I propose to follow the practice of previous years by taking Votes 8 and 9 together.
Vote 8 bears the salaries and expenses of the administrative, executive and technical staffs of the Office of Public Works which is the office responsible for the administration of Vote 9.
Vote 9 provides the necessary funds for the purchase of sites and buildings for State purposes; for the erection, maintenance and furnishing of Government offices and other State-owned premises; for the erection and improvement of national schools; for theerection of major military buildings; for arterial drainage and other engineering works; for the maintenance of State-owned parks and State harbours; and for a number of other activities.
The net Estimate for Vote 8 is £2,700 above the Estimate for 1952-53. This increase is explained by additional expenditure of £18,900, mainly on wages and salaries, offset by a reduction of £500 in the provision for travelling expenses and additional estimated Appropriations-in-Aid of £15,700.
Sub-head A—Salaries, Wages and Allowances—has been increased by £18,400.
Specific provision is made for 33 additional heads of staffs and there are contingency provisions amounting to £11,400. The specific increases in numbers are mainly in the accountant's branch and in the mechanical division of the engineering branch. The contingency provisions are intended mainly to cover proposals for additional posts in the secretary's branch and in the drainage and marine divisions of the engineering branch. The increased staffs have been rendered necessary by the continuing expansion of most of the activities of the Office of Public Works.
The salaries, amounting to £20,000, and travelling expenses of engineering staff, numbering 41, and some executive staff, authorised for surveys and works concerned with land rehabilitation, being carried out by the commissioners as agents for the Minister for Agriculture, are recoverable from the Vote for Agriculture.
Sub-head B—Travelling Expenses— and C—Incidental Expenses—call for no special comment. Together, they account for a decrease of £200 in the provision for 1952-53.
As against the estimated additional expenditure on these sub-heads, receipts under sub-head E—Appropria-tions-in-Aid—are expected to amount to £15,700 more than the Estimate for last year. Of this, £9,000 represents increased receipts from agency service fees, mainly in connection with workswhose cost is defrayed from the telephone capital account and the social insurance fund. A further £5,000 is in respect of recoveries from Vote 9—Public Works and Buildings —of salaries and travelling expenses of staff engaged on drainage schemes, of which further mention will be made in connection with Vote 9. Similar expenditure recoverable from the Vote for Transport and Marine Services, in connection with harbour improvement and constructional works, accounts almost entirely for the balance of the anticipated additional Appropriations-in-Aid.
The Estimate of £3,009,350 for Public Works and Buildings for this year compared with the Vote for 1952-53 shows a net increase of £32,300.
The increase in gross expenditure is mainly in respect of new building work, the maintenance and furnishing of existing accommodation, fuel costs, and the maintenance of plant and machinery. Against the total increase of £318,960 in gross expenditure, there are reductions amounting to £246,500, for the most part in machinery purchases. Expenditure on drainage works and on the central engineering workshop is also expected to be somewhat below the amounts provided in the previous year's Vote.
The provisions for the individual sub-heads show the following variations on those of last year:—
Sub-head A.—Purchase of Sites and Buildings, has been reduced by £5,000.
Sub-head B.—New Works, Alterations and Additions, which amounts to £1,330,000, shows an increase of £180,000. Expenditure last year was over £1,000,000, of which about £688,000 was incurred on grants for school building and improvements, as against the Estimate for that year of £600,000, and an expenditure in the preceding year of £530,000. For 1953-54, the Estimate of expenditure on grants for school buildings is £730,000, which is more than one half of the total provision under sub-head B.
The present trend of expenditure on schools would appear to indicate that this Estimate will be insufficient. Upto the end of the half-year (30th September), grant payments amounted to £472,000. At the same time last year, the corresponding figure was only £219,000, and if the experience of last year is repeated the expenditure for this year would be well over £1,000,000. The rate of expenditure, however, varies considerably from month to month, depending on the amount of payments falling due on the larger contracts.
