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APPENDIX II.MINUTE OF THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE ON REPORT DATED 2 JULY, 1959, OF THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.Paragraph 1—Further reports on the matters referred to in the following paragraphs of the report dated 19 February, 1958, of the Committee of Public Accounts:—WIRELESS BROADCASTING.Paragraph 4—Emergency reserve stores for the maintenance of wireless transmitting stations.As all efforts to dispose as a working unit of the shortwave transmitter and its associated stores have failed, it has been decided to sell the transmitter and stores as scrap. PUBLIC WORKS AND BUILDINGS.Paragraph 7—Lighting sets for excavators.Of the 80 lighting sets concerned, 24 have been retained for use on drainage schemes and marine works, and 9 have been transferred to other Departments. The remaining 47 sets have been sold (two following advertisement and the balance by public auction) for a total of £438 10s. LANDS.Paragraph 9—Cleaning of drains.Provisions to clarify the legal position are being prepared for inclusion in a suitable Bill in due course. FISHERIES.Paragraph 17—Arrears of annuities in respect of repayable advances to the Irish Sea Fisheries Association for boats and gear.Examination of the questions raised by the existence of these arrears is still proceeding. It is hoped to convey an early decision to the Committee. NATIONAL GALLERY.Paragraph 22—Inventories of pictures.Arrangements are being made to increase the staff of the Gallery and the possibility of enlarging the accommodation is being considered. Lack of space is the main difficulty in the way of making a full inventory of the pictures. Paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 20.These paragraphs do not appear to call for comment. OFFICE OF THE REVENUE COMMISSIONERS.Paragraph 2—Cases subject to review in the Estate Duty Branch.The Revenue Commissioners have informed the Minister that the measures taken to effect certain organisational changes and to revise accounting procedures in their Estate Duty Branch have already resulted in a reduction of the arrears of cases awaiting completion from a total of 21,510 as at 31st March, 1958, to a total of 14,514 as at 30th September, 1959. The Commissioners expect that the rate of reduction of the arrears will be accelerated during the coming twelve months when the revisions in question have become fully effective. HEALTH.Paragraph 6—Grants to Health Authorities under the Health Services (Financial Provisions) Act, 1947.The Minister is informed that the outstanding account for 1954-55 has now been certified and that all accounts up to and including 1957-58 have been certified with the exception of 2 for 1956-57 and 15 for 1957-58. OFFICE OF THE REVENUE COMMISSIONERS.Paragraph 8—Outstanding taxes—income tax, sur-tax and corporation profits tax.The suggestion of the Committee that an estimate might be given of the amount of outstanding taxes likely to be collectible has been adopted—see report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Appropriation Accounts, 1958-59. PUBLIC WORKS AND BUILDINGS.Paragraph 9—Extra-contractual payments.The Minister fully agrees that extra-contractual payments should be confined to unusual or exceptional difficulties which could not be foreseen by the successful or any other tenderer. He is satisfied that the difficulties in respect of which the ex-gratia payment of £1,300 was made were of this nature. Paragraph 10—Adaptation of Shelton Abbey buildings.The Minister has been advised that in all the circumstances of the case, £3,000 was a fair and equitable measure of the loss sustained by the contractor as a result of the operation of the allowance of 25% on labour costs which was provided for in his contract and out of which he had to meet the cost of insurances, annual and public holidays and general overheads. This allowance was intended to cover work of a minor nature carried out in conjunction with lump sum contracts but for which lump sum pricing was not appropriate; for a contract of the magnitude and duration of that at Shelton Abbey, which was carried out completely on a time and material basis, it was inadequate. The Minister agrees as to the necessity for the exercise of the closest possible supervision and control over all contracts carried out on a time and material basis. DEFENCE.Paragraph 13—Sale of motor-cycles.Following protracted legal proceedings and negotiations with the contractor the matter was settled in May, 1959, by the acceptance of an offer of £2,400 in full settlement of the State’s claim (including costs). The agreement governing the settlement has been made a rule of Court. RATES