I should like to make a few remarks, because, as the House knows, this Bill gives the Minister power to borrow money over the next 12 months and I notice that during the whole course of the debate we have had, not one single reference was made to this question of borrowing. It is because I regard this question as being of very great importance that I should like a little clarification from the Minister as to the policy to be pursued in connection with this borrowing.
I notice that the figure mentioned is £73,093,280. That appears to me to be a very large sum and I do not know what amount of that sum the Minister has in mind to borrow during the course of the year. I think the Minister stated in the Dáil that it was his intention to float a loan sometime in the autumn, but, as would be expected, he did not indicate the conditions of the proposed loan.
One thing which emerges from the discussion that took place in the Dáil is that certain semi-State bodies who hitherto had the power and authority to borrow money in their own right will not now have it under whatever arrangement the Minister has come to. I, for one, regard that as a very great departure from the traditional method that has been operating over the years and whether the seriousness of the times that presents itself to us justifies that departure is the question. These semi-State organisations such as the E.S.B., C.I.E., as well as Dublin Corporation, had their autonomy and this appears to me to be a definite step towards depriving them of their autonomy and of the authority they had to regulate their own affairs. I do not know—and the Minister has not told us —if this is to be a permanent feature of legislation for the years to come——