asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state the date when the Birr Urban District Council submitted their application for the 1952 Christmas relief grant, the date when the amount of the grant was notified to the council, and the cause of the delay in allocating the grant.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Birr Relief Grant.
Presumably the Deputy is referring to the annual allocation made available under the Employment and Emergency Schemes Vote. Such allocations are determined by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, and, for 1952/53, were notified to the local authorities concerned by my Department on the 21st August, 1952. It was not necessary for the Birr Urban District Council to apply for this grant which was allocated to them at the same time as similar grants were allocated to other local authorities.
Does the Minister plead ignorance of the fact that the amount was allocated in the first week of January and not before Christmas?
Notification of the amount was sent to the Birr Council at the same time as to other local authorities. Of course, in cases of thatkind, the submission of schemes is a matter for the local authority and the question as to whether schemes are suitable or not suitable has also to be considered. It did transpire in this case that there was some difficulty under that head. So far as I am aware, that was entirely responsible for the delay.
What is the reason for the refusal of the Minister, on several days' notice, to give the date of the notification?
I gave it in my reply.
You gave a general reply.
I gave the actual date on which we notified the local authorities of the amount to which they were entitled and it was in August.