I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £40,988,440 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, 1961, for certain public services namely:—
£ |
||
1 |
President's Establishment |
3,300 |
2 |
Houses of the Oireachtas |
83,000 |
3 |
Department of the Taoiseach |
11,000 |
4 |
Central Statistics Office |
89,000 |
5 |
Comptroller and Auditor General |
13,200 |
6 |
Office of the Minister for Finance |
136,700 |
7 |
Office of the Revenue Commissioners |
811,600 |
8 |
Office of Public Works |
211,000 |
9 |
Public Works and Buildings |
1,408,000 |
10 |
Employment and Emergency Schemes |
275,000 |
11 |
State Laboratory |
9,500 |
12 |
Civil Service Commission |
21,000 |
13 |
An Chomhairle Ealaíon |
6,600 |
14 |
Superannuation and Retired Allowances |
413,370 |
15 |
Secret Service |
2,500 |
16 |
Expenses under the Electoral Act and the Juries Act |
— |
17 |
Supplementary Agricultural Grants |
1,300,000 |
18 |
Law Charges |
44,500 |
19 |
Miscellaneous Expenses |
10,000 |
20 |
Stationery Office |
198,800 |
21 |
Valuation and Ordnance Survey |
67,250 |
22 |
Rates on Government Property |
25,000 |
23 |
Office of the Minister for Justice |
36,830 |
24 |
Garda Síochána |
1,758,540 |
25 |
Prisons |
72,990 |
26 |
District Court |
36,360 |
27 |
Circuit Court |
47,680 |
28 |
Supreme Court and High Court of Justice |
37,940 |
29 |
Land Registry and Registry of Deeds |
41,220 |
30 |
Public Record Office |
3,690 |
31 |
Charitable Donations and Bequests |
2,230 |
32 |
Local Government |
1,965,000 |
33 |
Office of the Minister for Education |
139,600 |
34 |
Primary Education |
3,650,000 |
35 |
Secondary Education |
500,000 |
36 |
Technical Instruction |
650,000 |
37 |
Science and Art |
80,000 |
38 |
Reformatory and Industrial Schools |
130,000 |
39 |
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies |
40,000 |
40 |
Universities and Colleges |
500,000 |
41 |
National Gallery |
4,460 |
42 |
Lands |
944,200 |
43 |
Forestry |
818,000 |
44 |
Fisheries |
107,600 |
45 |
Roinn na Gaeltachta |
155,000 |
46 |
Agriculture |
4,038,000 |
47 |
Industry and Commerce |
824,000 |
48 |
Transport and Power |
1,215,000 |
49 |
Posts and Telegraphs |
3,690,000 |
50 |
Wireless Broadcasting |
145,000 |
51 |
Defence |
2,490,900 |
52 |
Army Pensions |
572,540 |
53 |
External Affairs |
153,040 |
54 |
International Co-operation |
37,000 |
55 |
Office of the Minister for Social Welfare |
167,800 |
56 |
Social Insurance |
1,418,000 |
57 |
Social Assistance |
7,118,000 |
58 |
Health |
2,240,000 |
59 |
Dundrum Asylum |
17,500 |
TOTAL |
£40,988,440 |
|
This Vote on Account begins the financial business of 1960/61. It represents, with a few exceptions, roughly a four months' provision for each Supply Service. Normally, by the end of July the individual Estimates are approved by the Dáil and the Appropriation Bill passed. So that Government services may be financed in the meantime, however, it is necessary for the Vote on Account and the Central Fund Bill which gives it statutory confirmation to be passed before 1 April.
The Vote on Account now asked for is £40,988,440, that is, roughly one-third of the total Estimates for the Supply Services, 1960/61. The individual items covered by it are set out on the Order Paper.
Deputies will have observed that the total of the Estimates for next year is £123.46 million as against the original £115.55 million this year. When account is taken of Supplementary Estimates the total provision for the current year comes to £120.22 million but next year's figure is £3.24 million above this total.
The Volume of Estimates itself shows Vote by Vote and item by item where variations occur as between 1960/61 and the current year. I shall refer only to the more important changes and for convenience I shall try to group similar services together.
Turning first of all to non-capital services, the 1960/61 total of £105.88 million shows an increase of £4.75 million over the corresponding 1959/60 figure. Allowing for Supplementary Estimates the increase is still £3.93 million.
