I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £21,519 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, 1941, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí i dtaobh Iascach Mara agus Intíre, maraon le hIldeontaisí-i-gCabhair.
That a sum not exceeding £21,519 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, 1941, for Salaries and Expenses in connection with Sea and Inland Fisheries including sundry Grants-in-Aid.
There is a reduction of £46,000 gross, or £40,912 net, in this Vote on the amount provided for the preceding 12 months. This net difference is explained mainly by two items which appeared in the 1939-40 Estimate but are not included in this Estimate. Last year, there was a special item of £25,000 by way of ex-gratia compensation to certain parties in respect of a fishery in the River Erne formerly held by them. Secondly, the Sea Fisheries Protection Patrol, having been taken over by the Department of Defence, a sum of about £15,000, which would otherwise be included in this year's Estimate, has been omitted.
Only a few sub-heads call for comment. Under sub-head E. 4, there appears in the present Estimate merely a token item of £5 instead of the sum of £1,065 last year. Whaling operations are conducted by units each of which comprises a factory ship, with eight or ten vessels known as whale catchers in attendance. Prior to the outbreak of war in September, 1939, there were registered in this country under the Whale Fisheries Act, 1937, three such factory ships, together with nine of the 30 whale catchers working up to that. We received the licence fees in respect of the three factory ships and of the nine whale catchers. The remaining whale catchers being registered in Great Britain, the licence fees in respect of them were collected by that country. As the supervision of operations for each unit was entrusted to an inspecting officer stationed on the factory ship, it follows that we had to pay the fees and expenses of such officers. We put it to the British Government that that was rather unfair. They were getting licence fees from a number of the catchers, but they had no outlay because we were doing the supervision of the factory ships. The British Government saw our point of view and paid over a certain amount towards our expenses, which we treated as an Exchequer receipt. For the present purpose, it is sufficient to state that the three factory ships were withdrawn from our registry immediately before the outbreak of the war. In this Estimate, we make no provision for payment of remuneration of the inspecting officers on such ships or for the receipt of licence fees in respect of the three vessels. That amount goes out as well as the amount under Appropriations-in-Aid, which come in in the form of fees.
As regards sub-head E. 5—Steam Trawlers—I dealt with the question of insurance on a Supplementary Estimate. I explained the position very fully on that occasion and I said that our steam trawlers were in a unique position with regard to insurance against special war risks inasmuch as they do not come within the ordinary pool arrangement operated by Lloyds in respect of vessels belonging to the mercantile marine, nor are they eligible for participation in the scheme of reinsurance set up by the British Government in connection with the mutual insurance clubs which deal with the insurance of steam trawlers registered in the United Kingdom. Our steam trawlers found it impossible to get any sort of reasonable rate of insurance. When I brought in the Supplementary Estimate, I explained that I intended to have the war insurance premium paid for these trawlers, subject to the owners signing a deed containing safeguards of a nature satisfactory to the Minister. One of the principal safeguards was that if any boat was lost owing to the war, it would be replaced and the Minister would have a mortgage for some time, at least, on it. The time was not specified then and I do not think it is specified yet because we have not come to agreement with the owners. What I had in mind was that if a boat on which we were paying the premium were lost, the owners would not put the money in their pocket but would replace that boat by another fishing vessel. So that the vessel would remain fishing in these waters, the Minister would have a mortgage on it for two years and, therefore, it could not be sold or got rid of in any way. The conditions which we sought have never been agreed upon and I am not sure that it will be necessary to pay this amount during the present financial year. If not paid, it will go back into the Exchequer.
Coming to the group of sub-heads under the heading "Inland Fisheries," we have sub-head F. 1, which contains five items and shows in the aggregate an increase of £300 over last year's provision of £6,000. This increase concerns only one of the five items— Payments to local authorities under Section 15 of the Fisheries Act, 1925, for which we provide £3,800 this year as against £3,500 last year. This is a disbursement made automatically by my Department on the sealed certificate of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health. When, under the Fisheries Act, 1925, the poor rate upon fishery assessments, which had therefore been paid to the local council—county or urban as the case might be—was, in effect, made payable to the boards of fishery conservators, there was a complementary provision inserted in that Act to the following effect—if the loss of these rates formerly derived from fishery assessments should result in the aggregate poor rate for the area served by the council in question being increased by a sum equivalent to more than the produce of 1d. in the £ on the entire valuation, then the excess over such figure was to be made good by my Department. It was felt at that time that the county or the urban council might contribute 1d. in the £ towards the protection of fisheries, but if there was anything more it should be made good by the Department. That sum of £3,800 is provided to carry out that undertaking.
We pass now to the four sub-heads by which funds are provided for the Sea Fisheries Association. Sub-head G. 1 is the usual Grant-in-Aid of administration, issues from which, it will be observed, are made with the consent of the Minister for Finance. The sum set down is similar to that for the preceding year. Sub-head G. 2 is also a Grant-in-Aid, from which issues will be made with the consent of the Minister for Finance. The money is intended for work of general development by the association. Sub-head G. 3 is a provision for the supply of boats and gear to members of the association on hire purchase. At first glance it seems as if there was a serious reduction in the amount to be provided, because on page 142 of the Estimates there is shown £15,000 voted last year as compared with the provision of £10,000 now proposed. The sum originally voted under this sub-head was £10,000, whilst the sum of £8,000 was voted in the same year, that is last year, for the preceding sub-head.
When war conditions set in last September, the directors of the association very prudently suggested that they should be enabled to buy in stocks of gear and also a couple of good-class second-hand boats, about which they had been negotiating, before prices rose. We therefore arranged, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, to seek the sanction of the House for a re-arrangement of the two sub-heads by which G. 2 was reduced from £8,000 to £3,000 and G. 3 was increased from £10,000 to £15,000. Covering approval was given by the Dáil on the 1st March last. It will be seen, therefore, that with the £10,000 now to be provided there will be placed at the disposal of the association for boats and gear for two years a total of £25,000, which is a great deal more than was voted for the purpose in the two years immediately preceding.
In the case of Sub-head G. 4, there is a substantial increase in the provision of £5,000 as against £1,000 for last year. The reason is that I am anxious to have the directors of the association placed in a position to make more suitable experiment in the matter of cold storage. It will be noted that anything spent under this sub-head is repayable in due course to the Exchequer. Taking the four sub-heads collectively, Deputies will observe that the total sum set down for the current financial year is precisely the same as that provided last year, namely, £29,000.