I move:—
Go ndeontar suim Bhreise ná raghaidh thar £10 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1940, chun caiteachais i dtaobh Foirgintí Puiblí; chun Páirceanna agus Oibreacha Puiblí áirithe do chothabháil; agus chun Oibreacha Dréineála do dhéanamh agus do Chothabháil.
That a Supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1940, for Expenditure in respect of Public Buildings: for the Maintenance of certain Parks and Public Works; and for the Execution and Maintenance of Drainage Works.
This Supplementary Estimate arises really out of a gift which the trustees of the Rotunda Hospital propose to make to the State. The matter arises in this way: At the beginning of 1935, Deputy Oscar Traynor, the present Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, and several former I.R.A. officers, on behalf of the Dublin Brigade Council of the Old I.R.A., submitted a memorandum to an inter-Departmental Committee of this State suggesting that, perhaps, the Rotunda Gardens might be taken over by the Government and converted into a public park to be dedicated to the memory of all who gave their lives in the cause of Irish freedom. On investigating this proposal, it was ascertained that arrangements had already been completed for the erection of a nurses' residence on portion of the Rotunda grounds, and that the space remaining for the park would be approximately an area of one and a half acres. In the course of the inquiries, members of the managing committee of the Rotunda and the governors became aware of the purpose for which the inquiries had been made, and, as a result, after overcoming a considerable number of legal and other difficulties which were in the way, on the 8th April, 1938, at a meeting of the board of the hospital, a resolution was passed unanimously making a gift to the Government of the plot of ground available at the northern end of the Rotunda Gardens, subject to the terms of an agreement to be drawn up by the board's solicitors. The only condition attached to the gift was that proper precautions were to be taken against undue noise, as the nurses' quarters, where nurses on night duty sleep during the day, were within a short distance of the plot.
Arrangements for the transfer of the plot have not yet been completed but a draft agreement, which is being prepared, provides inter alia (a) for the erection and maintenance by the Commissioners of Public Works of a suitable railing between the gardens and the remainder of the hospital grounds, (b) for the closing of the entrance to the gardens at times to be fixed by mutual consent, (c) that no building shall at any time be erected on the grounds without a licence in writing from the governors of the hospital. The adaptation of the plot as a Garden of Remembrance is under consideration. Apart from the cost of providing a memorial, the grounds will have to be improved at a cost, perhaps, of some thousands of pounds and will, naturally, have to be maintained from year to year. Owing to the unusual nature of the transaction, it has been thought desirable that the matter should be brought to the notice of the Dáil by means of this Supplementary Estimate. While the sum of £2,060 provided in sub-head A of the Estimate is technically described as being in respect of the purchase, it is, in reality, a payment to enable the governors to provide accommodation elsewhere for the employees of the hospital housed in two lodges in the grounds, which lodges may, perhaps, have to be demolished. I should like to make quite clear that while we describe this as a purchase in the details of the printed Estimate, it is, in substance, a free gift. For the very valuable site, the governors are getting barely what would compensate them for relinquishing the existing buildings upon it and enable them to defray the law costs incurred.
In submitting this Estimate to the Dáil, I think I ought on behalf of the Government and, I am sure, on behalf of the House, express to the governors and board of the hospital and to those who have acted as intermediaries, our very deep appreciation of their public-spirited action in this matter. I am sure I can undertake on behalf of the Government and of the Oireachtas that the purpose to which this very valuable site will be devoted will be worthy of the gift which they have made.
