I move:—
|
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £4,716 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1926, chun Costaisí Ilghnéitheacha áirithe, maraon le Deontaisí áirithe i gCabhair. |
That a sum not exceeding £4,716 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1926, for certain Miscellaneous Expenses, including certain grants-in-aid. |
Sub-head A provides for the office of Registrar of Friendly Societies. The duty of the Registrar is to prepare and circulate for the use of societies certain forms of accounts and so forth, and he also generally supervises the work of the friendly societies and sees that the accounts are properly audited and that the annual returns of receipts and expenditure of the funds and effects of these friendly societies are furnished.
There is also provision made for the office rent, salaries to assistants, and there are other remunerations to the Registrar under the head "Fees for Savings Banks Awards," under the Savings Banks Act, 1876. In connection with cases in dispute between depositors in Savings Banks and the trustees or managers of these banks, or in the case of the Post Office Savings Bank and the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, the Registrar of Friendly Societies acts as arbitrator. The office of Assistant Registrar has become vacant, and will not be filled. The grant to the Incorporated Law Society is portion of the deficit which was incurred by the Society during the preceding current year in carrying out its disciplinary functions under the Act. This Society is really a body of the solicitors' profession, and carries out important functions. Solicitors may become members of it, but there is no obligation on a solicitor to become a member, or to pay a subscription, and consequently the Society is in the position of having statutory functions and having voluntary membership. The principle has been in the past to examine into the amount of the deficit incurred during the carrying out of the statutory functions, and to pay roughly two-thirds of that amount, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. The amount provided this year is hardly quite two-thirds. Last year it was a little more, but roughly £325 will represent the amount of loss incurred by the Incorporated Law Society.
Item C is a new item. This is a grant to the National Theatre Society, which runs the Abbey Theatre. I think the members of the House will agree that this particular Society has done work of really great public importance during the years of its existence. We hear talk often of propaganda abroad, and the attraction of tourists here, but I do not think there is any agency in the country which has done so much to make the name of this country favourably known abroad as that particular Society. I think it would be a misfortune if the only institution in the country which provides an incentive to literary and dramatic work should be closed down. During the past twelve years for which accounts have been examined in my Department the Theatre has made a small profit only in three years. In the other years there were losses, and in some of the disturbed years considerable losses, and the amount of the losses for the period of the twelve years was £5,337, giving an average loss of about £450 a year for the period. The result is that the Theatre is now without capital, and has had to mortgage its building. The seating capacity of the Theatre is small, being able to accommodate only 548 people, and the receipts resulting from a full house would be about £60. The average weekly earnings of the actors and actresses in the Theatre are small, and no director or shareholder draws any dividend whatever from the Theatre. Previously it was possible for the people concerned with the Theatre to get assistance and subscriptions even from England, and from Irish people in England, but with the setting up of the State that source of revenue or assistance disappeared and cannot be drawn upon any longer.
Since its inception the Abbey Theatre has been responsible for the original production of more than 170 plays. I think the intention is that the National Theatre Society should continue to do its work, and that a grant in aid should be given, as grants in aid are given to various other institutions. The present directors of the Theatre would be only too anxious that a director or two should be nominated by the Government, and probably we may nominate directors. However, we certainly are not desirous to take responsibility for the working of such an institution, for it is the sort of thing that a Government would find it very hard to do, and it involves considerations, and the exclusion of considerations, which would be very difficult under Government control. I believe that we will get extremely good value for the public and for the country by this particular grant. It is one of the institutions that lends some distinction to Dublin as the capital of the State. I do not think that because this is a comparatively poor country, and a democratic country, where you usually do not have rich people readily undertaking works that such people might undertake in other countries, that we should be content to allow institutions that have been in existence to die out. I think we must have this sort of institution, and the sort of activities it stands for, in this country if we are to keep the affection of the citizens of the country for the country in the way we would like it to be kept. I do not put this forward as a strictly utilitarian expenditure, yet I think if we take the long view of expenditure of this nature it is in the best sense utilitarian, and gives very good results for the country.
