I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £146,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1972, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and of certain services administered by that office, including certain grants-in-aid.
The supplementary sum which I am seeking is accounted for under three subheads of my Department's Vote, subhead A relating to salaries, wages and allowances, subhead C relating to Post Office services and subhead F relating to information services.
The greatest amount of the additional sum which I require is accounted for under salaries, wages and allowances at subhead A, where we are seeking an additional sum of £94,000. This amount is needed in the first place to cover authorised Civil Service pay increases in my Department including the first phase of the 13th round pay award. In the second place it has been necessary for me to create additional posts both at Headquarters and at the Mission in Brussels for work connected with the European Communities. I have also increased the staff of the Anglo-Irish Political Affairs Division of my Department to cope with the extra work in that sector.
An additional sum of £12,000 is required for Post Office services and this is attributable almost entirely to the great increase in communications activity in both the Anglo-Irish Political Affairs and the EEC Divisions of my Department. The increase in the activities in these sectors is due to developments in the North of Ireland since the introduction of internment last August and the stepping up of the pace of work on the EEC side immediately before and since our signature of the accession treaty.
At subhead F I am seeking an additional sum of £40,000 for expenditure on information services in relation to the EEC. I think that it will be generally agreed that the public should have the fullest possible information on the European Communities and on the question of membership for Ireland on which to base their vote in the referendum. A sum of £10,000 for expenditure on the provision of such information and advertising the availability of this information was included in the sum of £49,750 originally provided at subhead F. With the approach of the referendum and the increasing interest of the public in the issue of membership of the Community for Ireland which is, of course, of vital interest to the country, there is a need to provide more material on the subject for the information of the public. The provision of £40,000 which is included in the Supplementary Estimate will be used for this purpose.
In regard to the Vote for International Co-operation, Deputies will recall that last December the Government indicated their willingness to make available the sum of £100,000 for relief and rehabilitation in the former East Pakistan. This was in response to the urgent need for further international assistance for the relief of distress in that area and particularly for immediate cash contributions.
It is intended to allocate the amount on the following basis: a contribution of £35,000 to the United Nations Relief Operation in Dacca which co-ordinates relief efforts in Bangla Desh. Its task is to provide food and shelter for the eight million refugees who have already returned, to oversee their rehabilitation and to avert the threat of famine. Almost two million refugees, however, still remain in India and there exists a massive gap —in the order of 200-300 million dollars—between Indian expenditure on refugees and international assistance. It is proposed, therefore, to make a contribution of £15,000 to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees as the focal point for refugee assistance in India. It is also proposed to contribute £35,000 to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund which operates in both Bangla Desh and India.
Finally, in response to the appeals from the International Committee of the Red Cross to the Irish Red Cross Society, the Government propose to make available to the Irish Red Cross a sum of £15,000 which will be channelled largely through the specialised programme of the International Red Cross Relief effort in Bangla Desh. This latter sum is being made available by way of Supplementary Estimate on the Vote for Defence.
In accordance with the above scheme of allocation the sum of £85,000 would fall for payment from the subheads of the Vote for International Co-operation indicated in the Supplementary Estimates. However, due to the operation of favourable exchange rates I have savings of £1,000 in subhead C3 and £16,000 on other subheads of that Vote and the amount, therefore, which I require by way of Supplementary Estimate is £68,000.
I shall be moving accordingly a Supplementary Estimate for that amount.
