I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £75,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1952, for sundry Miscellaneous Social Welfare Services, including Grants.
There are three sub-heads under which this supplementary amount is necessary: Number one, grants under the School Meals (Gaeltacht) Acts; number two, the welfare of the blind, and number three, the supply of fuel to necessitous families. A State grant of £10,000 is provided in the Estimate for school meals in the Gaeltacht under the Acts passed in 1930 and 1933. The county councils of Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry and Mayo are recouped a portion of their expenditure on meals in the schools in the area set out in the Schedule to the Act of 1930. The amount allocated to each county is allocated on the basis of the aggregate attendance of pupils in the scheduled schools and it was estimated in the beginning of the year that £10,000 would cover this but it was found that £10,000 was not sufficient and hence I am asking the Dáil for an amount of £750. Donegal in particular has a higher expenditure than was anticipated.
With regard to the second subject, the welfare of the blind, grants are made to certain institutions which look after the blind. There are various institutions, seven in all, and in these institutions there are about 400 inmates. A certain capitation grant is made to these institutions according to the "attendance," as it is called, of the inmates. During the year it was found necessary to increase the grant in certain cases on account of the increased cost of these institutions and under that head I am asking £1,750.
The biggest amount, however, is required under the fuel scheme head. There is a free or subsidised fuel scheme for certain beneficiaries in cities or large towns. It applies to the following categories: first of all, those who are in receipt of home assistance; next, old age pensioners, blind pensioners and those in receipt of widows' and orphans' pensions; third, people in receipt of unemployment assistance, and fourth, people of low income. In summer time they get a half cwt. of turf per week and in winter one cwt. The benefits vary: in the case of home assistance they get the fuel free; in the case of old age pensioners, blind pensioners and widows and orphans they get it for 6d. per cwt.; the unemployment assistance class get it for 1/- per cwt. and those of low income have to pay 2/- for a cwt. of turf.
I, in my anxiety to balance the Budget, increased those prices early in the winter but I was persuaded after a few months to go back to the old charges which had been in operation since, I think, 1945 and these are the charges that will remain. The increase is due to many factors, the first being that turf is dearer than it was in previous winters—we use machine-won turf as far as possible—and the second that we had to go further away for the turf in some cases and therefore the haulage was increased. A third factor is that the scheme was availed of to a larger extent than was anticipated, the result being that it will cost £49,000 more than was anticipated. In addition Dublin Corporation would like to carry a stock of turf which will cost £31,000 and that £49,000 and £31,000 make a total of £80,000 which is the amount now asked. There is an Appropriation-in-Aid. When we were making out the Estimate for Gaeltacht meals we thought that bread, butter and other materials would cost more in the last year. They did cost more but not as much as we estimated and consequently there is a certain saving under that sub-head, the result being that the net amount required is £75,000.
