I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1970, for certain Miscellaneous Expenses, including certain Grants-in-Aid.
Committee on Finance. - Vote 16: Miscellaneous Expenses.
Is this a token estimate?
No, this is a supplementary. There is a very big saving.
What is the position about the Gate Theatre? There is a sum of £10,000 there which obviously will be no use now.
It will be. I am more optimistic about that situation than I was. The latest reports are not so bad.
The condition is controllable?
Certainly it is nothing as alarming as we heard originally.
To come down to more mundane things, the prevention of cruelty to children, does the Minister consider this society is being treated fairly in regard to the allocation of funds? I am sure the Minister is well aware of how the finance for the running of the society is raised. One of the big problems is that local authorities are limited to a very small token sum which they may give to the society, and the result is that they seem to be always short of money. I do not know whether the Minister has had any experience of the work their officials are doing. They are doing an excellent job but they always seem to be doing it on a shoestring. Even if there is an extra £5,000 here, if that is compared with the general increase in expenditure on everything else in the country, it is a very small amount. This is particularly so when it is remembered that the local authorities have not been allowed to increase their sum over the amount laid down by the Minister for Local Government, who determines the amount they may give. In the rural areas, particularly in the towns, where the necessity occasionally arises, inspectors of the society are doing excellent work to prevent children from being abused. Unfortunately there are many people in this country who abuse children, and even parents have been known to illtreat the unfortunate children for whom they are responsible. In the cities the problem must be very much greater, and I understand the society are finding it extremely difficult to keep the staff they employ because they just have not got the money. If they disappeared and if the running of this organisation fell entirely on State funds or local authority funds, there would be a far less efficient organisation dealing with the matter and it would cost a great deal more. I would appeal to the Minister to have another look at this matter when he is framing his Budget.
I do not entirely disagree with the Deputy.
Vote put and agreed to.