Committee Reports::Report - Appropriation Accounts 1944 - 1945::20 May, 1947::Appendix


	HOME Baile
	COMMITTEE REPORTS Tuasascálacha Coistí

Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1947 > Committee of Public Accounts > Report - Appropriation Accounts 1944 - 1945

APPENDIX IV.

ST. PATRICK’S TRAINING COLLEGE: GRAZING LETTINGS IN PHOENIX PARK: BOURN VINCENT MEMORIAL PARK: RENTS OF GARDA STATIONS.

O: Coimisineiri na nOibreacha Poibli.

Do: An Runai,

Coiste um chuntais poibli,

Tigh laighean.

In compliance with the request of the Committee at their meeting held on 7th November, 1946, I submit below more detailed information on certain points raised in connection with the administration of Vote 10.

(a) Expenditure incurred at St. Patrick’s Training College, Dublin, during its occupancy by the staff and students of Coláiste Einde, Galway.

The total expenditure on Vote 10 during the period September, 1944, to August, 1945, when the staff and students of Coláiste Einde were in residence in Dublin, was £1,529 9s. 10d. (exclusive of the cost of transfer of furniture from and back to Galway). The details of the expenditure are as follows:—

Adaptations		..	..	..	..	..	..	£317	8	5
Fuel	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	1043	19	6
Water	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	41	3	6
Electricity	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	126	18	5
Total			..	..	..	..	..	£1,529	9	10

It is hardly necessary to mention that expenditure on the fuel, water and electricity services would have been incurred in Galway had the staff and students of Coláiste Einde remained there.

The only quid pro quo St. Patrick’s College received for the occupation of their premises was free fuel, water and electricity (valued at £180) for the part of the premises they reserved for their own use.

(b) Grazing Rents in the Phoenix Park.

The total receipts for the year 1944/45 were £1,789 10s. 7d. (£1,410 0s. 7d. for the public park and £379 10s. for lettings in the demesnes). Cattle are received in the public park on a scaled per capita basis. The demense lands (being fenced) are let to the highest bidders, following competitive tendering invited by public advertisement.

In view of the various questions raised by the Committee regarding our administration of the estate I have deemed it advisable to give them the following detailed information:—

(1) The estate, which comprises the Lakes of Killarney, is primarily a public park. There are approximately 300 acres of grazing land of which 200 are arable; approximately 70 acres have been tilled each year since the emergency producing the usual crops:—oats, wheat, potatoes and root crops. There are upwards of 3,000 acres of rough mountain pasturage. The Department of Forestry control approximately a further 3,000 acres of woodland belts.

(2) A herd of 40 Kerry pedigree dairy cows is kept. The heifer progeny is retained up to 2½ years and the best class heifers out of the high yielding cows are introduced into the herd. The Kerry bulls required by the Department of Agriculture for the Kerry cattle areas are supplied and the surplus cattle remaining after these dispositions are sold at the best available market prices.

(3) Development of sheep farming was commenced in 1939 to take advantage of the available mountain pasturage. Approximately 750 blackfaced sheep are now grazed. Normally about 100 of these are sold each year and from 150 to 200 lambs are bred each spring. During the past three years high class blackfaced ewes have been introduced to improve the breed in accordance with the Department of Agriculture’s scheme for the improvement of mountain sheep in the country. The Department is buying rams from the estate in increasing numbers at £10 to £11 a head and others are being sold to private persons. Apart from the fact that improved quality of rams is welcomed by the Department, it is understood that the distribution of the Muckross rams and sheep for breeding purposes will eventually effect a considerable improvement in the type and quality of mountain sheep bred generally in Kerry.

(4) It is found expedient and economical to have a proportion of the labour employed available both for the maintenance of the amenities of the Park and for the farming operations as required to meet seasonable demands. It is therefore not practicable to apportion precisely the cost of the labour between each. In giving the Committee the figures of expenditure on the farm I specified the amount incurred for labour. This was the nearest appropriate figure that could be reckoned by segregation of the farm work from the other activities on the Estate.

(5) The details of the cash transactions for the whole estate including the farm transactions are as follows:—

PAYMENTS							RECEIPTS
				£	a.	d.					£	s.	d.
1.	Maintenance including						1.	Rents Receivable		..	125	14	6
	cost of labour		..	7,128	0	8	2.	Sporting, &c. rights			186	0	0
2.	Furniture	..	..	9	8	0	3.	Salmon	..	..	347	12	8
3.	Rents, &c. payable			192	8	9	4.	Garden produce		..	402	15	10
4.	Fuel light, water, &c.			245	17	9	5.	Milk, butter, &c.		..	734	3	6
5.	Telephones	..	..	36	3	11	6.	Cattle and sheep		..	1,216	10	11
							7.	Horses	..	..	24	0	0
							8.	Beet, turnips, &c.			266	8	11
							9.	Admission tickets		..	222	4	3
							10.	Miscellaneous		..	14	0	11
				£7,611	19	1					£3,539	11	6

Excess of Payments over Receipts ..£4,072 7 7

(d) Rents Payable for Gárda Stations.

The rents (including ground rents) paid for Gárda Stations in 1944/45 amounted to £21,971 19s. 1d. (£20,804 5s. 9d. for provincial stations and £1,167 13s. 4d. for metropolitan stations).

(Signed), J. CONNOLLY,

Accounting Officer.

23ú Samhain, 1946.