I should like to confine my remarks to the words "the Minister for Finance may issue out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof" and the final words "according to estimates approved by the Minister for Finance". The Minister, in his interesting statement replying to the Second Reading, referred to the point made from this side of the House by various Senators and myself to the effect that this was an enabling Bill which guarantees nothing. He treated that as a somewhat technical or legalistic point and he sought to convey the impression that, because advance planning existed, assuming a certain level of investment, of expenditure, that therefore the investment would somehow automatically follow.
This is quite misleading. To take a homely example from the area where I live myself, plans have existed for decades for the development of Howth harbour but Howth harbour never gets developed because nobody provides the funds. In this exact area, planning existed at the end of the sixties for certain major developments which did not then happen because in 1970-71 the then Minister for Finance, who has always had the powers under these Telephone Acts, refused to give the money; and over the protests of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs he cut that back, with consequences that have still to be felt.
Having pointed out that this Bill was enabling only, I asked the Minister for certain very specific and concrete assurances that the level of investment achieved over the past four years would be maintained in the future. He did not find it possible to give exactly that. He said the Government are as committed as it is possible to be to ensuring that an investment on this scale is achieved. With respect, that commits him to nothing, or not very much.
This House has to bear in mind when it reads these words "according to estimates approved by the Minister for Finance" that the very same Minister for Finance we now have showed himself at the beginning of this decade so insensitive to the need for development in this area that he cut back, so when we note this enabling section we have a right to raise that query. Is that likely to happen again? We hope it will not.
I am quite sure that the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs will do his level best, as I did and my predecessor did, to maintain the necessary level of investment. I assure him that everything from this side is intended to strengthen his hand in seeing that the necessary investment is made but we should not believe that it follows automatically from the existence of plans in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. The Department have been told in the past "You will have to forget about your plans for this year and maybe a few years ahead. That is less urgent than a lot of other things that have to be done." The consensus in this House has been that investment on this scale is necessary and Senators, as well as Members of the Dáil, will wish to see that it actually happens. All we are doing now is allowing the Minister for Finance to authorise it. It remains to be seen whether he will or not.
