The Estimate for my Department this year shows a reduction of £5,716, as compared with last year's Estimate. The greater part of the total saving—the sum of £3,532—will be found under the sub-head of Salaries, Wages and Allowances, and has been effected by not filling a number of posts which fell vacant during the year. The effective staff of the Department, apart from the Film Censorship Branch, which, of course, is self-supporting and is obliged under the Act which constituted it to be self-supporting, is 69. It might, perhaps, be worth while and of interest to Deputies to analyse that personnel of 69 and to show the composition of it. Twenty-five officers—23 men and 2 women—of the Department are transferred civil servants. A further four men are re-instated civil servants—ex-civil servants brought back into the service by the Government. Amongst the 69 there is one pre-Truce Dáil employee. Then, by open or limited competition, there are a further 15 men and 6 women, a total of 21, and otherwise than by open or limited competition 2. I will explain that presently. That gives a total of 44 male and 9 female officers.
When I referred to "open or limited competition," Deputies might wonder what the significance of "limited" was in that context. That applies, of course, to the steps taken to deal with the temporary officer problem. Certain examinations were held confined to temporary officers, and they provided a means by which people, who had been, for many years, serving as temporary officers, were enabled to pass into the permanent service of the State and become established Civil Servants. These figures, at any rate, might be of interest— 25 transferred officers, 4 re-instated officers, 1 pre-Truce Dáil employee, 21 by open or limited competition, and 2 otherwise. To deal with the "two otherwise," one of these is the Assistant Secretary of my Department. He was a District Justice, and owing to the nature of the work which is performed in my Department, and to avoid unduly harassing the Attorney-General, it was found desirable to bring into the Department a man with legal qualifications. A Selection Board under the auspices of the Civil Service Commission dealt with applications. An application was forthcoming from one of the District Justices, District Justice Finlay, and the Selection Board named him for appointment to the post of Assistant Secretary to my Department. The other officer is the personal Secretary to the Minister. He was, I think, an Army officer at the time of his appointment. He was on the legal staff of the Army, and was recommended to me and accepted service as my personal Secretary. He served in that capacity for two very difficult years, and was subsequently certified as an established Civil Servant by the Civil Service Commission.
Last year, in dealing with the Estimates, I gave a rather detailed explanation of the duties of the inspector appointed under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, for which there is £50 provided in the Estimate, and of the staff charged with the administration of the Aliens Restriction Act at Cobh. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to repeat that information in dealing with this year's Estimate. The alien traffic at Cobh has increased during the past twelve months, the total landings being 7,389 as compared with 6,302 for the year 1924-5. The departures were 7,436 as compared with 5,976. For Moville, the landing figures were 1,323, and departures 1,223, as compared with 1,554 and 1,314 for 1924-5. During the year 54 aliens were refused leave to land, and a number of others were only allowed to land on a time basis, that is to say, they had business to transact in the country and were allowed to remain for a sufficient period to transact that business. A sum of £100 is provided under Incidentals to pay the expenses of deporting aliens, who, for any reason, may prove to be undesirable.
As regards the Accounts Branch, some explanation is necessary. The Accounts Branch of my Department deals not only with the accounting side of this particular Vote, but deals also with the accounting of the Gárda Síochána Vote, the Supreme Court Vote and the High Court Vote, the District Court and the Circuit Court Officers' Vote. This latter Vote, the Circuit Court Officers' Vote, has only recently been transferred to the control of my Department, and the staff in this section may show a slight increase next year as a result of the additional duties which have been taken over. On the question of accountancy it may be well to explain to Deputies that our system of accounting for the Police Vote differs from that which obtained in the past. In the past the Inspector-General of the R.I.C. was the accounting officer for the R.I.C. Vote, and county and district officers through the country were sub-accounting officers for particular portions of the total sum. The Inspector-General had, of course, a considerable clerical staff assisting him in that work, and there was a clerical staff in the suboffices throughout the country. On the whole, I think it is a more satisfactory and efficient system to have the accounting as we have it at present, centrally operative. For one thing, it leaves the specialist police officer free to do the real work of a police officer. It means that chief superintendents and superintendents through the country have not a large demand on their time by clerical office work in connection with accounting. It is, I think, also from the point of view of financial control, a better system to have the accounting done directly in the Department by civilian clerks as it is at present. It is necessary to give that word of explanation in connection with the staffing of that accounts branch which, in the absence of such explanation, might seem heavy.
The sum of £650 for contemplated additional staff is to cover the salaries of two junior officers who have been on loan from their own Department for some time and who are now being finally transferred.
In connection with the film censorship, the apparent saving on the sub-head of £966 is due to the fact that the sum provided for the cost of showing films is now borne on the Vote for Public Works and Buildings. The total quantity of films censored during the twelve months ending 31st March last was 5,191,412 feet, of which 363,709 feet represent interest films. The fees taken in the same period amounted to £2,325 17s. Complete figures for the cost of the working of this service during the same period are not yet available. But in view of the fact that there was a reduction of fees in February, 1925, there is not much likelihood of there being an appreciable surplus of receipts over expenses.
The Vote for Incidental Expenses is increased by £110. £100 of that represents the provision for the deportation of undesirable aliens to which I have referred.
As to the winding up of the affairs of the late Dáil courts, that work has now practically terminated, and the sum of £100 provided is intended to cover the few remaining claims which are under inquiry at the moment. That item will, of course, disappear from the Estimates this year.