I move:
"Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £2,500 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1937, i gcóir Roimhíoca chun Cuideachta Aer-Iompair do bhunú (Uimh. 40 de 1936).
That a sum not exceeding £2,500 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1937, for an Advance for the establishment of an Air Transport Company (No. 40 of 1936)."
As Deputies are aware, the policy of the Government with regard to the development of civil aviation in the Saorstát envisages the establishment of a national aviation company which will operate, either directly or through subsidiaries, all internal air transport services, and which will represent the Saorstát in international air services connecting the Saorstát with other countries.
The principal object of the company will be the development of civil aviation on an extensive scale and it will be the duty of its directors to formulate and pursue a policy designed to that end. Such a policy will aim, amongst other things, at making the Saorstát the international junction for air traffic between Europe and North America, not only by direct services by air, but also by providing air connections at Saorstát ports with transatlantic shipping. It should, we think, be feasible in time to establish air services connecting the Saorstát directly with all the principal European countries.
Powers to enable that policy to be put into effect were obtained by the Air Navigation and Transport Act passed last year. Section 68 of the Act requires the Minister for Finance to secure the formation and registration of a limited company conforming to certain specified conditions. It appears to be inevitable that in any development of civil aviation in this country on a reasonably large scale the Government will have to take the initiative or, at any rate, take a very active part and that, in the early stages at least, the Minister for Finance will have to provide the necessary capital. The Act, therefore, provides for the acquisition of shares in the company by the Minister for Finance up to the total nominal value of the share capital and for a guarantee by the same Minister in respect of any debentures issued by the company. The company will be organised on ordinary commercial lines, and it is intended that, so far as such a course is compatible with the discharge of its special duties and responsibilities, the board of the company should carry out its functions in the same way as the board of an ordinary business concern.
The commercial activities of the proposed company will, so far as can be foreseen at present, fall under the following main heads. First of all, I mention the transatlantic services. Under the recent Inter-Governmental Agreement, a joint operating company will be responsible for the operation of the transatlantic air services as soon as the experimental period is over, and that company is to be incorporated at the instance of three companies, each company nominated by one of the three Governments concerned. It is intended that this national company will be nominated for that purpose by the Government of the Saorstát. That nomination will involve the company's holding 24½ per cent. of the capital stock of the joint operating company. The capital of the joint company is visualised at about £1,000,000, so that the Saorstát company's holding will be about £245,000. The board of directors on the joint company, that is the Joint Transatlantic Services Operating Company, will be nine in number, and the Ottawa Agreement provides that three of these will be nominated by the Saorstát company. Under the financial arrangements connected with the project, the Saorstát Government is undertaking responsibility for the payment of 5 per cent. of the annual subsidy to the services, subject to a maximum of £12,000 per annum. It is intended that any contributions payable under that undertaking will be paid through the national company. Authority for the payment of that subsidy is given in Section 79 of the Act; but the money will, of course, have to be voted by Dáil Eireann as required.
The second I mention is the cross-channel air services. These services are at present operated by Aer Lingus, Teoranta. They are being financed on a temporary basis at the present time, but provision is being made in the capital of the national company for capitalising Aer Lingus, Teoranta, the nominal capital of which is £100,000. That means that the cross-channel air services will be operated by a subsidiary company of this national company. The unusual procedure of setting up a subsidiary before the parent company was due to the Government's desire to have these cross-channel services operated as early as possible. The existing service provides transport between Dublin and London via Bristol. During the summer months services were provided from Dublin to the Isle of Man and from Dublin to Liverpool. Extensions of these services to Belfast and Scotland from Dublin, and from Cork to Wales and the South of England are matters for consideration in the early future.
I next mention other international services and internal services. In operating internal services the company will be breaking new ground and the adaptation of air services for the economic requirements of air traffic within the Saorstát will be a problem to be dealt with. It is to be assumed that at some stage the question of establishing air connections between Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Galway will come up for consideration. Besides the cross-channel services to Great Britain attention will have to be given to the operation of direct services to the Continent of Europe. Some of the transatlantic shipping companies have already shown their interest in air services linking up with their liners calling at Saorstát ports. Any internal development is, of course, dependent upon the provision of suitable aerodromes. I have been trying to impress this on the local authorities in Cork and in Galway. Cork has had the position investigated by a firm of aerodrome construction consultants and Galway is also considering the provision of an aerodrome. The setting-up of connecting services between the Shannon airport and the Continent is a matter of prime importance for consideration by this national company.
There is a certain amount of charter work, that is, the type of air service which is called, I think, air taxi work which this company will also perform; that is the provision of special planes as required by Press reporters, medical people and so forth. It is to be assumed that the demand for such services in the Saorstát will diminish when regular services are established, but meanwhile there is no reason why this company should not seek to meet it. It may be found advantageous to arrange that the transatlantic airport on the Shannon will be operated for the Government by the national company, charges on the usual scale being made to any companies utilising the airport. The management of aerodromes is often undertaken by operating or air servicing companies and this is so even in the case of aerodromes established by municipal authorities. As the national company to be established will be the only Saorstát company operating services, it may be called upon to undertake the management of aerodromes at Dublin, Cork and other places.
While it is uncertain whether the manufacture of aircraft will be undertaken in the Saorstát as a commercial operation, it will be necessary to provide facilities for the repair and overhaul of aircraft, including private aeroplanes, operating within and to and from the Saorstát. As this national company is to be responsible for practically all the commercial flying operations in the Saorstát the training of flying and ground personnel will come within the company's province. There is also a considerable amount of work done by firms in other countries engaged in air photography and air surveys, and the national company will probably find it desirable to interest itself in this business. It may also be found necessary, and not merely necessary but desirable, to popularise flying amongst the people, by organising special aerial displays and demonstration flights. The amount asked for is £2,500. That is required to defray the initial expenses in connection with the establishment of the company. The greater part of that amount comes back to the Exchequer in the form of stamp duty. The stamp duty on the capital of the proposed company of £500,000 is £1,250, and the expenses of printing the memorandum and articles of association are also being provided for, together with the necessary expenses in the form of repayment of advances made to the company to meet the expenditure between the present time and the time that the capital of the company will have been subscribed. The Act provides for the advance of a sum up to £5,000 for this purpose. We consider, having regard to experience of the floatation of other smaller companies that a sum of £2,500 should be sufficient and I move that that amount be made available.
