I move the Second Reading of this Bill. I have carried the Bill about in my pocket since its introduction and it has reached such a frayed state that I can scarcely read it at present. It is a short and simple Bill. Its subject is as it is set forth in the title:
"An Act for the granting of powers to enable funds to be raised by means of sweepstakes and drawings of prizes for the support of public charitable hospitals and sanatoria in Saorstát Eireann."
In its inception I had no part. It originated with a Joint Committee of six or eight hospitals, the financial position of which was so precarious that they were threatened unless funds could be raised by some means in the near future. I understand that the combined indebtedness of these six hospitals as far as overdrafts to the bank are concerned is not less than £60,000. This Joint Committee finds that if it were desirable funds could not be raised from the State. Even if the State were offering to support the hospitals, I do not think I personally would agree to it. There was no hope, at all events, when the Committee turned their attention to the charitable public, that the public could open their purse-strings more widely than they had done in the past, and I will refer later on to the extent to which the charitable public have been able to support the hospitals within the last few years. This Committee, however, had before them the encouraging fact that in recent times one hospital had benefited to the extent of £25,000 and a second hospital to the extent of £10,000 by means of sweepstake schemes promoted on their behalf. The obvious course, therefore, for that Committee was to endeavour to make money by these means, the only means which seemed possible for them to adopt. A scheme was drawn up. It might be laid before the Minister for Justice for his approval or amendment or his rejection, whichever he considered necessary, but in order that the Minister for Justice would have the power to adopt any scheme it was necessary that the Oireachtas should empower him to do so by passing a measure on the lines indicated in this Bill. Accordingly the Bill was drafted and placed in my hands with a view to introducing it and endeavouring to secure its passage through the Dáil. As far as I am personally concerned, I have had nothing to do with the drawing up of the scheme or of the Bill. The Bill was actually placed in my hands before I knew any proposal of such a sort had been adopted by these hospitals, and I may say at once if there had seemed to me any other method of securing financial aid for the poverty-stricken hospitals I should not have consented to bringing the measure before the Dáil. I have no great desire to see the hospitals supported by means of sweepstakes, but I am driven to this position, that these hospitals which are involved have practically no other means by which they are to subsist unless a measure such as I am proposing tonight passes the Oireachtas.
As far as the Bill itself is concerned it is a short measure. The first clause deals with power to hold sweepstakes or drawings of prizes.
"Every such sweepstake or drawing of prizes shall be held carried on or conducted by a Committee to be appointed by the Board of such hospital or sanatorium and subject to a scheme drawn up by such Committee which shall be submitted to and subject to the approval of the Minister for Justice."
That leaves the onus of drawing up a scheme upon the Joint Committee of the hospitals which have agreed to enter into the scheme. It will be necessary for the hospitals to show that they are in financial difficulties before they can expect to get into this scheme. The board of one hospital or a number of hospitals are prepared to go in in order to formulate this scheme. This scheme was drawn up by these hospitals that were in very great need of money. There is no reason why under the Bill any number of hospitals, situated in any part of the country, should not themselves join together, form a scheme and lay the scheme before the Minister. If he approves of the scheme it should be allowed to go on. In other words, Cork, Waterford, Limerick and the other cities are at liberty, after drafting a scheme, to lay it before the Minister, and may take advantage of this. This is only a temporary measure. This is not a permanent measure. I want to lay stress upon that fact. It is a temporary measure, and is entitled the Public Charitable Hospitals (Temporary Provisions) Bill. In that way the provisions of it are confined solely to sweepstakes relating to hospitals. The clause at the end says that the Bill is to remain in force until 1st July, 1933. I do not know but that it would be advisable, perhaps, to extend it for another year, in case the experiment has not been sufficiently tried before then.
The next thing I have to do is to show the necessity on the part of the hospitals that have joined in this scheme. I have before me a statement from the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street. Their present overdraft is £1,916, practically £2,000. The cost of running that hospital during 1929 was £6,413. I want to lay special stress upon the voluntary subscriptions, because people have said to me, "Why do you not get people to put their hands in their pockets and support the hospitals?" This is a hospital which is doing a tremendous amount of good work. I am told that it will probably have to close its doors, unless those in control are able to get money because a great deal of repairs have to be done. They have nearly £2,000 of an overdraft, still the voluntary subscriptions, including special donations and a charity sermon amounted in 1929 to £463. Those who talk about another method of raising money for hospitals may at once exclude the particular method of trying to get money from the charitable public. The next on the list is Jervis Street Hospital. The present overdraft amounts to £22,472, while the cost of running the hospital amounts to £9,264. Voluntary subscriptions, including special donations during 1927, came to £746; in 1928, £737; so that out of a total cost of roughly between £9,000 and £10,000 to run the hospital, they are only able to get between £700 and £800 in voluntary subscriptions from the charitable public.
