Tairgim:—
Go ndeontar suím na raghaidh thar £5,000,000 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfas chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31ú lá de Mhárta, 1947, chun an Chiste Fhorbartha Idirlinne (Uimh. 15 de 1946).
This Estimate arises out of the Finance Act of this year which was signed by the President to-day. Section 30 of the Act establishes the Transition Development Fund and provides that, in the current financial year, there shall be paid into the fund out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas a sum not exceeding £5,000,000. The Estimate, it will be observed, is for the full amount of £5,000,000 mentioned in the Act and it is proposed to make payments into the fund at such times and of such amounts within that limit as may be considered necessary from time to time.
In regard to the purposes to which moneys in the fund may be applied, the Act allows me a wide discretion, subject to the overriding consideration that the purpose must be conducive to the development or improvement of the capital resources of the country, and the further limitation implied in the definition of public moneys as meaning moneys charged on, or issued out of the Central Fund, or provided by the Oireachtas. On the negative side, accordingly, I am debarred from utilising moneys in the fund for any service which has not already been submitted to and approved by the Dáil and for or towards the cost of which the House has not already authorised some measure of assistance out of the public purse.
As to the purposes to which the fund will be applied, I have already given some examples to the House both in my Budget statement and on various occasions when the Finance Bill was going through the Dáil. We are passing through abnormal times at present when materials needed for the carrying out of desirable works of a capital nature, which normally would be fully provided for in the ordinary Departmental Estimates, or as Central Fund services, are costly and difficult to obtain. My idea is that the extra cost attributable to the exceptional conditions prevailing should be met out of the Transition Development Fund.
Among the services which are being considered for assistance from the fund is, first of all, housing. It is proposed to encourage local authorities to go ahead with housing schemes by making supplementary grants available to them out of the Transition Development Fund towards bridging some of the gap between the existing standard subsidies under the Housing Acts and the increased cost of the dwellings. The Minister for Local Government and Public Health explained the administration of the fund by his Department recently, and it is the intention that each application for a supplementary grant by a local authority out of the fund will be considered on its merits and in relation to the reasonableness of the tenders. Grants may be made in respect of houses provided by local authorities since the 1st April, 1945, on the same terms as will apply to houses now being built or which will be started during the current financial year.
As Deputies are aware, the Minister for Local Government and Public Health a year or two ago asked the local authorities to go ahead with housing, stating that he would see that the subsidies were adjusted afterwards to meet it. A rough estimate of the cost of these supplementary grants up to the end of the next financial year is £1,100,000. This will include both the extra subsidies earned this year by local authorities in the building of houses, as well as the extra subsidies that will be given to them on foot of the houses they completed last year.
Secondly, there is the farm improvements scheme. As I indicated in the debate on the Finance Bill, it was considered at the time of framing the Estimates for the current year that a provision of £400,000 would be sufficient to cover all applications for grants under the scheme. The number of applications received proved, however, to be greater than was expected and if some of them were not to be rejected, additional money would be required to cover the surplus. Rather than refuse these additional applications, I have agreed to provide out of the Transition Development Fund the extra amount required.
It is estimated that an extra £60,000 will be required to enable all applications under the 1946-47 scheme to be dealt with. Another £60,000 may be required to cover works authorised under the 1945-46 scheme, bringing the total extra requirements to £120,000.
Supplementary grants will also be made available out of the fund to enable local authorities to undertake water supply and sewerage schemes. The additional money is required mainly for the reasons that (1) the cost of these schemes has risen considerably since pre-emergency days; I propose to give grants from the fund to the local authorities to meet part of this increased cost, and (2) owing to shortage of materials, etc., the undertaking of water and sewerage schemes was retarded during the emergency, and it is intended that such schemes should now be put in hands as soon as possible. This will involve a considerable increase in the normal assistance given annually from State funds towards such schemes and it seems appropriate that this additional temporary charge should be borne on the Transition Development Fund.
No decision has yet been reached as to the precise basis on which the amount of the supplemental grants to be made available from the fund towards the additional cost of these schemes as compared with pre-emergency days will be determined, and the matter is under active discussion with the Department of Local Government and Public Health. I am sorry I am not in a position at this stage to say what amount exactly will fall to be met out of the fund for this purpose.
Another purpose which comes into the picture is rural electrification. Expenditure on rural electrification is proceeding on the basis of the 50 per cent. subsidy provided for in the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1945, but should the actual expenditure disclose justification for a higher subsidy it has been suggested that the extra amount required should be met out of the Transition Development Fund for a period of two years. It is not possible as yet to say what rate of progress the Electricity Supply Board will make in the carrying out of the rural electrification scheme—expenditure on which is expected to be spread over many years—nor is it possible yet to say at what date in the future the Electricity Supply Board will look to the Government to make available the subsidy involved in expenditure already incurred. An Estimate for subsidy will probably be submitted to the House by the Minister for Industry and Commerce in 1947-48 to make good to the Electricity Supply Board the free grant portion of rural electrification expenditure incurred during the calendar year 1946, and when that Estimate has been settled it should be possible to indicate what amount, if any, will require to be paid from the Transition Development Fund in addition to the Vote subsidy.
That is in addition to the 50 per cent. subsidy already authorised in the Act.
A further purpose to which the fund might be applied is suggested by a proposal I have received from the Minister for Industry and Commerce for a research grant to the Irish Alcohol Company. This proposal is being examined in my Department and the tentative Estimate submitted indicates that annual expenditure on research would amount to about £2,000 a year for four or five years. It has yet to be decided whether the fund should be used to finance the work during the first couple of years.
I have already indicated to the House that I was considering defraying out of this fund the cost of the additional rating relief in respect of agricultural land provided for in this year's Budget. I think the general character of this relief and its temporary duration make it an appropriate charge against the fund, but no final decision will be reached until the terms of the new legislation which the Minister for Local Government and Public Health has in hands comes to be settled.
No doubt as time goes on other schemes for the improvement or development of the capital resources of the country which would qualify for assistance from the fund will suggest themselves and Deputies may be assured that any suggestions they wish to put forward in regard to any schemes that occur to them as worthy of assistance from the fund will receive due consideration.