I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £24,549 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1939, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí i dtaobh Iascach Mara agus Intíre, maraon le hIldeontaisí-i-gCabhair.
That a sum not exceeding £24,549 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1939, for Salaries and Expenses in connection with Sea and Inland Fisheries, including sundry Grants-in-Aid.
This Estimate is set out under four main headings, viz.: Administration, Sea Fisheries, Inland Fisheries and Sea Fisheries Association. The total expenditure provided for shows a net decrease of £4,930 as compared with the figure for the previous year. The section dealing with Administration consists of four sub-heads — A, B, C and D. The increase of £1,356 shown in sub-head A over the corresponding figure for the preceding 12 months is due, in part, to the normal increments on salaries, and, in part, to addition to the staff of an assistant principal officer and one extra junior executive officer. The figures at sub-head B call for no comment. The provision under sub-head C and sub-head D is somewhat greater than that for last year mainly because of additional expenditure anticipated with regard to the items of advertising and telephone calls.
It may be well to repeat what I indicated when introducing last year's Estimate, namely, that in the event of the major Fisheries Bill being enacted within the current financial year, some increased outlay upon administrative and technical staff may prove to be inevitable during that year. The Bill in question is a rather comprehensive one and the preparation of it has entailed very full consideration of important points that arose as the measure was being got into shape.
It will be noted that there is an increase of £1,989 in the provision made for Sea Fisheries as a whole in comparison with the previous year's figure. I do not think that sub-heads E (1). E (2) and E (5) call for any comment. The items comprised in them are not large and there is no change in last year's figures. The increased outlay provided for at sub-head E (3) is to be explained by our having a second fishery cruiser in commission. When a Supplementary Estimate was submitted a few months ago for the fisheries service Deputies were made aware that this vessel has been taken over on a charter basis. That charter is due to expire towards the end of the calendar year 1938 and, consequently, provision is being made in respect of it for only part of the financial year. Should it be found advisable, after reasonable trial has been had of the vessel, to extend the charter period, it will be necessary to come here later with a Supplementary Estimate.
Next, there is an increase of £475 shown in the figures under sub-head E (4) which deals with whaling. Administration of the Whale Fisheries Act, 1937, is a new responsibility for my Department, and when introducing the Supplementary Estimate which, inter alia, covered expenditure thereon, I explained to the Dáil that we received licence fees from certain ships which had been registered in this country, and that, in return, we had to appoint officers to supervise the whaling operations conducted by such ships, in that way discharging our obligations as signatories to the Geneva Convention and the London Agreement with regard to whaling generally. The figures now set down are necessarily contingent upon factors beyond our control inasmuch as we cannot say what number, if any, of the whaling vessels now registered with us will continue that registration, or whether the existing number is likely to be increased. The main point, however, is that whatever be the number of such registrations, the receipts from licence fees are not merely to counter-balance but to exceed somewhat our expenditure upon supervision. The receipts by way of such licence fees would come in as an Appropriation-in-Aid of this Vote and Deputies will notice that we have made an estimate of the figure under sub-head H (8).
The aggregate expenditure set down for inland fisheries is £58 below that for the previous year. The previous year's figure, however, included a purely temporary item of £108, and, therefore, there is really an increase of just £56 when the normal items of this sub-head as a whole are compared with those for 1937/38. Subhead F (1) shows a reduction of £25 in the item concerning improvement of fish passes; but the reduction of £250 in the provision for grants to Boards of Conservators is offset by a like increase in the provision for payment to local authorities under the Fisheries Act, 1925. At sub-head F (2) there is an increase of £50 over last year's figure for fish hatcheries and at sub-head F (3) a rise of £25 in the total figure for wages and expenses in connection with the working of certain fisheries which are in the control of my Department. Sub-head F (4) calls for no particular comment.
With regard to the Sea Fisheries Association, the provision made in this part of the Estimate falls under four sub-heads. Sub-head G (1) covers the amount set down by way of Grants-in-Aid to this association towards the payment of its administrative expenses, and the figure is the same as that which was provided last year. Sub-head G (2) represents another Grant-in-Aid to the association, but in this case the money is to be devoted to schemes of general improvement for our sea fisheries, these schemes to be of such a nature as appear to my Department to be commendable, because it is on the recommendation of my Department that the Minister for Finance will agree to the issue of any such grant. The amount set down in this Estimate is £5,000, as against the sum of £10,000 which was voted last year. I will refer to this difference later.
Sub-head G (3) comprises the provision made for the issue to this association of repayable advances (not grants) for the purchase of boats and gear (and for the repair of such chattels) which are issued to approved members under a hire purchase contract. Here again the amount set down in this Estimate is £5,000, as against £10,000 voted last year, and I shall refer later to this difference also. Sub-head G (4) concerns a provision for repayable advances to be made to this association for the construction of works of a more or less permanent nature, that is to say, lobster ponds and such like structures, the need for which is very clear if our fishermen are to be in a position to dispose of their catches of shell-fish under the most favourable market conditions. The provision of £2,000 set down in this Estimate is considerably greater than the net amount voted last year for this particular sub-head.
