Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 8 Nov 1928

Vol. 26 No. 14

IN COMMITTEE ON FINANCE. - VOTE No. 21—MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES.

MINISTER for FINANCE (Mr. Blythe)

I move:—

Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £1,810 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, 1929, chun Costaisí Ilghnéitheacha áirithe maraon le Deontaisí áirithe i gCabhair.

That a sum not exceeding £1,810 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, 1929, for certain Miscellaneous Expenses, including certain Grants in Aid.

As Deputies will observe, the Vote this year differs from last year, owing to the fact that the Grant-in-Aid of the production of Father Dineen's Dictionary, which appeared on the Vote for many years, was paid last year and no longer appears. On the other hand, there appears in the Estimate a grant of £1,000 to the Irish Olympic Council as a contribution towards the expenses of sending a team of athletes to represent us at the Olympic Games. In consequence, there is a net increase in the amount of the Estimate of £500.

Mr. O'KELLY

There is one item on which perhaps the Minister could give us a little information. I would like to know in what way the £720 for research grants to students is disposed of. What kind of students are they, what institutions get the grants, and how are they used?

Mr. BLYTHE

The grants are given on the recommendation of the Minister for Education, who, in turn, gives them on the recommendation of professors in the various colleges. The great majority are given for research work in chemistry. I do not suppose I need give the names of the people who have them. Four students are receiving grants of £100 per annum; four are in receipt of £70 per annum, and one student is in receipt of £40 per annum. The first is a student in University College, Cork. The details I have are— Chemistry, a student of "The constitution of Catechin"—I do not know what that is—the next is chemistry, the next "The Preparation of Annaline Derivatives," and the next "Condensation of Aldehydes and Retones." They are matters that convey nothing to me, and I do not suggest that they convey much to the Deputies either.

Dr. RYAN

They are very badly paid.

Mr. BLYTHE

They are generally given on the recommendations of the professors of chemistry and physics.

Mr. O'KELLY

They are nearly all chemistry?

Mr. BLYTHE

Or experimental physics.

Dr. RYAN

With regard to this grant to the National Theatre Society, Ltd., I would like to know whether the Executive Council has any control over the theatre in return for that grant.

Mr. BLYTHE

When the grant was given a change was made in the articles of association of the society, or company, which controls the theatre to enable the Government to nominate a director, and the Minister for Finance has had a director on the board since then. In the first instance, Mr. George O'Brien, who is now professor of economics in the National University, was the director. He retired after a time, and Professor Walter Starkie was appointed. But, beyond simply appointing a person, the Government has not intervened in any way in the work of the theatre. It has not given any directions to its representative, and it does not require any report from him. He is there, and a report could be obtained if it were necessary. But the Government had no desire to intervene in such questions as what plays should be put on or what plays should be rejected, what actors and actresses should be employed, or any matters of that kind.

Dr. RYAN

I am glad to hear that, because there was a sort of feeling amongst certain people that the Government put in a representative there to see that no play would be produced which criticised the Government, or the Government Party, in any way.

Mr. BLYTHE

Oh, no. As a matter of fact, I think I have seen one or two plays of that sort there.

Dr. RYAN

They were very mild.

Mr. BLYTHE

No suggestion of any sort with reference to the choice of plays has been made to the direct representative of the Government.

Mr. DERRIG

Does the Minister think that "The Playboy of the Western World" was a suitable national drama to be performed on St. Patrick's Night?

Mr. BLYTHE

Well, I have not thought about that. I do not like the play much myself.

AN CEANN COMHAIRLE

resumed the Chair.

Mr. BRISCOE

In regard to item C— Grant to the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland—I would like to know if the Government has any representation on, or control of, the Society in exchange for that grant—not that I want them to have it. There is a great desire on the part of many schools to get special facilities for the admission of children on certain occasions and on certain days, and if in exchange for that grant from the State the Minister could see his way to get some facilities for the children of certain schools it would be a good thing.

Mr. BLYTHE

As a matter of fact, I think the Society would be anxious to facilitate visits of organised parties of school children, and if the Deputy mentions any school that is anxious to have this I would communicate with the Society. But I would not like to try to make it a condition of the grant, because there is no doubt that the Society labours under difficulties. In the past they were able to interest people like officers in the British Army, who had the means of procuring them gifts of animals of various kinds from abroad. They have not got the same opportunities now. Dublin is not a port to which overseas ships come as they come to other ports. Whereas in Liverpool, if there is a zoo there, and certainly in London, animals can be obtained very cheaply. Everything that the Dublin Zoo purchases has to be transported over. They have a great many difficulties to contend with, and, while I would be ready to make representations to them, I would not like to make conditions.

