I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. This Bill provides that the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Act, 1946, shall apply to the local financial year, ending on 31st March, 1952. No new principle is involved; this Bill merely proposes to continue the agricultural grant on its present basis for a further year. The 1946 Act applied to the two financial years 1946-47 and 1947-48. Continuing Acts on the lines of the present Bill have continued it in operation until the 31st March, 1951.
I am sure that deputies are familiar with the history of the agricultural grant. However, I will run briefly through that history again. Legislation dealing with the grant dates back to the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898. This Act fixed the grant at the sum of £599,011. For 27 years the grant remained at the same figure until the year 1925, when it was doubled. Between 1925 and 1946 the basis of distribution of the grant and its amount have been altered on a number of occasions. Originally a flat rate of relief was given on all agricultural land but two new principles had been introduced prior to the enactment of the 1946 Act. A higher rate of relief was given on valuations not exceeding £20 and on the first £20 of higher valuations, and extra relief was granted to farmers in respect of men at work on the holdings. The amount of the grant was fixed at £1,870,000 in respect of the year 1935-36 and it remained at that figure for 11 years.
Prior to 1946 the amount of the grant was always a fixed sum specified in each successive Act. The 1946 Act made the fundamental change that a grant of a fixed amount was no longer provided. Instead it provided that the grant would be the sum needed to give relief on the following basis:
(1) A primary allowance at the rate of three-fifths of the general rate on land valuations not exceeding £20, and the first £20 of higher valuations.
(2) A supplementary allowance at the rate of one-fifth of the general rate on the whole of the land valuation above £20.
(3) An employment allowance calculated at the rate of 10/- in the £ on the land valuation above £20, subject to the limitation that the allowance does not exceed £6 10s. in respect of each man at work.
The effect of the new method of calculation was that the grant which had been fixed at £1,870,000 for the previous 11 years increased by over £1,000,000 to £2,910,378 for the year 1946-47 and increased further to £3,175,726 for 1947-48, to £3,624,035 in 1948-49 and to £3,971,722 for 1949-50. Figures for the current year are not yet available, but as the average general rate struck by county councils for this year is much the same as for last year, there should be no appreciable change in the amount of the grant. The grant for the year 1949-50 shows an increase of 112 per cent. Over the figure for 1945-46, the last year before the coming into operation of the 1946 Act.
The fact that the grant varies with changes in the general rate has helped to shield farmers in recent years from the full consequences of the general, but unavoidable, increases in rates which have taken place. Thus in the year 1949-50, while the average gross rate in county health districts was 22/7¾d., the average net rate assessed on agricultural land was 11/3½d. The grant, in other words, afforded the farmer relief to the extent of 50 per cent. of the general rate in respect of any agricultural land in his possession.
The total sum of £3,971,722 paid in 1949-50 was divided as follows:—
Primary allowances, £2,667,760; supplementary allowances, £708,842; employment allowances, £583,565; amount paid to urban councils, £11,555.
As I have already stated no change in the method of distribution of the agricultural grant is contemplated by this measure. It is merely a continuing Bill. The principle that the incidence of rating should fall less heavily on agricultural land than on other hereditaments has been accepted for a long time, and I feel there is no need for me to go more deeply into the matter at this stage. Deputies may ask why it is necessary to bring in annually a Bill which continues the grant on its present basis. The answer is that changes in economic conditions might necessitate amendments in the present legislation, so it is thought advisable that the period covered by each continuing Bill should be short, so that an examination of the amount and form of the grant can be made at frequent intervals in the light of prevailing conditions.
The principles on which this measure is based have been accepted by the House on many previous occassions. Accordingly, I feel that I can confidently ask the House to give this Bill a Second Reading.