I move:—
"That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £10, be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1924, for superannuation, compensation, compassionate and additional allowances and gratuities under sundry Statutes; compensation under Article 10 of the Treaty of the 6th December, 1921; compassionate allowance, gratuities and supplementary pensions awarded by the Ministry of Finance; the salary of the medical referee, and sundry repayments in respect of pensions at present paid by the British Government."
In regard to this matter, the Vote that is being asked for is £10. The Supplementary Estimate as printed was for £110,000, but since that Estimate was printed it has been found that the demand made by the British Government in respect of repayment of ordinary pensions and disbandment pensions to the R.I.C. was over £100,000 in excess of what it ought to have been. Consequently, not only is no additional sum required in respect of sub-head (i), but there is actually sufficient to make it necessary only to take a token vote of £10 so as to create the new sub-heads (j) and (k). These payments to the British Exchequer are, of course, subject to adjustments when there has been time between the two Governments to go into the matter in a complete way and arrive at the exact amount which we will have to pay.
The present amounts to be paid are approximate amounts subject to adjustment. There is no sum required for sub-head (i). Sub-head (j) is to provide for pensions for resigned and dismissed R.I.C. The Order under which these payments are to be made was discussed recently in the Dáil. I do not now believe that any such sum as is in the Supplementary Estimate can be paid before the end of the financial year. We hope to pay some substantial sum. I am afraid it cannot be anything thing as large as that, and it will have to be carried over into next year.
The remaining sum of £1,000 is in respect of pensions to widows and children and dependents of the C.I.D. and the Protective Corps.
