The Parliamentary Secretary should not take exception to our arguments. We can prove categorically that a very heavy imposition is placed on ratepayers under this Bill.
I should like to read some figures which I asked the accountant in Mayo County Council for when this Bill was first introduced in the House on 19th June. Expenditure in Mayo on home assistance up to 31st March, 1973, was £86,143. Up to the end of March, 1974, it was £115,080. In the nine months of 1974—from March until the end of December—expenditure was £120,933, and for 1975 we have provided £201,500 in our estimates. We have spent to date £280,000.
As has been pointed out by other speakers and by myself earlier, when I may have "jumped the gun" in relation to this section, it is obvious that expenditure will be much higher in the future. We will be responsible for administration. In the health boards there will be extra personnel. When we were running the health services under the county councils we did a reasonable job in an endeavour to keep staffing and so on at a certain level. Now many extra staff have been appointed; there are CEOs, programme managers and all sorts of extra staff. This pattern will be followed right along the line when this Bill comes into operation.
There is also the question of the extra services which will be provided. At present there are certain areas where people are entitled to free fuel and so on. This will apply in every health board area, which will increase the cost of the whole operation. It does not matter what argument the Parliamentary Secretary puts up, we are not going to be able to manage on that figure of £280,000 which has been spent this year in Mayo. Next year we will have an increased demand for expenditure. Granted 60 per cent of it will be paid by the National Exchequer. Still it means that the local authority in the future will be faced with an increased bill for home assistance. It does not matter how the Parliamentary Secretary tries to paint the picture. We are not trying to be emotional on this side of the House. We are giving solid facts as we see them as representatives of local authorities.
That is why I add my voice to that of others in requesting that this be made a national charge. I put down a parliamentary question on this matter in May, 1973, asking that payment of home assistance be made a national charge. It is a fair way of dealing with the matter and eliminates the imposition of further hardship on ratepayers. As has been stated, in our own county we are faced with a demand of £12.57; certainly we will be paying over £12 in rates this year. At present a small shopkeeper is barely able to keep his door open because of various increases and the way business in general is declining. Those are the kind of people who will be hardest hit by this type of demand. Indeed, many of them may be faced with the position of having to apply for home assistance themselves. Take the case of people who are self-employed, who are finding it difficult to eke out an existence and, incidentally, are not covered under this Bill. They are the people who will really have to face these extra charges on rates. We are not being emotional. We are simply giving the solid facts as we see them and, in particular, in relation to our own counties.