I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £81,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1973, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Justice, and of certain other services administered by that Office, including a grant-in-aid; and of the Public Record Office, and of the Keeper of State Papers and for the purchase of historical documents, etc.
The additional sum is required to meet extra expenditure arising on the Vote of the Office of the Minister for Justice in the year ending on 31st March, 1973, which was not foreseen when the original Estimates were being prepared. Of the total extra sum required, £770,000 is needed to pay compensation to firms who held stocks of ammonium nitrate and sodium chlorate and were unable to dispose of them when the Government made the Explosives (Ammonium Nitrate and Sodium Chlorate) Order, 1972 (No. 191 of 1972) on 9th August, 1972. A further net sum of £4,000 is required to meet the extra cost of legal aid, travelling expenses and Post Office services, and to offset a deficiency in the estimated Appropriations-in-Aid. The total extra amount needed for these items is £33,565 but this is offset by savings of £29,565— mainly on subhead A (salaries)—elsewhere in the Vote.
The Government Order of 9th August brought ammonium nitrate and sodium chlorate under the controls created by the Explosives Act, 1875, and the various orders made under that Act. This meant that these materials, being explosives, could no longer be sold or used in the State except under licence. Furthermore the object of the order would be achieved only by ensuring that licences would not in fact be given. For security reasons no advance notice of the making of the order was or could have been given and for the same reasons it was undesirable to keep the materials in the State. Accordingly, through no fault of theirs, importers and traders were left with stocks which they could not dispose of. Agreement was reached between my Department and the importers to have the materials re-exported by the importers at the best price which could be negotiated, on the understanding that compensation would be paid by the Exchequer for the actual losses which they incurred. Other ways of disposing of the materials were considered but the cost to the Exchequer would have been far in excess of the amount now required.
