I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £33,500 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1963, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Offices of the Minister for Lands and of the Irish Land Commission.
The purpose of this Supplementary Estimate is to make available to the Land Commission in the current financial year an additional net sum of £33,500 for expenditure under three headings, viz. (a) purchase of interests for cash and payment of auctioneers' commission (b) essential improvements works arising from land settlement operations and (c) preservation and improvement of game resources. I shall outline to the House the reasons necessitating the extra expenditure under each of the subheads concerned.
Under subhead G in this year's Vote for Lands, a total of £145,000 was provided for two distinct items: (i) £140,000 under Subhead G.1 to meet the cost of lands purchased for cash in the open market or by private treaty under Section 27, Land Act, 1950, and (ii) £5,000 under Subhead G.2 in respect of compensation, also payable in cash, on the resumption of tenancy interests on estates of the former Congested Districts Board.
As Deputies know, activities under Section 27 of the Land Act, 1950, are confined to lands required for the creation of holdings for migrants or to facilitate rearrangement of intermixed holdings. It will be recalled that the sum of £140,000 made available for this purpose in the Main Estimate this year constituted a record provision, in line with the continued expansion in the volume of funds provided for cash purchases in recent years. Properties suitable for the purposes of Section 27 come on the market continually and it is most desirable that the Land Commission should have sufficient funds to enable them to negotiate for purchase of such lands within the limited time normally available. Up to a recent date, expenditure on cash purchases in the current financial year amounted to £125,875, while further amounts aggregating £35,845 were committed for expenditure. To finance completed purchases falling due for payment in the remainder of the year and to ensure that properties for which purchase negotiations are in train can be brought to the possession stage by March 31st next, an additional sum of £35,000 will be necessary, thus bringing the total provision for the current year in respect of purchases under Section 27 to £175,000, that is almost as much money as spent in the entire first ten years of the operation of this form of transaction.
For the purchase, through resumption, of tenancy interests in holdings required for division on the small outstanding residue of estates of the late Congested Districts Board, £5,000 was provided under Subhead G.2 of the main Estimate. While this amount, which has remained at the same level for some years, would be quite sufficient to finance the limited number of cases normally arising under this heading, the position this year is that the Land Commission have succeeded in purchasing two exceptionally large holdings in County Galway at an aggregate cost of some £25,000. As the original amount voted is required to meet the land intake from smaller properties on CDB estates, an additional sum of £25,000 is now necessary under Subhead G.2. I may say, however, that the unexpected intake of the two extensive holdings referred to, aggregating about 680 acres, was very welcome indeed and will make a significant contribution towards the pool of land available for relief of congestion.
So far I have explained £60,000 of the part of the gross Supplementary Estimate applicable to Subhead G. The residual £1,000 now sought under this subhead is partly in the nature of a new item, viz., payment of auctioneers' commission in certain land purchase transactions. Deputies will already be aware that the Land Commission pay auctioneers' fees in appropriate cash purchase transactions under Section 27 of the Land Act, 1950. I have long felt that an extension of this principle to certain properties purchased on a voluntary basis for land bonds, would serve as a decided incentive to inducing auctioneers to bring to the notice of the Land Commission lands on their books which would be suitable for the purposes of the Land Acts. Moreover, by securing the increased goodwill of the auctioneering profession, it would, I feel, result in an acceleration of the land acquisition programme by speeding up purchase negotiations, thereby permitting a valuable saving in time and public funds.
Incidentally, not long ago a complaint was voiced in this House that lands entrusted to auctioneers for disposal were not being brought to the notice of the Land Commission because the auctioneers could not expect to receive their fees with the Land Commission as purchaser. Deputies may recall my announcement some time ago to the effect that the Minister for Finance had agreed in principle to my proposals for payment of auctioneers' commission in these bonds cases. Provision has been made accordingly in this Supplementary Estimate — the amount required to meet payments in the remaining weeks of this financial year being estimated at £1,000.
I turn now to Subhead I which carries the general description of improvement of estates. Improvement works, which are an inseparable feature of land settlement, include the erection of dwelling-houses and out-offices; the provision of access roads, fencing and drainage; repair and maintenance of embankments, and so on.
The total amount provided under Subhead I in the main Estimate was £690,000. An additional £35,000 is now required under the Subhead due to a number of factors. This year, heavy and unforeseen expenditure was necessary on the repair of embankments damaged by severe storms. In addition, an improvement in design of Land Commission dwelling-houses has resulted in increased costs while an increase in workmen's wages, effective from 1st April last, had also to be met.
At the end of February, expenditure under Subhead I amounted to £650,000, leaving a balance of only £40,000 available for expenditure in March. It will be appreciated, however, that the final month of the financial year sees the annual climax of the land settlement programme. Land allotment, which has been gathering momentum in the preceding months, reaches peak level at this time, and side by side with this activity the drive to complete essential improvement works on these lands in time for spring farming operations must be intensified to the utmost. To ensure that there will be no falling off in the level of improvement works arising from the current year's land division and rearrangement programme, an additional sum of £35,000 is necessary.
The final item in the Supplementary Estimate concerns Subhead L, under which grants for preservation and improvement of game resources, are provided. Perhaps I should remind the House that these grants are confined to efficient local organisations which are representative of all appropriate interests and that they are made, from the funds available, to assist schemes which hold out promise of worthwhile practical results. In the main, the schemes embrace proposals for destruction of predators on game birds—apart from the fox menace— and for the breeding and laying down of game to augment wild stocks.
A sum of £10,000 was provided in the main Estimate this year. The first charge on this sum, however, consisted of grants totalling some £2,170 carried over from last year leaving a balance of £7,830. Despite the difficulties which confronted Game Councils as a result of the prolonged and abnormally severe winter, the level of their activities has been greater than anticipated. Indeed, not only has the remaining £7,830 under Subhead I been fully committed but it is expected that an additional sum of £3,000 will be necessary to meet grants to Game Councils falling due for payment within the current financial year. I should like here to pay tribute to the work of these bodies and to say how gratified I am that the financial assistance provided through my Department is contributing to the success of their activities.
The gross total of the Supplementary Estimate, as outlined, thus amounts to £99,000. However, an increase of £26,500 is expected in the appropriations-in-aid of the Lands Vote this year while it is anticipated that savings amounting to £39,000 will be feasible under other subheads, that is, a total of £65,500. The actual net amount which the House is now asked to provide, therefore, is £33,500.
In presenting this Supplementary Estimate, I have confined my remarks to the subheads directly affected. If Deputies require any further information regarding them, I shall be pleased to furnish it. I have purposely refrained from commenting on policy matters generally which can be more appropriately dealt with on the main Estimate or in connection with the forthcoming Land Bill which, as already intimated, I hope to introduce in this session.
The relatively small amount now sought will be utilised, in the main, to enable the work of land settlement for the current year to be completed. I know that Deputies, and especially those who represent rural constituencies, will be fully aware of the importance of this work. I recommend the Supplementary Estimate to the House with confidence.