§ 34. Mr. BROCKLEBANKasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the total contribution paid by the Exchequer to the Government and administration of the Irish Free State during the 12 months ended 31st December, 1931, and the total revenue received by the Exchequer from the Irish Free State?
§ Major ELLIOTNo direct payments are made from the Exchequer to His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State, but under existing agreements the Exchequer meets the service of the greater portion of the "excess" and "bonus" Irish Land Stock attributable to the Free State, involving a charge of about £1 million a year. No revenue is received by the Exchequer from the Irish Free State apart from the agreed annuity of £250,000 in respect of reimbursement of compensation paid by Great Britain for pre-Truce damage to property. Irish pensions and other Irish Services paid for by Great Britain and reimbursed by the Irish Free State amounted in the year ended 31st March, 1932, to £1,500,000. These figures do not include payments to the National Debt Commissioners in, respect of the Irish Land Annuities and in respect of Local Loans. These are not paid to the Exchequer and are not in any sense Exchequer revenue, but represent the amounts due from individual borrowers to meet the service of the loans granted to them.