I move:—
Go ndeontar Suim Bhreise ná raghaidh thar Deich bPúint chun íochta an Mhuirir a thiocfidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1926, chun caiteachais i dtaobh Tithe Puiblí, chun Páirceanna agus Oibreacha Puiblí áirithe do choinneáil i dtreo, chun Oibreacha Dréineála ar Abhainn na Sionainne do choinneáil i dtreo, chun an Bhearbha do dhréineáil, agus chun Ildeontaisí i gCabhair.
That a Supplementary Sum not exceeding Ten Pounds be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1926, for expenditure in respect of Public Buildings, for the maintenance of certain Parks and Public Works, for the maintenance of Drainage Works on the River Shannon, for Barrow Drainage and Sundry Grants-in-Aid.
Deputies will see that there are two sub-heads, one in respect of new works and the other in respect of expenditure on the Barrow Drainage Scheme. The expenditure in respect of new works falls under two heads. First there is an expenditure of £500 required in connection with the Preparatory Colleges. The total estimate shown for the work is £150,000. That is an outside figure. It might, quite possibly, be considerably less than that. To some extent, whether it would be considerably less than that would depend on the possibility of getting over colleges which could be fairly easily adapted. If in any case colleges had to be built from the ground, it would probably run to double £150,000. That sum of £150,000 is an estimate which covers not merely buildings but also necessary furnishing of the colleges. It is, as I say, an outside figure and some lesser expenditure might be anticipated.
The second item under that sub-head B is the expenditure which will be incurred in connection with the erection of the 1916 Memorial in Glasnevin. £750 is now asked for. The total expenditure will be £1,050. Towards that there is an Appropriation-in-Aid available of £550, so that the total net expenditure of the State in connection with the memorial will be a sum of £500. The memorial is one that was designed and sculptured by a very distinguished Irishwoman, the late Dora Sigerson Shorter. It was her desire, which was seconded very warmly by the late General Collins and by the late President Griffith, that the memorial should be erected in Dublin. However, owing to events which intervened, no steps could be taken before Mrs. Shorter's death. She left by her will a sum of £1,000 for the purpose of providing the actual memorial and for its erection. As long ago as December, 1923, the Executive Council intimated to Mr. Shorter that they were prepared to accept the offer of the memorial and were prepared to find the site. It was thought at that time that perhaps the sum provided might be sufficient for its erection. Until recently, however, no steps were taken in the matter, but it has now been gone into fully, and it has been found possible to carry out the entire work that is necessary to be done here at the sum of £1,050, of which £550 will be available from Mr. Shorter. The expenditure will really be on the plot; because of the object for which it is desired, the Cemeteries Committee are giving it for a sum of £300. In the ordinary way the plot would be considerably more than that. The Cemeteries Committee will also undertake the perpetual care of the memorial for a sum of £150. There remains really the cost of erecting the foundation and the canopy for the memorial, which will be about £550. There will be a sum required for the transfer of the memorial to Dublin. The actual figures are being carved in Italy, the cost being paid out of the bequest left by the late Dora Sigerson. As I say, this matter has been before the Government for a very considerable time. The discussion of it was begun during the lifetime of the late General Collins and the late President Griffith.
The Barrow drainage is the remaining sub-head under which expenditure will be incurred. This is one of the most difficult problems that has come before us. Deputies are aware that it has a very long history. The Government some time ago employed Professor Meyer Peter to examine the very imperfect plans that were in existence and to proceed to prepare a scheme. He reported on 31st March, 1925, and estimated that the total cost of the work would be £1,130,000. The Government, in examining the matter, felt that one-half of the cost would have to be provided from the Exchequer if the scheme was to be proceeded with at all. Even so, it is a scheme which could only be justified on the ground that it provided a great deal of employment during this period of depression, when the giving of employment is a consideration of very great importance. It is a scheme which it is difficult to decide to go on with, and it is necessary that the greatest possible care shall be taken with in its examination. Professor Meyer Peter only embodied in his report a general design which would have to be worked out in detail by means of surveys on the ground and further examination following those surveys. The work which Professor Meyer Peter indicated as work remaining to be done was begun in July, 1925, and it is proceeding as far as weather conditions permit. It cannot be completed for some time. In addition to the surveys and the flow measurements which are taking place, valuation of land is proceeding with a view to getting an up-to-date and reliable estimate of the benefits which will accrue from the carrying out of this drainage work.
As indicating the somewhat sketchy manner in which this whole matter was dealt with in previous times, it may be said that up to the present there have been no measurements of the actual flow of water into the Barrow. When the Shannon scheme was being examined in the first instance, there were gaugings available taken over a long period of years. So far as the Barrow is concerned, these details were not available. They are just being taken now. Sufficient has not been done to provide firm results, but to some extent they seem likely to modify the estimate of the flow which has hitherto been worked upon. That estimate was simply based on the catchment area of the river and on rainfall calculations. The close examination which is being given to the matter may result in a decision to omit certain parts of the work, if they can be omitted without serious damage to the scheme. Because of the expensive nature of the work, it is very necessary to reduce the works in any way possible, if they can be reduced, without doing a great deal of damage.
One of the things which require very serious consideration is the amount of work which requires to be done below Athy. In the first schemes that were submitted there was practically no provision for work below Athy. Later on there was provision for some larger sums, but Professor Meyer Peter attached even greater importance to the work below Athy than those who had been previously dealing with the scheme, and provided, I think, for almost half of the expenditure below Athy. Some of that expenditure arose out of considerations concerning the preserving of existing facilities for navigation, and, perhaps, improving them very slightly. At any rate, the matter is being gone on with.
As the localities concerned and the benefited lands will have to pay half of the cost, it is necessary that we should do everything possible to make the scheme as cheap and economic as possible, that we should have the firmest possible figures as to what the total cost of the scheme would be and should know as far as possible what is going to be the actual benefit to the land by the scheme as carried out. The scheme is such a big one that last summer it was decided, after a great deal of consideration, that no work should be undertaken on the river which would oblige us to adopt any particular scheme or tie our hands in deciding what was the best way of dealing with the problem. The scheme is still in the condition that while we are providing under the Board of Works Estimate for the coming year for a certain sum that may be expended on works on the Barrow, those works will have to be very carefully selected and will be of a preliminary nature. They must be works that, no matter what shape the scheme afterwards takes and what possible eliminations may be made, will have to be done.
I feel that there is no scheme which requires greater scrutiny than this. If it were going to be a profitable scheme that would benefit the lands up to or beyond the extent of the expenditure, it would be easy to go ahead with it. As it is, it is not a scheme which can benefit the lands to the extent of the expenditure as far as anybody can see. We must take into consideration what effect it will have on the health of the district and on the contentment and industry of the people in the district; and what benefit will accrue from relieving people of the uncertainty that exists as well as from loss. We must take into consideration all the advantages that may accrue from carrying out works of this kind at a time when employment is needed before we can be justified in proceeding with it.
The view of the Government, after very careful consideration, is that the scheme should be gone on with, but it is absolutely necessary that the work which is now being done should be brought to its conclusion before legislation is brought before the Dáil. We must have the most complete examination and survey, both from the engineering and land-valuing point of view, that can be carried out before we commit not only the State, but also the localities concerned and the owners of the benefited lands, to the expenditure and to the charges which will ensue from the expenditure.