In explaining the reduction in the aggregate amount provided under the four sub-heads just mentioned, that is to say, the drop from last year's £30,327 to £22,000 this year, a difference of £8,247, I would remind Deputies that it became necessary to set up an InterDepartmental Committee to examine the working of this association generally — to undertake, as it were, a sort of stocktaking of the whole position so that we might see what precisely had, so far, been achieved and what relation the results bore to the expenditure made in attaining them; also in what respects, if any, the procedure and general working of this association could be improved in the interests of its members and of our sea fisheries generally. That Committee of Inquiry, having been in consultation with the directors of the association, very soon found that there was a considerable cleavage of viewpoint as among these directors, and that, in short, there did not exist that spirit of agreement which is so important if the team-work of a board of directors is to be effective. Consequently, a few months ago it was arranged that the directors of this association would appoint a manager on my nomination and would transfer to that officer for a limited period all their powers and responsibilities under the association's rules. In that way we hoped that this manager would be free to survey the whole position, and to carry on the immediate work of the association free from any discordant notes, and thus place himself in a position to report fully to the Committee of Inquiry and to me at the end of his term of office as to the prospects of making this association an ultimate success.
The manager's first term of office having expired, it was arranged that the heavy weight of responsibility which he had been carrying should be restored in large measure to the board of directors. The election of two directors in the ordinary course by the members and the nomination by two others by me having taken place — all in accordance with the association's rules — and the full board of eight directors having been completed by the filling of these four vacancies, it was settled that the directors would avail themselves of the services of the manager for a further period, and would accord him a fairly wide discretion in the discharge of his duties. Such is the present position, and we all hope that with the whole-time assistance of their manager, the directors will find themselves able to reach a measure of success with this association which in the absence of such an officer they had failed to achieve.
While, however, the modification or expansion of their plans by this board is in progress I have not considered it necessary to ask for quite the same provision in respect of sub-heads G (2) and G (3) as was made last year. This is partly because the provision then made for G (2) had been availed of only in small degree by the association, and partly because I prefer to await having from this new board of directors a more or less definite statement of their aims of policy before undertaking to ask for larger sums of money to be made available for disbursement upon the work of this association. It will, I feel, be considered more satisfactory by the Dáil if I adopt this line and then come back by way of a Supplementary Estimate should I be convinced that a case has been made by the new board for the provision of further funds to them.
I do not think there is much need for me to say a great deal about Appropriations-in-Aid. The first item is stereotyped; the second item represents what we hope to retrieve during the coming year out of the considerable arrears that have been outstanding for a long time on foot of the fishery loans which were issued many years ago; and the third item is a token one to cover a case where a borrower has died without assets save perhaps the remains of some old boat which has to be disposed of for a trifle by my Department as creditor. Item (4) represents the income expected from the letting of sporting rights, and those fisheries the maintenance of which is provided for under sub-head F (3) before mentioned. Item (5) represents the estimate of what we may expect to get during the coming year from the Sea Fisheries Association in repayment of the principal and interest due by them on advances made under sub-heads G (3) and G (4), already referred to. Item (6) stands for the recoupment of the salaries of certain officers who are dealt with in sub-head A, but who have been seconded for service with the association. Item (7) represents the anticipated receipt by way of special local licences for netting in the estuaries of the Erne and Owenea, respectively, out of which receipt we have to meet the payment covered by item (5) of the sub-head F (1). Item (8) represents the expected receipts from licences which may be paid to us in respect of vessels operating under the Whale Fisheries Act, 1937, and to which I have already referred in discussing the provision set down contra at sub-head E (4). Item (9) is the same as last year and does not call for special comment. It will be observed that the total of the Appropriations-in-Aid is estimated at about the same as last year's figure.
Before concluding, I should like to advert to the statements made by me upon more than one occasion as to the opening which, in my opinion, existed in this country for a properly equipped and well-managed deep-sea trawling company. I am glad to say that quite recently arrangements were made whereby the Dublin Trawling, Ice and Cold Storage Company, which had been dormant for a considerable time, has been taken over and rehabilitated by a commercial group. The company has at least four steam trawlers now in commission, and is, I understand, busily engaged in arranging for a considerable expansion of its fleet. While we all wish the best of luck to this group of business men in their enterprise, I want to make it quite clear that this revival of the company is not a State undertaking. It is nothing more or less than a commercial undertaking or investment by the parties concerned. On the other hand, the Government are pleased to see that this local industry has been revived; and, so far as it may be within the province of my Department, or any other Department of State, to facilitate those who have undertaken this revival, that will be done.