Mr. BRISCOE

In view of the sympathetic attitude of the Minister to the Society, if the Society were able to arrange for free hours for children to come in batches, would the Minister consider the possibility of giving the Society a slightly extended grant?

Mr. BLYTHE

That is another proposition.

Mr. ANTHONY

Does the Minister intend to make any provision under this head for societies having a cultural object, and societies which give the results of their work to the public at considerable expense and which are at a loss from year to year? I refer to such societies as the Cork Shakespearian Society, the Dramatic Society, and another very useful institution, the Operatic Society of Cork. These are educational and cultural institutions. I know these things are not very much appreciated by some of the Fianna Fáil Deputies, but I know they are doing a good deal of educational work. I suppose that not even Fianna Fáil Deputies will disagree with me when I say that there is much educational and much cultural benefit to be obtained from the works of Shakespeare. These societies have been working under great difficulties for very many years. They have produced some very fine plays and have staged some very fine operas, and they have done so at considerable loss to themselves. They have aroused considerable interest in literary and cultural circles, and I would ask the Minister, when making up his next Estimate, to arrange to give them some assistance. I do not care whether these societies are located in Cork or in Dublin, but anything that will have a cultural effect on our people will have my full support, and I am sure it will have the support of a good many other Deputies.

I think it is about time for us to devote a little of our national revenue to such institutions as I have indicated. I suppose nobody will disagree with me when I say that we have now perhaps left a good deal of the turmoil and political heat and trouble behind us, and if the Minister could see his way to arrange in his forthcoming Budget for a subsidy for these societies, even if it were only in the form of relief from the payment of tax, it would be very much appreciated by the societies that I have in view. I do not care whether these societies are in Connemara, Cork, Dublin or Drimoleague. It is all the same to me. I think that much of this side of our social life has been steadily neglected. I know that there were disturbing elements for many years that contributed to that state of affairs, but now these things have been left behind us, and we might have some indication under this head at least of some inclination to help the societies which I have mentioned. As I said, they have done some very useful work, and I suggest that the Minister should consider them in his next Budget.

Mr. KENNEDY

I would like the Minister to give us some indication of the work done by the Royal Irish Academy. The sum is rather big in comparison with the others.

Mr. BLYTHE

The Academy has been receiving grants since 1800. I could not undertake to go over its work for the Deputy in any sort of detail, because I am not sufficiently familiar with it. But in the first place it is certainly the principal learned society in the country. Papers on all sorts of scientific topics and scholarly questions are read before it and printed in its journals, and I believe it is the only way in which a scientific man or a scholar working in this country can readily get his work to the notice of students and scientists abroad. It is a society which enjoys a high reputation in that respect. It is at present doing very important work in connection with the Irish language. A great dictionary of the Irish language is being prepared by the society, and a number of people have been working on the production of that dictionary for a considerable number of years.

Mr. O'KELLY

Will the Minister please tell us when that dictionary was started?

Mr. BLYTHE

I could not tell the Deputy that at the moment.

Mr. O'KELLY

Was it started forty years ago?

Mr. BLYTHE

I know that a good deal of work has been done in recent years. I happened to be in the Academy once, and I was shown evidence of a great deal of work done in recent years. I think three competent people, with a very scholarly knowledge of Irish, have been working there constantly, under the direction of one of the greatest Irish scholars that we have. That work is being done. The society has lately undertaken the production and publication of photographic facsimiles of important Irish texts. It is also now getting photographic facsimiles of important Irish texts that are not in this country. Of course it has a priceless collection of Irish manuscripts. There are in the Bodleian Library, the British Museum, and in libraries on the Continent other Irish texts, and photographic facsimiles of these are being obtained. The Academy has now a scheme in operation to secure photographic facsimiles of all Irish manuscripts outside the country so that it will be possible for the students coming in there to have the whole treasury of Irish manuscripts available for study. A good deal of money is being spent by the Academy on its library. The present grant was fixed about two years ago or so. Up to that, since the year 1800, the amount had been fixed at £1,600. That grant was insufficient, with the necessary expenses of the society, to enable it to keep its library in condition. Many thousands of volumes had become dilapidated and required rebinding. But the Society was unable to do anything in that way, owing to the smallness of the grant and to the fact that owing to the war this grant could not be increased. The result was, what was a great national possession was being lost. The whole of the money is being spent on that work just at the present time.

Vote put and agreed to.