I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £37,300,000 be granted on account for or towards defraying the Charges that will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1958, for certain public services, namely:—
£ |
||
1 |
President's Establishment |
2,800 |
2 |
Houses of the Oireachtas |
77,500 |
3 |
Department of the Taoiseach |
9,700 |
4 |
Central Statistics Office |
48,600 |
5 |
Comptroller and Auditor General |
11,840 |
6 |
Office of the Minister for Finance |
55,860 |
7 |
Office of the Revenue Commissioners |
650,200 |
8 |
Office of Public Works |
176,000 |
9 |
Public Works and Buildings |
1,250,000 |
10 |
Employment and Emergency Schemes |
219,500 |
11 |
Management of Government Stocks |
51,170 |
12 |
State Laboratory |
8,000 |
13 |
Civil Service Commission |
20,000 |
14 |
An Comhairle Ealaíon |
6,500 |
15 |
Commissions and Special Inquiries |
4,000 |
16 |
Superannuation and Retired Allowances |
326,000 |
17 |
Rates on Government Property |
10,000 |
18 |
Secret Service |
2,300 |
19 |
Expenses under the Electoral Act and the Juries Act |
— |
20 |
Supplementary Agricultural Grants |
1,290,000 |
21 |
Law Charges |
39,600 |
22 |
Universities and Colleges |
328,000 |
23 |
Miscellaneous Expenses |
5,500 |
24 |
Stationery Office |
172,600 |
25 |
Valuation and Boundary Survey |
26,000 |
26 |
Ordnance Survey |
24,600 |
27 |
Agriculture |
2,795,000 |
28 |
Fisheries |
44,000 |
29 |
Office of the Minister for Justice |
30,570 |
30 |
Garda Síochána |
1,555,360 |
31 |
Prisons |
58,310 |
32 |
District Court |
30,260 |
33 |
Circuit Court |
40,150 |
34 |
Supreme Court and High Court of Justice |
34,220 |
35 |
Land Registry and Registry of Deeds |
36,550 |
36 |
Public Record Office |
3,100 |
37 |
Charitable Donations and Bequests |
1,980 |
38 |
Local Government |
1,865,000 |
39 |
Office of the Minister for Education |
122,000 |
40 |
Primary Education |
3,150,000 |
41 |
Secondary Education |
330,000 |
42 |
Technical Instruction |
520,000 |
43 |
Science and Art |
45,000 |
44 |
Reformatory and Industrial Schools |
90,000 |
45 |
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies |
26,000 |
46 |
National Gallery |
3,670 |
47 |
Lands |
865,640 |
48 |
Forestry |
611,600 |
49 |
Roinn na Gaeltachta |
227,000 |
50 |
Industry and Commerce |
2,752,000 |
51 |
Transport and Marine Services |
1,273,000 |
52 |
Aviation and Meteorological Services |
106,000 |
53 |
Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office |
9,000 |
54 |
Posts and Telegraphs |
3,150,000 |
55 |
Wireless Broadcasting |
143,500 |
56 |
Defence |
2,057,000 |
57 |
Army Pensions |
552,400 |
58 |
External Affairs |
166,470 |
59 |
International Co-operation |
23,850 |
60 |
Office of the Minister for Social Welfare |
158,200 |
61 |
Social Insurance |
1,218,300 |
62 |
Social Assistance |
6,179,600 |
63 |
Health |
2,050,000 |
64 |
Dundrum Asylum |
16,000 |
65 |
Tourism |
133,000 |
TOTAL |
£37,300,000 |
|
,, |
A Vote on Account is roughly a four months' provision for expenditure on the Supply Services in the new financial year. This four months' period is normally adequate for the Dáil to consider the individual Estimates and to pass the Appropriation Act.
In order that there may be finance available to carry on the public services generally after the 31st March it is necessary to have this Vote on Account passed and the Central Fund Bill confirming it enacted before Monday, the 1st April. This gives less than a week to have the Vote on Account considered in Committee and on Report by Dáil Éireann and to have the consequential Central Fund Bill passed through all stages in Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann and signed by the President.
Whatever balance may be available in the Exchequer on the 1st April and whatever further moneys might accrue to the Exchequer in the new financial year could not, as Deputies are aware, be applied to the Supply Services without the authority of the Oireachtas as expressed by Dáil approval of the Vote on Account and the enactment of the Central Fund Bill. The Central Fund and Appropriation Acts of 1956 apply only to the financial year ending on the 31st of this month.
The Volume of Estimates for the Supply Services on which the Vote on Account is based and the Vote on Account itself were already printed when the present Government took office. The Estimates were released for publication on the day on which I first saw them—the 21st March. Needless to say, the Government have not had an adequate opportunity of examining the Estimates. Owing to the time factor, the Government, indeed, had no alternative but to circulate immediately, as they found them, both the Estimates Volume and the Vote on Account so that authority to issue money for the Supply Services in the opening months of the new year might be obtained by the 31st March.
In the circumstances, I cannot be expected to analyse the contents of the Volume of Estimates. The individual Estimates themselves show what is included for the various services and how it compares with the provision for 1956-57. I have already begun my detailed examination of these Estimates and of the financial position as a whole. The results of this examination will be made clear either before or at the time that I present my Budget. At this point I would prefer not to make any further comment.