ON GOVERNMENT PROPERTY.Paragraph 16—Payments for water supplies.The re-examination promised of the payments made in 1957-58 is at present proceeding and the result will be communicated to the Committee as soon as possible. POSTS AND TELEGRAPHS.Paragraph 17—Payment in error by the Post Office Savings Bank.The Post Office Savings Bank is liable to a depositor or his heirs whether a deposit book is presented or not. The Minister is informed that in the year 1957-58 it was necessary to make payments in 2,111 cases (in 31 of which the depositor was dead) where a deposit book could not be produced. That referred to by the Committee is, so far as can be ascertained, the only one in which payment was made in error. Claims by persons who cannot produce a deposit book are examined as carefully as possible but, as depositors do not usually keep supplementary records, the evidence is often inconclusive. An indemnity has occasionally been obtained in the past and this will certainly be considered in any future case similar to that referred to by the Committee. Generally speaking, indemnities have not been favoured. The Bank tries to encourage small savings by keeping its procedure as simple as possible. Furthermore, an indemnity is of value only if it can be enforced and accordingly may give a false sense of security. In the case mentioned, four of the six beneficiaries are resident in the U.S.A. and the other two are in poor circumstances. Efforts to recover the erroneous payment are meeting with some success. So far one beneficiary has refunded his share in full, one is doing so by instalments and a third has promised to refund. The Minister is satisfied, having regard to the difficulties inherent in verifying claims where the deposit book is not available and to the Bank’s liability to its depositors, that the existing procedure is adequate. Paragraph 18—Control of collection of customs duty on postal packets.The Minister notes the observations of the Committee. He has received from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs assurances, which he considers satisfactory, that action already taken to ensure full enforcement of the system of control over dutiable parcels at the Dublin Parcels Office provides adequate safeguards against a recurrence of fraud of the kind in question, and that the general system of control affords sufficient protection against other possible dishonest activities there. INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE.Paragraph 19—Losses on disposal of surplus native wheat.Any losses that may be incurred in future on the disposal of surplus native millable wheat will be a charge on the Grain Fund established under Section 5 of the Agricultural Produce (Cereals) (Amendment) Act, 1958. If the necessity arises, the utilisation of the available storage accommodation so as to minimise losses will be fully considered. ROINN NA GAELTACHTA.Paragraph 21—Assets and liabilities transferred to Gaeltarra Eireann; basis of valuation of trading stocks.The net value of the property and rights transferred from the State to Gaeltarra Eireann was certified by the Minister for Finance under section 19 (3) of the Gaeltacht Industries Act, 1957, to be £700,000. This amount included £426,763 for trading stocks, the figure which appeared in the Balance Sheet as at 31 March, 1958, of the audited accounts for the Rural Industries for 1957-58 (Appendix XXIX to the Committee’s Report, page 216). As indicated in the Balance Sheet the figure of £426,763 was certified by the Manager of the Rural Industries. It is understood that his certificate stated that the materials and goods had been properly valued according to the established procedure, that is, that the goods had been valued at the cost of raw materials, plus manufacturing wages, manufacturing overheads and transport costs, and that the materials had been valued at cost price or current price, whichever was the less, but with due devaluation in the case of faulty or obsolete goods and materials. The Minister for the Gaeltacht represented that it would be impossible for some time to make any reliable forecast when Gaeltarra Eireann would be able to begin repayment of the £700,000 debt from trading profits. He therefore recommended (a) that further consideration of the repayment terms should be deferred until 1 April, 1962, and (b) that, in the meantime, the £700,000 should remain as a debt free of interest in the Board’s accounts. The Minister for Finance accepted these recommendations. Paragraph 22—English version of the Appropriation Account of the Vote for Roinn na Gaeltachta.Arrangements have been made to meet the Committee’s wishes.
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