I submit that that is not an equitable provision, not an equitable measuring of the contributions to be made by the local authorities, for the reason that local authorities which went out of their way to appropriate the maximum sums the ratepayers in their districts could afford in the past now find themselves, in this proposed frozen state, at a material disadvantage as compared with counties which appropriated the minimum. In the future, all will be on a basis of equality. It seems rather hard that Monaghan, which is not a rich county—I can give particulars of a case to illustrate my point to the Minister—which gave not only university scholarships but technological scholarships too, is by this method of calculation the sixth highest contributor of all counties in the country and there are 19 other counties, many of which are very much more prosperous areas than Monaghan, who under this frozen device will be making lower contributions to the total expense of the scheme.
Therefore I ask the Minister whether it would not be more equitable to levy an average rate in the pound for all counties, whether it was 1d, 2d or 3d, and to freeze the rate for all counties on a basis of average poundage so that a county which has led the way in the past in expanding higher educational facilities at great cost to itself will not be put in the position of having to carry in perpetuity a heavier share of what I call this frozen contribution to the total cost than counties which held back and did not offer the same educational facilities in the past to the children in their jurisdiction.
I have received representations from County Monaghan in this respect and, without wishing to labour the matter unduly, the present proposal involves a contribution of £1,600 from Monaghan. Yet we find Carlow with a contribution of £760, Louth with £740 and Longford with £480. That is the way it works out. If everyone were asked to pay, say, 2d in the pound, at least everybody would feel, no matter where he lived, that he was bearing an equal burden of the frozen part of the cost of this scheme, but it does not seem reasonable to me to propose that our people in Monaghan should be asked to pay three times the amount they will pay in Longford, twice the amount they will pay in Sligo, twice the amount they will pay in Clare and nearly twice the amount they will pay in Wicklow, Donegal and Cavan. I suggest that the Minister should look into this again and consider whether something cannot be done to remove this apparent inequity to which I draw his attention.