I move:—That a sum not exceeding £10,172,000 be granted on account for or towards defraying the charges that will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1936, for certain public services, namely:—
1 |
Governor-General's Establishment |
£670 |
2 |
Oireachtas |
37,900 |
3 |
Department of the President of the Executive Council |
3,800 |
4 |
Comptroller and Auditor - General |
5,500 |
5 |
Office of the Minister for Finance |
21,000 |
6 |
Office of the Revenue Commissioners |
242,000 |
7 |
Old Age Pensions |
1,150,000 |
8 |
Local Loans |
440,000 |
9 |
Commissions and Special Inquiries |
3,820 |
10 |
Office of Public Works |
33,200 |
11 |
Public Works and Buildings |
296,000 |
12 |
State Laboratory |
2,460 |
13 |
Civil Service Commission |
6,400 |
14 |
Property Losses Compensation |
37,000 |
15 |
Personal Injuries Compensation |
550 |
16 |
Superannuation and Retired Allowances |
150,400 |
17 |
Rates on Government Property |
30,000 |
18 |
Secret Service |
6,700 |
19 |
Tariff Commission |
1,800 |
20 |
Expenses under the Electoral Act, and the Juries Act |
Nil |
21 |
Miscellaneous Expenses |
2,500 |
22 |
Stationery and Printing |
45,000 |
23 |
Valuation and Boundary Survey |
9,900 |
24 |
Ordnance Survey |
11,500 |
25 |
Supplementary Agricultural Grant |
450,500 |
26 |
Law Charges |
22,000 |
27 |
Haulbowline Dockyard |
2,500 |
28 |
Universities and Colleges |
77,900 |
29 |
Electrical Battery Development |
4,000 |
30 |
Quit Rent Office |
1,150 |
31 |
Remuneration for management of Government Stocks |
15,200 |
32 |
Office of the Minister for Justice |
11,400 |
33 |
Gárda Síochána |
662,000 |
34 |
Prisons |
24,000 |
35 |
District Court |
12,900 |
36 |
Supreme Court and High Court of Justice |
16,500 |
37 |
Land Registry and Registry of Deeds |
15,700 |
38 |
Circuit Court |
18,400 |
39 |
Public Record Office |
1,600 |
40 |
Charitable Donations and Bequests |
1,000 |
41 |
Local Government and Public Health |
366,600 |
42 |
General Register Office |
4,060 |
43 |
Dundrum Asylum |
5,000 |
44 |
National Health Insurance |
105,600 |
45 |
Office of the Minister for Education |
54,100 |
46 |
Primary Education |
1,360,000 |
47 |
Secondary Education |
130,700 |
48 |
Technical Instruction |
77,200 |
49 |
Science and Art |
14,900 |
50 |
Reformatory and Industrial Schools |
61,000 |
51 |
National Gallery |
1,900 |
52 |
Agriculture |
333,000 |
53 |
Fisheries |
16,500 |
54 |
Lands |
571,500 |
55 |
Forestry |
76,800 |
56 |
Gaeltacht Services |
27,600 |
57 |
Industry and Commerce |
105,200 |
58 |
Transport Services (late Railways) |
650 |
59 |
Railway Tribunal |
900 |
60 |
Marine Service |
3,900 |
61 |
Unemployment Insurance and Unemployment Assistance |
503,000 |
62 |
Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office |
5,200 |
63 |
Posts and Telegraphs |
700,000 |
64 |
Wireless Broadcasting |
13,600 |
65 |
Army |
501,000 |
66 |
Army Pensions |
130,000 |
67 |
External Affairs |
26,700 |
68 |
League of Nations |
4,540 |
69 |
Relief Schemes |
175,000 |
70 |
Export Bounties and Subsidies |
900,000 |
71 |
Repayment of Dáil Eireann External Loans |
4,000 |
72 |
Compensation Bounties |
17,000 |
TOTAL |
10,172,000 |
As Deputies are aware, our Standing Orders provide that the Estimates shall be disposed of and the necessary legislation, that is, the appropriation Bill passed into law before the 1st August. On the other hand, it is also provided that the consideration of the Estimates cannot be taken until after the commencement of the new financial year. They cannot be taken before the first day of the new financial year.
Meanwhile, provision must be made for carrying on the public services. The usual practice in that regard is to provide, by means of a Vote on Account, for the expenses of the various Departments up to the 1st August, up to the date at which the Appropriation Bill in the ordinary course must become law. Roughly, the amount for which the Vote is taken in this way works out at about one-third of the total supply votes. In the case of some of the Departments less than one-third will be required before the critical date; in other cases more than that amount is wanted. The amount set out in the Vote on Account is the amount that will enable the various Departments to carry on until that date. In case the main votes are not passed before that time, the sums which are provided by way of a Vote on Account cannot be used for the initiation of any new services. If a Department has some provision in its estimate this year for work that it has not hitherto been doing, it cannot start that work until the main Estimate is passed. It cannot use the money it gets by way of Vote on Account to do some work that the Dáil has not pronounced on either by the passing of a Supplementary Estimate before the end of the preceding financial year or by way of a sub-head in the main Estimate of the current year.
Furthermore, no part of the Vote on Account can be used to defray expenditures for which statutory authority is required, nor is it usual to include in the volume of the Estimates provision for such services or for expenditures which can only be initiated by legislation. It will thus be understood why the present Vote on Account makes no provision for, amongst other things, the balance of the agricultural grant for the coming year nor for, widows' and orphans' pensions. These and other matters will be the subject of legislation which will be introduced at an early date. The Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Bill, in working out the details of which some unexpected difficulties have been encountered, will be introduced before Easter. It and other measures will involve a substantial addition to the figure of £28,737,000 odd which is now included in the Estimates which have been presented to the Dáil for the supply services.
In that connection, I should like particularly to remark that the apparent reduction in the amount for the ordinary supply Estimates for the coming year is largely due to the new provisions which we propose to make for financing local loans and, accordingly, the supply expenditures which ordinarily fall to be defrayed out of revenue show on the whole a substantial increase. I feel it is necessary to emphasise that lest a superficial survey of the Estimates should engender a feeling of undue optimism in regard to next year's Budget, which, indeed, in due course, will present its own difficulties for solution.
It is customary in dealing with the Vote on Account to take three Resolutions together. The first of these is No. 8, which is the ordinary supply Resolution which we are now debating; the other two are represented by Nos. 9 and 10 on the Order Paper. These latter are ways and means Resolutions. The first relates to those of the additional and Supplementary Estimates for the current financial year not covered by the Appropriation Act of 1934 and it may be regarded, therefore, as complementary to the individual supply Resolutions already passed in connection with these Supplementary Estimates. The second Resolution is the ways and means Resolution corresponding to the supply Resolution moved in connection with the Vote on Account, in which case the amount is £10,172,000. This Resolution is necessary in the process of making the money available out of the Central Fund to meet the grant of supply.
In conclusion, perhaps, I might appeal to Deputies in discussing the Vote to avoid questions of detail, for it is scarcely possible to answer a matter of detail unless due notice has been given that the particular item to which it relates is going to be raised. This is desirable even when the main Estimates are under consideration and it is much more desirable when we are dealing with a Vote on Account, when any one of the matters that are comprised in the main Estimates might be made the subject of discussion. I think if the House would agree, it would facilitate business if general matters were discussed on the Vote on Account and we here on the Government side could arrange with Deputies on the other side of the House to have any Estimates in which they are particularly interested taken early so that there may be the fullest opportunity for discussion.