Under sub-section (6) of this section the Minister may by regulation prescribe the dimensions and design of certain denominations of coins to be provided under this section. As the Minister has that power I would like him to give attention to a request I made on the Second Reading, namely, that we should have on our coins during this year some symbol to show clearly on which side we take our stand in the conflict that is at present raging all over the world. For the first time this year the words "Poblacht na hÉireann" will appear on our coins. I suggest that we should have with them some Christian symbol, such as a cross. There may be some technical difficulties but I am sure I can leave it to the Minister to overcome those. I do not ask the Minister to give me a specific answer now but I would like him to bear the suggestion in mind and to give serious consideration to it.
Coinage Bill, 1950—Committee and Final Stages.
Last week I expressed my approval of the Bill but, while expressing my approval, I also asked for certain information. I want some indication as to the gain to the Central Bank and, through the Central Bank, to the Minister on the issue of this new coinage. Might I also mention that I asked what gain the Minister hopes to achieve as a result of the melting down of the coinage called in?
On the point raised by Senator Mrs. Concannon, no consideration has been given so far to any question of a change in design. That matter will have to be dealt with later. What has been said will be borne in mind.
With regard to Senator Buckley's points, the information I have is to the effect that the total Irish silver coinage in circulation at the moment amounts to £1,630,000. The value of the silver in this coinage would be about £1,150,000. The cost of cupro-nickel coinage to replace this will be £150,000. The difference will be a gain if all the silver coins come in and are melted down.
There is a verbal amendment in this section. In sub-section (4) in the second line there is reference to a contravention of sub-section (1) of this section. That should be a contravention of sub-section (2) of the section. I want, therefore, sub-section (1) changed to sub-section (2) in sub-section (4) if the Seanad will permit me to do so.
Senator Professor Bigger pointed out on the last occasion that there is an error in the Second Schedule. In the second column under "standard weight" the word "grains" appears—metric weight grains; that should read "metric weight grams".
It should be "imperial weight grains" and "metric weight grams" in the second part of column 2.
On the Final Stage, with reference to Section 19, there is a prohibition in certain cases against the melting down of coins. We have provided, in other words, against the illegal melting down of coins. In view of the extent to which silver has appreciated, does the Minister see any difficulty in preventing a leakage of the present coinage? It might be worth people's while to hold such coinage and melt it down and it might be very difficult for the Minister to prevent that.
I notice that the penalty for doing that is £100. I presume that if one melted down five coins the maximum penalty would be £500. If that is not so, the penalty is a rather small one.
There is also a penalty of two years.
It seemed to me at first that the fine was small but, having read the Bill more carefully, it seemed to me that the penalty applied to one coin and that it could, therefore, be £100 per coin.
Two years' free residence and the profits of melting down would not be a bad investment.
The answer to that is that there is no profit at the moment from melting down since silver has not appreciated to that extent. This is a precaution against such an eventuality, but we hope to be able to call in all coins before that situation arises.