I take it there will be a special Vote for the £250,000 Supplementary Agricultural Grant this year. I do not think the Minister is in a position to give any information to the Dáil as to the actual position of the grant in relief of rates. There is this sum and a sum chargeable on the Central Fund payable in relief of rates, and there is also the £250,000 mentioned in this year's Budget. It would be of interest to the House to know what are the prospects of the local authorities in the matter of receiving these grants. The grants due to local authorities are liable to deduction in respect of unpaid land annuities. The moratorium declared by the Government, I take it, means that there is going to be a considerable excess deduction from the grants to which local authorities are entitled. If there is a cessation of the collection of old arrears it means that a certain flow into the Guarantee Fund which would tend to reduce the deductions would cease. I do not believe there is going to be any improvement in the current collection. I take it that a very large proportion of the money covered by the moratorium is actually money to be deducted from this grant, from the original grant, or from the new supplementary grant, so that the position of local authorities will be prejudiced to that extent. Perhaps there is a further falling off. I do not know what return the Minister may have, or whether he can yet have got a return, but when the House is voting this sum, it would be of interest and of value if it had some forecast as to the proportion of this, and the related sums that will actually go to local authorities, and what their position will be in relation to the grants.
