Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 31 May 1939

Vol. 76 No. 3

Vote 8—Compensation Bounties.

Mr. MacEntee

I move:—

Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £31,700 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, 1940, chun Deolchairí ar shiúicre do rinneadh de bhiatas dúthchais agus ar a n-íoctar aistarrac, ar thobac do rinneadh de dhuille dhúthchais agus ar a n-íoctar aistarrac, ar thobac do fásadh tar éis an ladh Eanar, 1934, agus do dáilíodh ar dhéantóir agus do díthíodh ina dhiaidh sin mar thobac a bhí neamh-oiriúnach le haghaidh déantoireachta, agus ar thobac neadhéanta do fásadh in Éirinn agus do heasportáladh.

That a sum not exceeding £31,700 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, 1940, for Bounties on sugar made from home-grown beet on which drawback is paid, tobacco manufactured from home-grown leaf, on which drawback is paid, tobacco grown in Éire after 1st January, 1934, allocated to a manufacturer and subsequently destroyed as unfit for manufacture, and unmanufactured tobacco grown in Éire and exported.

General Mulcahy

I think it is near time that we got some explanation for this annual payment of £9,700 that is beginning to appear systematically in the Estimates to compensate manufacturers who have been forced to take home-grown tobacco and who find afterwards that it is only fit to be thrown out. I think that the House, after voting £9,700 last year, and on being asked to vote £9,700 this year, ought to get some information as to the amount of home-grown tobacco that is actually produced and the amount that is forced on tobacco manufacturers in the country, and as to what extent the amount that is found unfit for use compares with the total amount the manufacturers have to take. If this thing is going to continue—and it seems to be a kind of settled policy now—the sooner the whole position of home-manufactured and home-grown tobacco is investigated and reviewed the better. I think the Minister ought not to ask the House to pass for at least a second time this £9,700 without giving us some information on the matter.

Mr. MacEntee

I am sorry that I have not the information which the Deputy requires, but I thought the matter was explained fairly fully in my Budget speech for 1938. I would submit that the matter is primarily one for the Minister for Agriculture. My job is merely to get statutory provision to make the payment.

General Mulcahy

Your job is to explain why £9,700 of the taxpayers' money is needed to compensate manufacturers in respect of Irish-grown tobacco that was only fit to be thrown out.

Mr. MacEntee

I think the Deputy is wrong in that. The money is required not alone to refund to certain people the duty which they paid on certain classes of tobacco which were found to be unfit for manufacture, but also the duty which was paid on certain classes of tobacco manufactured in this country and exported.

General Mulcahy

What was the amount manufactured and exported, and what was the amount thrown out as unfit for use?

Mr. MacEntee

I cannot give the Deputy these figures, but if the Deputy puts down a question I shall endeavour to get them for him.

General Mulcahy

Will the Minister move to report progress on the Estimate until such time as he can get the figures?

Mr. MacEntee

I do not think that is necessary. I do not think the question arises in the way in which the Deputy asks it. I have only a general estimate to cover these payments and it is prepared on the same basis as last year. It is not taken out in the way in which the Deputy has asked for the information.

General Mulcahy

Could the Minister give us the information he has there?

Mr. MacEntee

The position is that last year the estimate for this purpose amounted to £9,700. That provision covered the amount which was required to meet payments under Section 5, (1) of the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1935, which reads: "Whenever drawback is paid on tobacco manufactured in Saorstát Éireann from leaf tobacco grown in Saorstát Éireann, the Revenue Commissioners shall, out of monies provided by the Oireachtas, pay on every pound of such tobacco to the person to whom such drawback is payable, a bounty of an amount equal to the difference per pound between the excise duty paid on such tobacco and the customs duty chargeable at the time at which the said excise duty was paid, on like tobacco not of Saorstát Éireann manufacture or growth."

General Mulcahy

How many lbs. of tobacco are involved?

Mr. MacEntee

I have not got the quantity in lbs. I cannot give the figure classified as between bounty paid on export of tobacco manufactured from home-grown leaf and the bounty paid in respect of home-grown tobacco destroyed as unfit for manufacture. The total figure is £9,700, and the total quantity of tobacco involved would be about 277,000 lbs. in respect of the three heads —that is, tobacco manufactured and exported, tobacco unmanufactured and exported, and home-grown tobacco destroyed as unfit for manufacture.

General Mulcahy

Surely the Minister ought to know, and we ought to know, how much of this was Irish-grown tobacco of such a standard that it was fit to be exported to external markets, and how much of it was tobacco that was unfit to be manufactured for use in any place?

Mr. MacEntee

On that I have no information. I am not the Minister responsible for the tobacco-growing policy. That is a matter which concerns the Minister responsible for the Tobacco Act.

General Mulcahy

Surely the Minister is responsible for telling the House why he is asking this money?

Mr. MacEntee

The House has already approved of the payment under the Finance Act of 1938 of a bounty in respect of home-grown tobacco destroyed. It is provided that every claim for payment of a bounty shall be made to the Revenue Commissioners, and that every such claim shall be determined by the Revenue Commissioners and that their determination thereof shall be final and conclusive. As to the amount which it is admitted is unfit for manufacture the Minister for Agriculture is the final authority in determining that. The Revenue Commissioners make the refund as a matter of departmental convenience, and I am merely asking the House to make the same provision as last year. If my memory is correct, the provision made last year in respect of this item was £3,000. Speaking again from recollection—I do not want to be pinned down to figures —I think the amount payable this year would be of the order of £700.

General Mulcahy

I should like to suggest to the Minister that an Estimate such as this should only be presented to the House again when he is in a position to tell the House the amount of money involved under the various heads. There should be one item showing how much money was paid as rebate on good tobacco exported and another item showing, as a separate amount, the sum paid as compensation for tobacco destroyed as being unfit for use.

Vote put and agreed to.