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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 7 Mar 1935

Vol. 55 No. 4

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - The Unified National Health Insurance Society.

asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether the Committee of Management of the Unified Society appointed under Section 4 of the National Health Insurance Act, 1933, consists of three civil servants and, if so, whether he will state the period for and the conditions under which these appointments were made and, if the appointments are temporary, the arrangements made in the Department of State from which these civil servants were transferred, to discharge their duties during the period of their absence in the service of the Unified Society; whether any part, and, if so, how much of their salaries is borne out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, the total amount of the remuneration paid to each of the persons concerned, and the sources from which it is provided, and whether it is his intention to make provision at an early date in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (4) of Section 4 of the National Health Insurance Act, 1933, for the appointment of a representative committee of management of the Unified Society.

Under Section 4 (3) of the National Health Insurance Act, 1933, three persons who hold civil service posts have been appointed to act as a provisional committee of the Unified Society. They will hold office unless their appointments are previously terminated until a day to be appointed by me under Section 2 which will not be later than the 14th July, 1936. During the periods in which they are absent from their Departments their official duties are being carried out by other members of the Civil Service.

The portion of their salaries attributable to work performed for the Society is paid out of the administration account of the Society and the portion of their salaries attributable to their official duties is paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

The total remuneration of each of the persons concerned is A, £1,037 7s. 6d.; B, £897 19s. 10d.; C, £718 19s. 9d. The division of these amounts for the year 1934 is as follows:—

Paid by Society, A, £1,037 7s. 6d.; B, £660 16s. 0d.; C, £507 5s. 3d.

Paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, A, Nil; B, £237 3s. 10d.; C, £211 14s. 6d.

Under Section 3 of the National Insurance Act, 1911, two-ninths of the portion of the salaries paid out of the administration account of the Society falls to be recouped out of monies provided by the Oireachtas.

Consideration will be given in due course to the steps necessary to give effect to the provisions of Section 4 (4) of the National Health Insurance Act, 1933.

asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether his attention has been called to the attempts made by persons holding responsible positions in the Unified Society to form, with the knowledge and consent of the Committee of Management, an unrecognised, employer-promoted trade union; whether meetings for promoting the objects of this so-called trade union were held, with the knowledge and consent of the Committee of Management, in the offices of the Society; whether the members of the Committee of Management of the Unified Society are serving civil servants; and, if so, whether before giving sanction to this attempt to prevent genuine trade union organisation among the staff, they first sought and obtained the sanction of the Government; and whether he is prepared now to inform the Committee of Management that the staff of the Unified Society must be free to join a trade union of their own choice without being interfered with by persons holding managerial positions in the Society.

I have no knowledge of the matters referred to in the question. The Provisional Committee of the Society consists for the time being of three persons who hold Civil Service posts, but they have independent powers as regards the recruitment and organisation of the staff of the Society. The National Health Insurance Act, 1933, under which the Society was constituted, gives me no power to intervene in the manner suggested in the question.

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