I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
The object of this Bill is to enable part of the funds of suitors vested in the Accountant of the Courts of Justice to be utilised for three specific purposes, namely, to finance the rebuilding of the Abbey Theatre, to finance the repair and renovation of the buildings of the Society of King's Inns and to provide for the creation of a captial fund for the maintenance of the Library and to recoup the Exchequer a sum advanced in 1944 by way of a Grant-in-Aid to the Library for the re-binding of books.
A suggestion that the State should provide assistance towards the cost of rebuilding the Abbey Theatre was first put forward by the owners of the Theatre, the National Theatre Society, in 1937, when they were being pressed by Dublin Corporation to make changes in the building to ensure safety from fire. Although the idea was received favourably by successive Ministers for Finance, various factors, including the advent of the Second World War, operated to delay its coming to a head. Meanwhile, in 1951 the building was damaged by fire and left unfit for further performances. Alternative temporary accommodation was obtained in the Rupert Guinness Memorial Hall and afterwards in the Queen's Theatre, which is still being used.
In December, 1954, the then Government announced that, subject to the approval of the Dáil, they would supplement whatever funds the Directors of the Abbey had, or might have themselves to rebuild the Theatre on the old site in accordance with plans to be approved of on general lines. There was delay in preparing sketch plans due to protracted negotiations for the acquisition of an adjoining public house with a view to its demolition so as to enlarge the site. These premises were ultimately acquired in 1957 and a sum of £26,000 was voted by way of Supplementary Estimate in 1957/58 in respect of their acquisition. Sketch plans for the new Theatre prepared by the Architect, Mr. Michael Scott (in consultation with Monsieur Pierre Sonrel of Paris) have since been received and approved by the Minister for Finance. Detailed plans and specifications are shortly to be submitted after which the contract for the work will be placed.
The National Theatre Society has received annual State assistance for the Abbey since 1925-26 because of its importance in the cultural life of the metropolis and the country. The current year's provision under this head is £14,000 (Subhead B of Miscellaneous Expenses Estimate). The Society's policy is to cater for the production of plays by Irish playwrights reflecting the way of life of the Irish people. Being thus restricted in the choice of its performances and having to compete with the cinema and other forms of indoor entertainment, including to an increasing extent television, the Theatre inevitably operates at a loss. Moreover, the Queen's Theatre premises are not regarded as being suitable to meet the requirements of Abbey audiences. In addition they are expensive to run—which all adds to the loss.
From every point of view, including that of the Abbey's prestige, it is clear that the sooner it gets new premises the better. As the State has been assisting the Theatre annually, it is only logical that it should come to the Theatre's assistance in the matter of providing a new building. In fact it has already contributed an instalment of the cost by the grant of £26,000 for site acquisition in 1957-58.
Associated with the Abbey are many Irish names of international repute such as Synge, Yeats, O'Casey, Robinson and Murray and it is to be hoped that the new Abbey, with its second auditorium for experimental plays and the like, will stimulate fresh development in Irish dramatic art. It is considered, in all the circumstances, that the rebuilding of the Abbey Theatre is a very appropriate purpose to which some of the suitors' funds vested in the Accountant of the Courts of Justice might be applied.
I come now to the provisions with respect to King's Inns. Some two years ago the Chief Justice approached the Government on behalf of the Benchers, who are the controlling body of the Society of King's Inns, to ask for financial assistance because of the difficulties they were experiencing in maintaining the Society's buildings and running its Library notwithstanding that heavy increases had been made in the fees and subscriptions which constitute the Society's principal source of income.
Later there was a meeting between the representatives of the Benchers and the Taoiseach at which the Minister for Finance and I were present at which the matter was fully discussed. As a result of these discussions and the inquiries which followed it became evident that the buildings, which were erected at the beginning of the last century, were in danger of falling into ruins unless money could be found to undertake an extensive programme of renovation and repair and that this danger had been much increased by the appearance of dry rot. Such a programme, it was estimated, would cost about £45,000 to complete.
Expenditure on this scale is quite beyond the resources of the Society which unlike some of the English Inns of Court has benefited from no rich endowments. At the same time the running of the Society's Library has been a heavy financial burden. Its only income is a grant of £433 a year which was authorised by the Copyright Act of 1836 when the privilege of receiving free books was withdrawn and the whole of this sum has to be expended on the purchase of books and is, in fact, insufficient for that purpose.
King's Inns was the last work in Dublin of James Gandon, the architect who designed and supervised the erection of the Custom House, the Four Courts, the Military Infirmary and the Westmoreland Street facade of the Bank of Ireland. Gandon retired while the building was in course of construction and the work was completed by his pupil and partner, Henry Aaron Baker. The cupola above the join of the two wings was designed by Francis Johnson, the architect of the General Post Office, Dublin. Before the completion of the south wing (intended for the Library) it was taken over by the Government to house, first, the Prerogative Court and, later, the Registry of Deeds. The Registry of Deeds has occupied this portion of the building ever since. When the Government took over the south wing it became necessary to make other provision for the library. A site was found adjacent and the present Library, which was completed in 1827, was then built on this site. The architect was Frederick Darley. In 1892 the Library was enlarged by the addition of an annexe, in stone and steel, on the east end of the building.
There is, I believe, agreement amongst those best qualified to judge that the building of which King's Inns constitute the north wing is a minor classic and one of the finest buildings of its kind in Dublin. In the Government's view it is well worth preserving. The Library contains a very valuable collection of books. As well as being used by students and barristers it is open to the public on certain conditions and permission for reading and reference is freely given. Subsection (4) of Section 2 of the Bill provides for the payment to the trustees of the Society of sums totalling £70,000 of which the sum of £25,000 is for the creation of an investment fund and the application of the income thereof for the maintenance of the Library or the general purposes of the Society, the balance being earmarked to recoup or defray the cost of expenditure incurred or to be incurred on the Society's buildings.
The funds of suitors include the unclaimed dividends and balances to the credit of suitors and estates carried down for at least two centuries to the Judicature Act, 1877, by which all the Superior Courts in Ireland were amalgamated. Since then there have been added further accumulations and additions down to the present time. These are what are known as the dormant funds. The destruction of the Four Courts and the Public Record Office in 1922 have made the establishment of claims to the funds accumulated prior to 1922 virtually impossible.
The funds of suitors have been resorted to from time to time for public purposes. In general, the direction of these appropriations was for such purposes as the building of the Four Courts, the Public Record Office, the Bar Library and purposes in connection with the Superior Courts in Dublin. The net effect of the appropriations already made is that the amounts of cash and securities standing to the credit of the Accountant of the Courts of Justice in the Bank of Ireland and the books of the various companies whose securities he holds are less than the amounts of cash and securities standing to the credit of suitors by, respectively, £325,150 and £130,000. In other words, cash and securities to the amount of £455,150 have already been withdrawn in pursuance of statutory authority.
I am calling attention to this lest it be supposed that the dormant funds are inexhaustible. In the aggregate they amount to some £860,000 of which more than half has already been withdrawn. Accordingly, the withdrawal of a further sum of £323,000, for which the Bill provides, will exhaust the funds when account is taken of the fall in the value of the investments.
It will be observed that, as in the case of previous withdrawals, the Bill affords a complete indemnity to suitors by which they will be absolutely protected from any possible loss.