I move:—
Go ndeontar suim Bhreise ná raghaidh thar £12,518 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1940, chun Bun-Oideachais, maraon le hAoisliúntas Múinteoirí Scoile Náisiúnta agus Deontas-i-gCabhair, etc.
That a Supplementary sum not exceeding £12,518 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1940, for Primary Education, including National School Teachers' Superannuation and a Grant-in-Aid, etc.
This Supplementary Estimate does not arise out of any new services or extension of old services. It arises rather as a result of an attempt to cut the Estimates too fine. There have been from time to time complaints that in estimating the expenditure for the year the Departments are inclined to overestimate. In this case the error has been in the opposite direction. The best thing to do would be to take the items in order as they appear on the Paper. There is, first of all, a sum of £1,400, grant to training colleges. That has arisen from an error in selecting the basis for the grant. The grant to training colleges consists of two parts. First there is a sum of £30 per student actually in residence, which is intended to cover the cost of food, laundry and such expenses as would go up roughly in proportion to the number of students there. Then there is a sum of £45 which is paid, not on the actual number of students in residence, but in regard to each one of what is called the licensed number. That number was chosen from the point of view of what would be an economic efficient number, taking the overheads of the college into account. A sum of £45 is paid on each one of that number. The registered number in question for the two colleges was 240, whereas the number of students in residence was 180. There was a difference, then, of 60 between the number in residence and the registered number and in making the calculation the difference between the two portions of the grant was not fully borne in mind. Therefore, an error occurred in that connection. There would have been a saving on other accounts were it not for that, and this sum of £1,400 represents the difference.
The next item is refund of cost of training. Deputies may be aware that when teachers are trained if they enter the Civil Service or do not continue in the profession of teaching they have to make a refund, on a certain basis, of the cost of training. They are supposed to do that. In certain cases a refund was obtained where it was not really due and this is refunding a refund. The sum here is £668.
Next comes the biggest item, which is £17,000. It is big absolutely but not relatively, when you take into account the large sums on which the underestimation has arisen. It is not easy, on account of the new schools being opened and so on, accurately to determine the salaries and the sum that will have to be set aside for salaries for any particular year. In this case there has been an underestimation of the amount that is actually required by £17,000 and this is to make good that amount.
The next item is van and boat services. There is an underestimation of £1,600 there. That was due largely to the fact that the Crumlin schools were not opened as early as was anticipated. It was anticipated that they would open on the 1st April last, whereas in fact they did not open until the middle of July and in the meantime a children's bus service to a city school was continued. The service was fairly costly and is the main part in that item of £1,600.
Then we have superannuation of teachers. There is a sum of £7,500 in that case. There again, the charge for pensions is constantly increasing. At its maximum it is anticipated somewhere in the neighbourhood of £500,000 would be the annual cost of the service. In this case there has also been an underestimation of £7,500.
These items added together will give you the gross total of £28,168, but on other sub-heads there have been savings to the amount of £15,650, and that gives you the net additional sum for which we are asking the Dáil— £12,518. I do not know that there is anything further that I need explain, but if there is I will be happy to do so.
