Vol. 369 No. 2
asked the Minister for Labour if his Department or any body or agency under the aegis of his Department who receive most or all of their funding from the State have significantly increased their borrowings in 1986; and if he will identify these agencies and indicate the total increase in indebtedness of these agencies between the average level of indebtedness in 1982 and the average level of indebtedness in 1986 to date.
156.
asked the Minister for Labour if he will provide a list of all bodies or agencies directly or indirectly under the aegis of his Department to whom nett expenditure limits have been notified by his Department and who have exceeded or expect to exceed these limits in any or each year from 1982 to 1986, inclusive; and if he will state the amounts, estimated or actual, of these excesses for each year and the total additional increase needed in his departmental vote to enable him to deal with these excesses.
157.
asked the Minister for Labour if his Department or any body or agency under the aegis of his Department have sought approval for, or are considering applying for approval for, term loans or other loans to finance excess revenue expenditure.
158.
asked the Minister for Labour if the 1986 Vote or Votes to his Department include provision for the funding of excess expenditure over approved expenditure limits by agencies or bodies financed from his Department's Vote or Votes in respect of years prior to 1986; if so, the amount of the excess expenditure for 1982 to 1985 and the estimated projected excess for 1986; and the amount which is included under each subhead to finance this excess expenditure.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 155 to 158, inclusive, together.
None of the agencies for which I have responsibility exceeded their approved budgets in the years in question. The question of additional provision in my Department's Vote or of borrowings to cover excess expenditure does not, therefore, arise.
The timing of payments from the European Social Fund causes cash flow problems for AnCO and CERT. These difficulties are overcome through temporary borrowing which must be sanctioned by myself and the Minister for Finance. The highest level of borrowing sanctioned for this purpose during the years in question was as follows:—
|
AnCO |
CERT |
|
|
£m |
£m |
|
|
1982 |
5 |
0.663 |
|
1983 |
12 |
0.4000 |
|
1984 |
52 |
0.753 |
|
1985 |
40 |
1.5 |
|
1986(to date) |
36 |
1.5 |
Responsibility for Ostlanna lompair Éireann was transferred to my Department in 1984. A sum of £2.73 million was allocated of the company out of this year's Vote for my Department to enable it to redeem a sterling loan taken out in 1971. The company is now trading profitably with no accumulated deficit or borrowings.
OIÉ is a commercial company with fluctuations in its trading operations and has recourse to temportary bank overdraft facilities for limited periods. Any such borrowing must have my prior approval together with that of the Minister for Finance. A limit of £750,000 was placed on such borrowings for the summer season of 1986 and this has since been cleared by the company.
