Committee Reports::Report - Appropriation Accounts 1945 - 1946::10 December, 1947::Appendix


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APPENDIX II.

MINUTE OF THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE ON THE REPORT DATED 14th MAY, 1947, OF THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

Paragraph 1.—Transfer of shares in Irish Shipping, Ltd., to the Minister for Finance by Grain Importers (Eire), Ltd.

The Minister notes the Committee’s observations but does not wish to offer any further comments.

PUBLIC WORKS AND BUILDINGS

Paragraph 2.—Contracts on a cost plus profit basis.

The Minister fully shares the view expressed by the Committee as to the desirability of adhering to the system of open competitive tendering on a lump sum basis for public contracts and has only agreed to adoption of the “cost plus profit” system where in special circumstances recourse to lump sum tendering has not been practicable. As desired by the Committee a statement of the checks on expenditure which the Department of Industry and Commerce apply to work carried out on a cost plus profit basis is appended to this minute

Paragraph 3.—Bourn Vincent Memorial Park.

The Minister is informed by the Commissioners of Public Works that a comprehensive annual account of all the revenue and expenditure showing the net financial result of the working of the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park in each year will in future be presented to the Committee.

Paragraph 4.—Register of State Lands and Buildings.

The Minister notes that the Committee desires to be informed from time to time as to the progress made in the work of compiling complete registers and rentals of State lands and buildings. Steps are being taken to meet the Committee’s wishes in this respect.

SCIENCE AND ART.

Paragraph 5.—Manuscripts in Irish accepted, but not published, and disposal of surplus stocks of books in Irish.

The Minister shares the views of the Committee regarding the expenditure, so far ineffective, incurred in acquiring manuscripts, publication of which has been delayed for a considerable time. He would point out, however, that the publication of works in Irish was necessarily to a great degree experimental, as publication of works in Irish up to then had been on too small a scale to enable public taste and demand to be foreseen. It is not yet possible to determine the amount of any loss arising out of non-publication of manuscripts, as it has not yet been finally decided not to publish any particular manuscript. A number of the manuscripts on hand when the Committee reported have since been published, or are with the printers. Conditions in the printing trade in recent years have been the main factor responsible for delay in publication of many manuscripts.

As regards disposal of surplus stocks, the loss on any particular book cannot be ascertained until the edition of the book has been disposed of. As disposal of these surplus stocks is still in progress, it is not as yet possible to supply any firm figure of the loss, if any, incurred on the books in question.

TRANSPORT AND METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

Paragraph 6.—Catering service at Shannon Airport.

This paragraph does not appear to require comment on the part of the Minister.

CHILDREN’S ALLOWANCES

Paragraph 7.—Qualifying conditions for Children’s Allowances.

The conditions upon which a child is a qualified child are set out in Section 4 of the Children’s Allowances (Amendment) Act, 1946, the conditions being substantially the same as those contained in the earlier Act of 1944. It is considered, therefore, that in view of these conditions it was not intended that children under the age of 16 years who happen to be employed should be excluded from the benefits of the Acts. Difficulties arose, however, in the administration of the provisions of the Act of 1944, so far as employed children residing with their employers were concerned, due to the fact that the allowance was payable to the person who maintained the children, the children being regarded by the Act as being maintained only by the person with whom they normally resided. The question as to the person with whom the children normally resided is a matter for determination by a Deciding Officer and it was held by the Deciding Officer in these cases that Section 3 (3) (a) (viii) applied. Consequently the allowance had to be paid to any employer who included an employed child in his claim, but it should be emphasised that the difficulty was confined solely to cases in which the employed child actually resided with his employer.

This position has been rectified under the amending Act of 1946 and entitlement to receive a children’s allowance in respect of a child is governed by the Children’s Allowances (Normal Residence) Rules, 1946, made under Section 5 (2) (a) of the Act. Under these Rules an employer cannot be paid an allowance in respect of an employed child residing with him (save in the exceptional case of the parents being no longer entitled to the custody of the child): the allowance can be awarded to the parents and to no other person.

It is noted that the Committee agrees that the fact of employment should not disqualify a child from receiving a children’s allowance. Its objection appears to be to the payment of the allowance to an employer instead of the parents who might more reasonably be expected to use it for the benefit of the family as a whole. It is felt, therefore, that the present position, as outlined above, meets the point raised.

ARMY

Paragraph 8.—Irregularities in connection with the issue of and accounting for clothing.

The Minister shares the serious view taken by the Committee of any attempt to rectify accountancy errors by irregular entries rather than by a full disclosure of the position to the proper authority.

As a result of the discussion referred to by the Committee, between the Departments of Finance and Defence, disciplinary action, which in the view of the Minister for Finance was commensurate with the gravity of the offences, was taken against certain of the personnel involved in the irregularities disclosed in the particular case under review.

Paragraph 9.—Insurance of premises in military occupation.

In the case of premises taken over for military use it is the invariable practice, in accordance with the long-established policy of the State being its own insurer, not to insure the premises or to continue the payment of existing insurance premiums. In every case the Minister for Defence assumes liability for damage resulting from military occupation. It is entirely a matter for the owner of the premises to decide whether or not he should continue to pay the premiums after occupation by the military. Such payment by him would not, however, relieve the Minister for Defence from liability for damage held to have resulted from military occupation.

In the particular case referred to by the Committee it was considered by the Minister for Defence and also by the Minister for Finance that the fire was due to accidental causes, but this contention was not upheld by the High Court which ruled that the fire resulted from the occupation of the premises by the military forces.

ARMY PENSIONS

Paragraph 10.—Review of awards under the Army Pensions Acts by reference to compensation from other sources.

The Minister desires to inform the Committee that power has been taken in Section 3 of the Army Pensions Act, 1946, to review, and having regard to the amount of compensation to terminate or reduce, any pension or allowance granted under the Army Pensions Acts, by reference to compensation awarded from other sources subsequent to the grant of the pension or allowance. As this provision, however, operates only from the passing of the Act, it does not affect the position in the cases to which the Committee refers.

	GIVEN under the Seal of the Minister for Finance this 4th day of December, 1947.
	J. J. McELLIGOTT,
	Secretary,
	Department of Finance.

APPENDIX.

CHECKS WHICH ARE MADE BY DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE ON EXPENDITURE ON COST PLUS PROFIT CONTRACTS.

1. Clerks of Works at the Contractor’s workshop and at the site supervise the works on behalf of the Minister and to the satisfaction of the Professional Officer in charge of the Architectural Section of the Department.

2. All claims by the Contractor in respect of wages, machines, haulage, etc., are checked on the spot by the Clerks of Works and are supported by their certificates that the times charged in respect of each workman, each type of machine, etc., are correct.

3. All claims in respect of materials used on the contracts are supported by invoices bearing certificates of the Clerks of Works that the items detailed therein were in fact received.

4. The rates of wages charged during the Emergency period were checked by reference to the various Wages Standard Rate and Emergency Bonus Orders and, subsequently, by reference to rates prevailing in the districts in which the contractors’ men were employed.

5. Prices charged for materials are checked by reference to

(a) Maximum Prices Orders, e.g., timber;

(b) the monthly average lists of “Prices of Building Materials" pre pared in the Department;

(d) comparison of prices charged by different merchants for similar materials.

Where a charge is considered unduly high a deduction is made; it is finally disallowed unless the merchant who supplied the item gives an adequate explanation for the price charged.