The next on the list is St. Mary's Open Air Hospital, Cappagh, Finglas, Co. Dublin. They have a bank overdraft of £9,918 6s. 8d. Their total debt is £20,918, so that they are in a bad way. I have not as many details about this hospital as I have about the others. Coming to the National Children's Hospital in Harcourt Street we find that during 1928, 319 indoor patients were treated, and there was a great deal of outdoor work with ultra violet rays and radiographs. The overdraft amounts to £6,823, or nearly £7,000. Lord Powerscourt, who was Chairman of the Hospital announced a few months ago that unless funds were available this year the hospital would be closed, as they were not going to run it any longer unless some further support came along. St. Ultan's Hospital is a comparatively small one, and so new that one would hardly expect them to have an overdraft. It amounts to £1,410. The number of patients was 286 during the month of June, 1929; 124 being treated free; 32 paid 2/6d. weekly; 113 paid sums varying from 3/- to 10/- weekly; and 17 paid £1 1s. 0d. weekly. During the same period 5,873 babies were treated in the extern department, no charge being made for the service. As far as this small hospital is concerned they want a good deal of money for things that are needed. At present the overdraft in the bank is over £1,400.
I come now to Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, with which I am connected. The debit balance at the bank on 6th February was £9,384. No State grant was received by the hospital. The number of patients during the year was 1,577, the number of patients admitted who paid nothing, 420, and the total number of patients treated at the outdoor dispensary during the year came to 28,874. The subscriptions and donations here show a little better result than in the case of the others. The subscriptions received from the charitable public during 1929 came to £2,081, but the total cost of running the hospital was roughly £10,000, so that only one-fifth of the total cost is supplied by the charitable public. The amount received from bequests and legacies amounted to £1,132, and from patients able to pay, £3,297. As a matter of fact, the hospital is at present being run at £1,000 of a loss yearly, and such a state of affairs cannot go on. Help must be received or eventually the hospital must be closed.
The Richmond, Whitworth and Hardwick Hospitals have an overdraft of £2,000. I have a long statement about them which I need not go into now. These hospitals are in a different position from some of the others, because they are in receipt of a pretty large grant from the Government. They formerly received something like £7,500, but last year the grant was cut down, as far as I remember, to £5,000, so that the overdraft now amounts to £2,000.
These are the chief points I have to deal with in regard to the necessity of raising money for these hospitals. I think I have shown without any question that money is needed. In 1923, when a previous Bill was introduced, a Select Committee was appointed with power to take evidence. One of the things upon which they took evidence was to find out whether the hospitals were really in a state of want. The Select Committee found without any question that the hospitals needed money very much. Nothing was done at the time. A second point was also inquired into, the expense of running sweepstakes. The Committee came to the conclusion that the expense of running sweeps amounted roughly to anything from 36 to 40 per cent. They had before them, and put on record the expenses of three sweeps that were run by the late Canon Nolan in County Antrim. Seeing that the figures were audited, the result is interesting. The prize money amounted to £5,000, postage to £13,000, printing and stationery to £600, wages to £3,650, and advertising £205.
The total cost of running the sweeps amounted to £31,171. The tickets sold in three sweeps amounted to £84,163, leaving a total balance of practically £53,000, so that the promoters would have the benefit of that sum, which represented 63 per cent. of the total, while the expenses represented 37 per cent. As I said, the previous Select Committee that had power to take evidence when appointed by the Dáil in 1923, reported that roughly the expenses of any sweepstake must be round about that figure. There is, I take it, no necessity at present to refer this Bill to a Committee for the purpose of making inquiries of that kind, because there is in existence the Report of the previous Committee. So far as the first point is concerned, namely, the necessitous position of the hospitals, I think I have dealt with that at sufficient length to convince everyone. If the Bill passes Second Reading, as I hope it will, any scheme drawn up by the Committee of the various hospitals which join in it must go before the Minister for Justice for his approval. He will have power to say whether a proper percentage of the total sale of tickets is being allotted towards the expenses of maintaining hospitals. Furthermore, if the Bill passes Second Reading, it will automatically be referred to a Select Committee of eleven members appointed by the Selection Committee, who will have power to discuss the matter fully and to amend the Bill in any way that is considered necessary. An opportunity will be given to place further restrictions in regard to any matter about which there is any doubt or suspicion, and to put amendments into the Bill which will remedy that. Again I say that the measure is a mere temporary one, and is more or less in the nature of an experiment. It has been stated that it is a mistake to be sending tickets out of the country to be sold in other countries. I have here some tickets from such places as Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Canada, Northern Ireland and England. I see a receipt for £2 12s. 6d.
