeful that this will bring in any substantial amount. Section 2 (4) of the Bill provides that any sums raised in this way by the Abbey authorities will be paid into the Capital Fund, while section 2 (5) provides that the Minister for Finance shall repay to the funds of suitors any sums paid to the Capital Fund which are not required for the purposes of the section.
The £250,000 made available under the Funds of Suitors Act, 1959, had been spent by July, 1965, and as any further withdrawal from the funds would involve fresh legislation, it was decided that a Supplementary Estimate should be taken on the Vote for Miscellaneous Expenses to ensure that the work in progress might continue. On 21st July, 1965, the Dáil agreed to a Supplementary Estimate on this Vote in which a sum of £255,010 was included for this purpose. Approximately £185,000 has been issued to the Abbey from this provision. The Bill now before the House provides in section 2 (3) that this money will be refunded to the Exchequer. The rest of the money allocated under the Bill will be available to meet the balance of the cost of the project.
In the case of the Cork Opera House, the estimated cost of rebuilding was put at £200,000 in 1963, and it was on the basis of this estimate that the Funds of Suitors Act, 1963, provided for the allocation of a sum of £50,000 to supplement the moneys which had been raised from other sources for the project. As in the case of the Abbey, increases in costs occurred and the final cost of completion amounted to approximately £235,000. This left the Opera House Company to find a sum of £35,000. The directors were compelled to approach the Government for further aid. They felt there was little hope that a further appeal to the public would raise any significant sum, as £82,000 had already been subscribed from private sources. Again, as in the case of the Abbey, a further withdrawal from the funds of suitors would involve fresh legislation. Consequently, as the project was then nearing completion—the new Opera House was, in fact, opened on 31st October, 1965— and final bills were expected shortly, it was decided to take a Supplementary Estimate on the Vote for Miscellaneous Expenses. This was approved by the Dáil on 28th October, 1965, on the understanding that legislation to authorise a further withdrawal from the funds of suitors would be introduced and that any payment from the Vote would be recouped. In fact, a total of £11,514 has been issued under this provision and this amount will be refunded to the Exchequer.
The rebuilding of the Abbey Theatre and the rebuilding of the Cork Opera House are enterprises of national concern. It has been recognised that projects of this nature cannot in modern conditions be undertaken successfully without the patronage of the wealthy or of the State or local authorities. There is no doubt but that this is a most desirable form of public investment since it will provide suitable entertainment for our own people, provide employment for native artists and at the same time, constitute an atraction for tourists. The material needs of our citizens have been provided for increasingly in recent years and it is only right that the State should also help in the provision of these centres of entertainment in our two main cities.
In conclusion, may I once more draw the attention of the House to the fact that, as in the case of previous withdrawals from the funds of suitors, the Bill affords complete indemnity to suitors against any loss they might otherwise sustain as a result of the enactment of the proposed legislation.
I recommend the Bill to the House and ask that it be given a Second Reading.