I move: That the Bill be now read a Second Time. The primary purpose of this Bill is to authorise the provision of an additional £6,000,000 for issue as local loans. The Local Loans Fund was established on a statutory basis on the 1st May, 1935, pursuant to the Local Loans Fund Act, 1935. Section 4 (3) of that Act limited the issues that might be made out of the Fund by way of loans to a total of £5,000,000. Section 2 of the Local Loans Fund (Amendment) Act, 1937, authorised an additional £6,000,000. Authority is sought in the present Bill to raise the limit to £17,000,000.
The aggregate of loans issued from the fund from its establishment in 1935 to the 30th June, 1940, was £10,319,309, made up as follows:—housing—urban, £2,877,009; rural, £4,387,548; small dwellings acquisition, £658,718; Gaeltacht, £65,857—a total of £7,989,132; Public Health, £941,865; hospitals and county homes, £736,382; vocational education, £452,711; drainage, £149,593 and other services, £49,626, making a grand total of £10,319,309. The total commitments of the fund over the same period, including the carryover of loans sanctioned but not issued before the 1st May, 1935, amounted to £13,246,487. As the full amount of a loan is sanctioned before any issue is made on foot of it, and as loans are ordinarily paid out in instalments, the aggregate of loans sanctioned up to a given date will always be substantially in excess of the aggregate of the issues up to that date. The existing statutory limitation of £11,000,000 applies only to issues of loans.
The issues, aggregating £10,319,309 up to 30th June, 1940, left a balance of less than £700,000 available for subsequent issue. This should not last beyond about the end of next month. The additional £6,000,000, for which the authority of the Oireachtas is now being sought in Section 2 of the Bill, should suffice for about three years, or up to about the summer of 1943, when fresh legislation will be required.
A few subsidiary matters are also included in the Bill. Section 3 extends to all borrowers in arrear with payments in respect of local loans the provision in the existing law in the case of local authorities, which enables such arrears to be recovered out of any Government moneys payable to the borrower. Section 4 applies to borrowers, like harbour boards and public utility societies, the provisions of Section 2 of the Local Authorities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1936, which gives protection to the Local Loans Fund against evasion of repayment of a loan on the ground that the borrowing body was not properly constituted or exceeded its powers. Section 5 regulates the making of local loans by the Minister for Finance through an intermediate body like the Commissioners of Public Works. Section 6 is designed to remove doubts that have arisen as to the powers of the Commissioners of Public Works in relation to the making of harbour and other loans. Sections 7 and 8 are designed to clarify the position as regards the disposal of money received in repayment of loans made before the establishment of the Local Loans Fund.