Vol. 170 No. 4
I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £156,920 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1959, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Houses of the Oireachtas, including certain Grants-in-Aid.
Would the Minister mind explaining how the increase under sub-head A arises? I cannot see why it should.
I believe the explanation there is that there are more Deputies this year than last year. There are fewer Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries.
More Deputies?
Yes, I think the difference is three or four.
I want to raise one point on this Estimate. I put a question in this House some weeks ago in connection with the expenditure on foreign fuel to heat this establishment and to heat the Taoiseach's establishment in Government Buildings. The reply I received was to the effect that, over the past ten years, a sum of approximately £70,000 had been spent on foreign fuel to heat Leinster House and Government Buildings just behind it. I was amazed last week to read in the daily papers that the Tánaiste took himself off to County Kildare and, at a function in connection with Bord na Móna, proceeded to berate industrialists, manufacturers and factory owners for their failure to use Irish fuel in their establishments for energy and heating purposes. The Tánaiste got quite annoyed with many of the industrialists and big business people in this country for using foreign fuel.
His criticism would have carried far greater weight in Kildare and the country generally, if he himself and his Taoiseach set the good example before going to Kildare by ensuring that only Irish fuel is used to heat Leinster House and Government Buildings. This is another example of the air of unreality in this country at present. The attitude of the Government seems to be: Do not do as we do but do as we tell you. The attitude of the Government is to admonish and criticise those down the country who are still enamoured of foreign fuel, while at the same time they set the bad example by using it in this House. How can we criticise the ordinary businessman for using the fuel he has been accustomed to for years and for failing to change over to native fuel, when the Government themselves are not setting the good example?
Apart from the bad example, the sum of £70,000 that has been expended on foreign fuel would have provided a certain amount of employment here on our bogs and would have helped to ensure that a few of the men who had to emigrate would have secured work in Ireland. There is another aspect. We have been told here for a number of years that there has been a disequilibrium in our balance of payments. Indeed, the present Government and the last Government took certain action with regard to imports in order to remedy the unsatisfactory position. But here we have an item appearing as an import which, in its own way, causes disequilibrium in the balance of payments. That item should not be there at all because the means of heating these houses should be produced here in Ireland.
There is not any item of expenditure in respect of heating on this Vote; it is on the Vote for Public Works. The Deputy should raise it on the Vote on which it appears.
I think it comes under either the Houses of the Oireachtas or the——
There is no item of expenditure on heating in this Vote.
I have a copy of the question I put in the House.
I do not want to hear the question. There is no item of expenditure on this Vote in respect of heating the Oireachtas. It is on the Board of Works Vote and should be raised there. There is no good in raising items of expenditure on Votes on which those items of expenditure do not appear.
The decision should lie with the Minister for Finance.
The decision I take is on the Vote on which the item of expenditure appears and no where else. There is no point in arguing the matter because the item of expenditure does not appear on this Vote.
I do not want to come into conflict with the Chair. I accept your ruling.
If the Deputy will look at page 43, he will find the item there; and he can raise it on that Vote.
I accept that. I am merely referring to the question I put to the Minister for Finance in connection with the expenditure.
We cannot examine such questions on an Estimate.
I hope the Minister will ensure in future that native fuel will be used in this House, especially in the light of the serious international situation disclosed at present.
