I move:
Go ndeontar suim bhreise ná raghaidh thar £350,000 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1933, chun síntiúisí i gcóir fóirthinte ar dhíomhaointeas agus ar ghátar.
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £350,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1933, for contributions towards the relief of unemployment and distress.
In June last, £150,000 was voted by the Dáil for relief work, and in the Budget statement it was indicated that the total provision which the Dáil would be called upon to make in the current year for the relief of unemployment, through relief works undertaken on the Vote, was £500,000. The present Supplementary Vote is for £350,000 and is the balance of the sum then foreshadowed. The present Vote takes the form of a Supplementary to the original Vote and no distinction has been drawn between the types of work undertaken on the last Vote and those which will be provided for out of the present one. Apart from the administrative and accounting finance, which the merging of the two Votes will permit, it is not considered that the difference of the two classes of works are sufficient to justify a completely separate Vote. As a matter of fact the work undertaken on the first was mainly that which could be put in hands at once. On the other hand the schemes which will be financed out of the present Supplementary Estimate are those which naturally would require longer investigation and preparation.
The House will be interested to know how the moneys so far have been expended. The first Vote for £150,000 was allocated as follows: Office of Public Works, £40,650; Land Commission, £15,000; Agriculture, including Forestry, £10,000; Local Government and Public Health, £64,360; Industry and Commerce, £19,990. Of the £350,000 now asked £302,924 has been already either sanctioned or allotted or earmarked for works as follows:—Office of Public Works, £200; Local Government and Public Health, £133,449; Industry and Commerce, mineral exploration and development, £9,785; Minor Relief Works, £130,500; Department of Agriculture £27,000; Industry and Commerce for Relief Schemes to be carried out by the Port and Docks Board, £2,000. Some part of this allocation is at the moment provisional only, and the figures are not to be taken as definite and binding, but they do indicate the manner in which the relief grant is being administered through various Departments under the co-ordinating authority of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance.
With regard to the rate at which the money is being expended, at the present moment there is in course of being spent a sum of £150,000 which was voted in June last. We are not at the moment in a position to say exactly how much has been expended, but it is assumed that a large part of it has been already spent. We are not able to say exactly what our commitments are in that regard, because we are only asked to re-imburse local authorities from time to time for the amounts which have been expended on relief schemes, after they have been properly certified. In addition to the amount that the Dáil is now asked to vote, it has to be remembered that the Budget proposed that we should borrow £1,000,000 on the security of the Road Fund, to be available for the special road works in 1932-33. Of this amount £701,600 has been allocated to date, and £400,000 has been actually issued on foot of this expenditure by the Department of Finance. That leaves us—with the balance of the £150,000 voted in June, the £350,000 now asked for in the Supplementary Estimate and the £600,000 yet unexpended of the million loan on the security of the Road Fund — with approximately £1,000,000 to be spent on unemployment relief during the coming winter.
I would possibly be regarded as very optimistic if I were to say that that would be sufficient provision. Possibly it will not be, but whatever provision is required to enable us to fulfil the pledges which we gave when we were seeking election we shall ask the Dáil to make in due course. If any further additional provision must be made we assure the Dáil that machinery is being set up to supervise and control expenditure on relief schemes, so that whatever public moneys may be provided for the purpose will be spent wisely, and judiciously and reproductively. We believe that it is better if people have to be taxed, and if people cannot find employment, that instead of being maintained by the community they should be maintained in work rather than in idleness. The Government is straining every nerve, and the resources of the Departments are being taxed to the utmost, in order to ensure that the money will be wisely, judiciously and reproductively spent, and that, not merely shall the community reap a return for the money in happier homes and more contented citizens, but that it will reap the return also in an improvement of the national estate which, in years to come, will yield a profit upon the moneys now provided, and will so increase the general prosperity of the community that it will be realised, that in discharging a Christian duty to its people, the State has reaped its own reward.