Apart from the provision for national schools and that for Garda Síochána barracks, for which a sum of £105,000 has been included, sub-head B covers over 130 individual projects. The principal items, from the point of view of cost, are:— Áras an Uachtaráin—Improvements; Office of Public Works—central engineering workshop and stores (adaptations); Botanic Gardens—improvement of water supply; Abbotstown Farm—adaptations; agricultural schools at Athenry, Ballyhaise and Clonakilty—sundry building and improvement works; Grange Stud and Dairy Farm—adaptations; Johnstown Castle—adaptations; Munster Institute—improved accommodation; Veterinary College—improvements; Fishery, etc. Harbours—dredging and improvement works; Coláiste Móibhí Preparatory College—adaptations; Shelton Abbey Forestry School— adaptations; Rosslare—new meteorological station; Valentia Observatory —adaptations and additions; new post offices and telephone exchanges at Athenry, Cootehill, Drogheda, Galway, Kilrush, Naas, and Rathluirc; extensions and improvements to existing post offices at Ballina, Dundalk, Kilkenny and Tralee; Broadcasting— new studios at Cork; Baldonnel Camp —hard surface runways and new hangar gates; Curragh Camp—building of new Catholic church, renewal of electrical installation; Kilrush Camp— officers' mess.
Sub-head C.—Maintenance and Supplies, shows an increase of £80,000 over the provision for last year of £450,000, which in fact proved to be insufficient and was exceeded by about £45,000. Increases in the wages of building trade workers and of staffs employed at parks and harbours, etc.,are mainly responsible for the rise in expenditure under this sub-head.
The other related maintenance sub-heads show smaller increases. For sub-head D (1).—Furniture, Fittings and Supplies, an additional £10,000 is being provided, covering requirements at new premises for representatives abroad and some essential institutional requirements. General increases in rents and rates are responsible for the increase of £6,000 proposed for sub-head E.—Rents, Rates, etc. There is an estimated additional outlay under sub-head F.—Fuel, Light, Water, Cleaning, etc., of £15,000. This includes provision for increased gas charges and greater electricity consumption due to the extended use of electrical storage heating systems.
The arterial drainage surveys programme is similar to that projected for 1952-53 but the provision this year, under sub-head J (1), includes an additional £800 to meet wage increases. Expenditure under sub-head J (2).—Arterial Drainage Construction Work—is expected to be somewhat less this year by reason of the approaching completion of the Brosna Catchment Drainage Scheme, the provision for which is £66,000 less than the sum voted for it in the preceding year. This reduction is largely offset by the provisions for the Corrib-Clare Catchment and the Nenagh Catchment Schemes, which appear in the Estimate for the first time, and by additional provision for the Feale Catchment Scheme.
The works at Clarecastle, County Clare, provided for under sub-head J (4).—River Fergus Drainage, in fulfilment of the statutory undertaking given in the consent which formed the basis of the River Fergus Drainage Act, 1943, are also due for completion this year, and there is a consequential reduction of £13,500 in the provision.
The sub-head which shows the most marked decrease this year is sub-head K.1—Purchase of Engineering Plant and Machinery. The provision of £80,000 is £200,000 below the sum voted last year. This is not, of course, to be taken as suggesting that any slowing-down of the drainage programme iscontemplated; it is explained by the fact that, in the purchase of heavy and more expensive plant and machinery, the stage has been reached at which the bulk of present and immediate future requirements has largely been met.
The servicing of the present fleet of machines and other plant necessitates an increase, estimated at £25,000, in the provision under sub-head K.2— Maintenance of Engineering Plant and Machinery—particularly in view of the impending release for overhaul of plant from the Brosna drainage scheme. Expenditure on sub-head K.3—Central Engineering Workshop and Stores—is expected to show an estimated reduction of £13,000, due to stores reserve requirements having been largely fulfilled.
The amount which it is expected to realise this year under sub-head L.— Appropriations-in-Aid — is £40,160 higher than last year's Estimate. Of the additional receipts, £27,500 arises from services rendered to the Department of Social Welfare by way of the provision and maintenance of accommodation for social insurance purposes. Expenditure in this connection is recoverable from the Social Insurance Fund. The balance of the additional receipts is expected to arise mainly from the hireage of plant.