The largest single item of increase is pay. The Civil Service accounts for £1,074,000, National Teachers for £415,000, and the Defence Forces for £262,000. A sum of £250,000 has been included in the Estimate for Health to provide for recoupment to health authorities of 50 per cent. of the cost of any pay increase they may grant to health employees. The provisions for other Estimates, e.g., Public Works and Buildings, Forestry and Defence, also bear the effect of the "seventh round", and bring the increased provision for pay to a little over £2 million in all.
Next in order of magnitude comes the increase in Social Assistance. Because of the higher payments authorised by the Social Welfare Act, 1959, Old Age Pensions require an additional £900,000 for 1960/61 and Widows' and Orphans' Non-Contributory Pensions an additional £121,000. Despite a decrease under the heading of Unemployment Assistance, the net extra commitment for Social Assistance is £873,000.
Higher rates of pension and bigger numbers retiring necessitate an extra provision of £462,000 for pensions and allowances for the Garda Síochána, Civil Servants, Post Office employees, Teachers and Army personnel.
Altogether, pay and pensions increases between them account for nearly £3½ million or by far the greater part of the increase in current expenditure.
The balance of the increase in the current estimates is the net result of a number of variations. In the Vote for Agriculture the major increase is an extra £350,000 for An Foras Talúntais, which has expanded the scope of its activities considerably during the past year; on the other hand, separate provision is no longer made for the Peatland Experimental Station at Glenamoy which has been transferred to An Foras Talúntais, as have also been Johnstown Castle and Grange Farm, resulting in a reduction of £155,000 in the provision for Agricultural Schools and Farms. There is also an extra £170,000 for the subsidy to manufacturers of home-produced super-phosphate, although this is partly offset by a reduction of £105,000 in the amount required to meet the delivery cost of lime.
An extra £34,110 in all is being granted to the General Agricultural and Dairy Science Faculties of U.C.D. and U.C.C. There are two new provisions of £59,900 and £25,800, being grants to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of University College, Dublin, and the School of Veterinary Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin, respectively, arising out of the transfer to the Universities of the tutorial functions of the Veterinary College. There is a consequential reduction in the provision for the last-mentioned College which continues to be the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture.
Progress towards completing the scheme has enabled a reduction of £100,000 to be made in the provision for grants to creameries towards the purchase of plant for pasteurisation of separated milk. Losses on disposal of the 1958 wheat crop necessitated a provision of £470,000 in the current year. Fortunately only a token provision is required for such losses in 1960/61. In view of the uncertain scale of exports the provision for subsidies on dairy produce has been reduced from £1,000,000 to £250,000. Very little of this year's provision will, in fact, be needed. I should mention that, in respect of dairy produce exports, it is the intention to match every £ of the balance in the Dairy Produce Price Stabilisation Fund with £2 from the Exchequer.
The provision for Supplementary Agricultural Grants is £268,000 above the current year's provision. Compared, however, with the more up-todate figure indicated by the recent Supplementary Estimate, the increase is only £128,000. It is due to the higher local rates expected next year.
In the Lands Estimate an extra £35,000 is included for Purchase of Interests for Cash and an extra £65,500 for Improvement of Estates. The intensification of Forestry activity reveals itself in the provision of an extra £213,500 for the non-capital, i.e., the general forest management and timber conversion, side of Forest Development and Management.
In the Estimate for Industry and Commerce, the exports promotion drive is being assisted by an extra £41,000 for Coras Tráchtála while the Technical Assistance provision is enlarged by an additional £86,500. No provision is necessary for Repayment of Advances under the Trade Loans (Guarantee) Acts. The receipts under the Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Acts, formerly treated as Exchequer Extra Receipts under the Vote for the Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office, are to be appropriated in aid of the Vote for Industry and Commerce, the total being estimated at £42,000 for 1960/61.
The new provision of £143,900 included in the Estimate for Transport and Power for the repayment to the Central Fund of advances made to the Electricity Supply Board arises from the Government's decision to restore the rural electrification subsidy to enable this important work to be completed at an early date. Provision for fuel losses, for which there was £200,000 in the current year's Vote, is no longer necessary. Receipts from landing fees and from catering and sales services at Shannon Airport are expected to show decreases of £90,000 and £110,000, respectively.
Continued progress with local authority housing and sanitary works necessitates the provision of an additional £256,000 for contributions towards loan charges.
In the sphere of Health a further £280,000 is required for grants to Health Authorities, mostly for increased expenditure on hospital services.
Most of the extra £137,900 for Secondary Education is for Capitation Grant and Incremental Salary Grant, due in the first case to the greater number of pupils and, in the second, to the increased number of teachers. A further £110,400 is required next year for Technical Instruction.
