Deputies will recall that a Supplementary Estimate for £1,030,000 for supplementary agricultural grants was passed by the Dáil about a month ago to enable the additional relief from rates provided under the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1946, to be given to occupiers of agricultural land. It was thought at the time that the sum thus made available, together with the normal agricultural grant of £1,870,000 (of which £599,011 was borne on the Central Fund and the balance voted in the ordinary way) would prove sufficient to give the new rate reliefs. Final figures since come to hand show, however, that, while the amounts estimated to cover the increased primary and supplementary allowances were adequate, the sum provided to meet claims for the employment allowance was underestimated to the extent of £21,000. As this was the first year of the new system of distributing the grant, it was particularly difficult to forecast accurately the amount required for the employment allowance. The whole of the first Supplementary Estimate, which contained a small margin for contingencies, was absorbed by the three allowances, leaving a deficit of nearly £10,400 still to be made good. Provision for this amount is being made in the Supplementary Estimate now before the House. The total agricultural grant for the current year is £2,910,378 (say £2,910,400) representing an increase of £1,040,400 over the normal grant. Of this sum £1,827,152 has been absorbed by the primary, £469,539 by the supplementary, and £603,466 by the employment allowance: the balance of £10,221 goes to certain urban areas. Out of the total grant local authorities have already received £1,890,000; the balance will be issued to them before the end of the current financial year.
The new scale of allowances provided for in the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1946, is as follows: (a) the primary allowance rate on land valuations up to £20 and on the first £20 of higher valuations will be threefifths of the general rate struck in the rating area concerned; (b) the supplementary allowance on the part of the valuation above £20 will be one-fifth of the general rate; and (c) in addition to the supplementary relief on valuation above £20 an employment allowance of 10/- in the £ will be made on the excess of the valuation over £20 where men are employed full-time on the holding (subject to the limitation that the allowance shall not in any case exceed £6 10s. od. for each man at work on the holding throughout the preceding calendar year) or the balance of the rates on the valuation over £20, whichever is the lesser.
While the Act is in operation the agricultural grant will not be predetermined either in total or as regards county shares but will depend on the aggregate of the amounts necessary to enable the increased scale of rate relief to be given. These amounts will also vary depending, as far as the primary and supplementary allowances are concerned, on the general rates struck by the local rating authorities; the employment allowance will be determined by the number and amount of claims made thereto before the date laid down in the Act (1st February).
