¹ said he presumed all had read his report. On page 2 in the Estimate for the Department of Foreign Affairs there should be an addition of £1,000, and in Publicity there should be a deduction of £1,000. That was the £1,000 paid to the South African envoy charged to Publicity but afterwards changed to Foreign Affairs. There was a slight mistake in [the] tot² which increased balance by 10/-. He had with him all the details under all these headings and he suggested it would be better if members interested in any particular Department would ask him personally in writing any questions, otherwise they could spend all day on it.
1. Michael Collins.
2. In the original typescript this reads, ‘in tot of page...'. The shorthand note shows the entry as given above.
Since he wrote the account a statement had come from America but the figures he gave were substantially correct. The amount they spent exceeded the Estimate by £2,000 and therefore the balance shown should be reduced by that amount. He took it that details of the various Departmental Estimates would be found in the reports. He considered most of these Estimates too large.
With regard to the last paragraph in his report "other payments of funds to the English government", he was contemplating under that heading the possibility of making recommendations to the Dáil for legislation on general lines under which there would be something in the nature of a D.O.R.A. and that all activities of the English government whether by way of collecting taxes, operating in Courts, or other functions of any kind would be dealt with under this Defence of the Realm Act by Orders in Council. This, of course, could not be done during the Truce.
The matter of Irish societies had become so important that he felt it necessary to make a report to the Ministry on their general condition and he was not satisfied that any of these societies were in a solvent position. None of them were founded on a thoroughly sound basis. The tables of these societies were being gone into and he would be prepared to make recommendations later. He said the only possible proposition was amalgamation. It might mean a very heavy burden on national funds but it would be worth it if after a few years these societies were enabled to meet their liabilities. As the complete position could not be put before the members, he asked that the House should leave these activities to be continued by the Ministry and through the Ministry to the Department of Finance to continue its examinations and that with the authority of the Dáil.
There was also another matter in which the same position arose—the Sinn Féin Bank which was in an unstable position. The accounts showed that the liabilities exceeded the assets. The position was that many small investors had their life's savings in the Bank and it would have to be faced by the Ministry and the Dáil whether all these small investors should be allowed to bear the loss of the monies they put in. He had seen the Account himself and with the exception of a few they were all small amounts, from £70 to £150. With regard to Land Annuities, he recommended that the Department of Agriculture should deal with that matter.
As agreed, the Dáil here adjourned till 4 p.m.