The items mainly responsible for the increases in the Defence Estimate, apart from the higher charge for pay and allowances, are General Stores— particularly the purchase of aircraft— and Defensive Equipment.
In the Estimate for the Office of the Revenue Commissioners there is a considerable increase under the heading of staff because of the extra personnel required for the P.A.Y.E. scheme. The large increase in the Estimate for the Central Statistics Office is due mainly to the inclusion of provision for a Census of Population and a 100% Census of Agriculture.
Apart from pay increases, the only major increase in the Estimate for Posts and Telegraphs is under the heading of Telephone Capital Repayments and arises from the expanding telephone programme. A considerable reduction is made in the provision for equipment for the Civil Aviation and Meteorological Wireless Services. A new item in this Estimate is the anticipated recoupment by the new Broadcasting Authority of the cost of collecting broadcasting licence fees. The Estimate for Wireless Broadcasting, showing a decrease of £291,000, is on a provisional basis since, as the Note to the Estimate indicates, it is for four months' supply only and it is intended that it should be superseded by a new Estimate following the enactment of the Broadcasting Authority Bill.
On capital services, the net increase over this year's original figure is £3.16 million. When account is taken, however, of Supplementary Estimates totalling £3.85 million, of which £3.15 million relates to bovine tuberculosis eradication, the provision for next year shows a decrease of £0.69 million.
I need not on this occasion survey the steps taken so far to implement the Programme of Economic Expansion. Deputies have already been furnished with a report on progress to 30th September last and I hope to circulate in due course a further report covering progress up to the end of the current month. I shall, however, indicate briefly the items in the 1960/61 Estimates which relate to the Programme for Economic Expansion.
The provision in the Estimate for Agriculture for the bovine tuberculosis eradication scheme is a gross £5,372,000. When account is taken of receipts from the sale of cattle slaughtered under the scheme, the net provision is £3,454,000, an increase of £1,634,000 on last year's original provision. A Supplementary Estimate was passed last week for an additional net amount of £3,154,000 and the possibility that a Supplementary Estimate will be needed next year should not be ruled out. This large increase in expenditure indicates the intensification of operations in the Clearance Area and the extension of the scheme to the dairying areas in the south late last year. I need attempt no justification of this heavy outlay, which relates to one of the most urgent and important objects of public policy.
The provision for subsidy on phosphatic fertilisers is being maintained at the same level as are the provisions for Farm Buildings and the Land Project. Arising out of an assurance given in the Programme, a new provision of £50,000 has been inserted in the Estimate for Agriculture for grants for works of modernisation in layout and plant at bacon factories.
Intensified activity on forest development, associated with increased productivity generated by the incentive bonus scheme for forestry workers, results in an increased capital requirement for 1960/61 of £291,000. On the sea fisheries side, £39,100 is included in the Grant-in-Aid of An Bord Iascaigh Mhara towards the cost of new boats and of plant and premises for the promotion of this industry. Continued for 1960/61 are the provisions for inland fisheries projects, pond fish culture and improvement of salmon fisheries.
For capital items under the heading of Tourism, a total of £145,000 is being made available, an increase of £25,000 on the current year's provision as adjusted by the recent Supplementary Estimate. These are schemes for the development of major resorts and the provision of additional accommodation for tourists.
The total provision for grants for the establishment of industries continues at the 1959/60 level of £975,000 that is, including the Supplementary Estimate passed in the last session.
Related to these items is the grant, appearing for the first time in the 1960/61 Summary of Capital Services, towards expenditure on the promotion of commercial, industrial and trading enterprises at Shannon Airport. The balance of the increase in the capital provisions of the Transport and Power Estimate is attributable to constructional works at Dublin and Cork Airports.
Other capital items showing increases are housing grants, due to improved grant facilities made available by the 1958 Housing Act and the 1959 Gaeltacht Housing Act. In the Estimate for Public Works and Buildings the increase is attributable mainly to the expanded arterial drainage programme and work on fisheries harbours.
I think that the details I have given are sufficient outline of the changes appearing in the Volume of Estimates for the Supply Services for 1960/61. As I have already indicated, the bulk of the increase in current expenditure arises from an effort to maintain so far as possible the value of pay, pensions and other benefits and the standards of the public services generally at a time when national production as a whole shows some increase. On the capital side, to implement the Programme for Economic Expansion we are providing increased sums for agriculture, forestry, industry, tourism and transport and power, while not overlooking at the same time the country's social needs.
I ask for the agreement of the Dáil to this Vote on Account.