I move:
That Seanad Éireann approves the following Order in draft:
State Guarantees Act, 1954 (Amendment of Schedule) Order, 1965
a copy of which Order in draft has been laid before the House.
State Guarantees Act, 1954 (Amendment of Schedule) Order, 1965.
The purpose of the Order is to increase from £6 million to £6,700,000 the maximum amount of borrowings by Aer Lingus that may be guaranteed by the Minister for Finance under the State Guarantees Act, 1954, as amended by the State Guarantees Act, 1954 (Amendment of Schedule) (No. 2) Order, 1964, and the State Guarantees (Amendment) Act, 1964. Aer Lingus have arranged short-term borrowing in Britain to meet the final payments of approximately £1,250,000 on two short-haul jet aircraft already delivered. This arrangement is subject to the issue of a State guarantee and £636,000 of the borrowing relating to one of these aircraft has been guaranteed under the State Guarantees Act, 1954, bringing the total amount guaranteed under that Act in respect of Aer Lingus to £5,993,000 approximately. To enable a State guarantee to be given in respect of the borrowing for the second aircraft it is necessary to increase the limit of £6,000,000 to £6,700,000.
The Air Companies Bill, 1965 which has been introduced in the Dáil provides, inter alia, for future borrowings of the air companies and for guarantees by the State of such borrowings so that the machinery of the State Guarantees Act will not have to be availed of in respect of future borrowing transactions by Aer Lingus.
I should like to support this proposal. I think perhaps it is a pity that a copy of the Order was not circulated beforehand. I am aware that it is available in the Library of the House but it would be helpful to Senators to know what it is about because the title of the Order is not, to someone unfamiliar with esoteric details, very meaningful. I wonder whether, in future, copies of the Order could be circulated beforehand so that we would not have to look for them in the Library.
One has no difficulty in welcoming this proposal in so far as it relates to the financing of aircraft for Aer Lingus in respect of their European services. One would merely wish to note that the proposal involves postponing payments for these aircraft and that this is something which seems to form part of the arrangements the Government have made to deal with the capital shortage. I presume that the postponement of a payment of this kind — the Minister might say if this is correct — involves the payment of interest. That is part of the price to be paid for capital shortage. However, it is obviously the right thing to do to seek to make arrangements of this kind rather than to hold up a development which will be helpful. The aircraft already purchased have, I gather, been successful and already have substantially increased the business of Aer Lingus on the routes this year. For that reason, I should like to welcome this Order and to support it.
Question put and agreed to.