I move the First Reading of the Oireachtas (Payment of Members) (Amendment) Bill, 1925. It is a Bill to exempt allowances paid to or included in certain salaries of members of the Oireachtas under the Oireachtas (Payment of Members) Act, 1923, from income tax (including super-tax) and to relieve members of the Oireachtas from the suspension or abatement of pensions payable out of public moneys by reason of the receipt of such allowances or the inclusion thereof in such salaries.
This Bill is necessary because it was found that the intention that was in the minds of the drafters of the Oireachtas (Payment of Members) Act, 1923, was not actually carried out, and that the allowance of £360 to members of the Oireachtas is not actually free from income tax, although that was intended. The other part of the Bill is necessary because certain pensions— particularly pensions under the Military Service Pensions Act—were abated substantially in the case of members of the Oireachtas, although people earning more substantial sums outside the Oireachtas would not have had their pensions abated.
