I intend to deal with all the Votes in my statement. In none of the Votes is there any remarkable increase or decrease in the amount asked for as compared with the amount granted for the year 1940-41. The net result, over all the Votes, is a slight decrease. This is due mainly to a net decrease of about £34,000 in the Gárda Vote, No. 33. This decrease really arises from the fact that last year's Gárda Vote was abnormally high, because of two large items which do not occur this year, viz.:—
1. Provision of uniforms, equipment and grants-in-aid for the purchase of boots for members of the former Group "A" of the Local Security Force, now the Local Defence Force.
2. Purchase of wireless apparatus for Gárda headquarters.
The decrease in this year's Estimate would be larger but for the fact that the year 1941-42 is one of the years in which there are 53 weekly pay days for the Gárdaí, outside the Dublin metropolitan division, instead of the normal 52. The net result, as I have stated, is a decrease of about £34,000 in the Gárda Vote. I may perhaps add here that there has not been any recruitment either for the Gárda proper or for the Taca during the past year, and none is contemplated or provided for in the Vote, except to the extent that the figures in the Vote are based on the assumption that if the Taca — which depends for its legal existence on an Emergency Powers Order — disappears in the course of the year the Gárda will have to be correspondingly strengthened.
The outstanding feature of the year, so far as the Department of Justice is concerned, was perhaps the initiation and rapid growth of the Local Security Force, which has developed in a remarkably short time into its present status as one of our main bulwarks in the present emergency. As Deputies are aware, Group "A" became, at the beginning of the present year, the Local Defence Force and passed into the control of the Minister for Defence, while Group "B" took over the title of Local Security Force and remained under civilian control.
I expected that when that happened we would have difficulty in retaining a great number of people in the Local Security Force. Personally, I expected that the glamour of the Local Defence Force might have attracted all our Local Security Force men. I think that would be a very serious thing if it had happened, but I am glad to be able to say something like 60,000 men have remained on to do the excellent work which the Local Security Force have been doing.
I may mention some of the work which they have done and which could not have been done without their help. There was the tea rationing scheme, in respect of which their work was done in a most efficient and expeditious manner. When we wanted to get statistics as to the accommodation available in evacuation areas, the Local Security Force took on the task — I think they were helped by the Local Defence Force. The Local Security Force are also helping the Department of Agriculture in trying to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease from the scheduled to the non-scheduled areas. Generally, they are doing excellent work, and I wish to express my deep appreciation, on behalf of the Government, and to say that, in our opinion, their work is as important as that of any other service in the country.
I have now to refer to the less cheerful side of the picture, that is to say, anti-State activities. I said last year that we had had to intern about 20 persons and that about 110 other persons had been sentenced to terms of imprisonment for this class of offence. As Deputies probably know, the regrettable fact is that these numbers have greatly increased since then. The number of persons actually interned at present is about 400. That figure does not, of course, include those who were interned and subsequently released. In addition to the persons interned, about 200 persons were convicted by the Special Military Court and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment or penal servitude. That is a very unpleasant recital and I can only hope that we have seen the worst of it. I need hardly say that in this state of affairs a heavy, dangerous, and most unpleasant task has had to be discharged by the Gárda Síochána. Some of them have lost their lives in discharging it; some of them have suffered serious injury; and I have had occasion to observe and praise instances of courage and devotion to duty on the part of members of all ranks of which the general public cannot know.
I may perhaps take this opportunity to mention that I am convinced that the present state of the law as regards compensation for injuries received by members of the Gárda as a result of this kind of activity is unsatisfactory, and I hope to introduce legislation to amend it so that compensation may be obtained in every proper case with the minimum of delay and expense.
There are a few other matters on which it may be useful for me to say a few words. As Deputies are aware, the Report of the Town Tenants Tribunal, presided over by Mr. Justice Black, has been received and the text is at present with the printers. I expect that the printed report will be available very soon to Deputies and to the public.
There is also the matter of the making of Rules of Court, which is directly relevant to the sum of £300 mentioned at item A (4) on page 142 of the Estimates. In re-reading the report of what was said on this occasion last year, it seemed to me that there was a little misunderstanding on this subject, which it may be well to remove. Prior to the passing of the Courts of Justice Act, 1936, the duty of making Rules of Court was imposed by statute on the Minister for Justice, but the Minister had to obtain the concurrence of the appropriate Rules Committee and also the concurrence of both Houses of the Oireachtas. The 1936 Act, however, transferred to the Rule-making Committee the duty of making the rules; the Minister's duty is now merely to signify his agreement to the rules as drafted by the committee and the Houses of the Oireachtas have now no function in this matter. The passing of the 1936 Act made new rules necessary to govern procedure in the case of appeals from the Circuit Court which are now dealt with by way of rehearing locally by judges of the High Court on circuit. These particular rules were made in the following year, 1937, and are in operation.
The heavy and important task of substituting an entirely new code of rules in place of the old High Court Rules has been taken in hand and is more than half completed. The Rules Committee, in this case, asked for and received the assistance of a special draftsman, for whose fees during the year 1941-42 the provision at item A (4) on page 142 of the Estimates, to which I have referred, has been made. Payments already made under this head in previous years amount to £400 and the total cost is estimated at about £1,000. The Rules Committee of the Circuit Court has been occupied with the preparation of a new code of rules on one particular matter of great importance, viz., the procedure in workmen's compensation cases, and very considerable progress has been made.
The general revision of the Circuit Court rules, including the question of costs, about which complaints were made, is also under consideration. In the District Court, also, the production of a revised code of rules is under the consideration of the Rules Committee. I may, perhaps, remind Deputies that the functions of the Rules Committee are not confined to making rules. There has also been entrusted to them, by the Act of 1936, the duty of reporting as to any alterations which they may think desirable in practice, procedure, administration, and law. Both branches of the legal profession are represented on the committees and I may, perhaps, remind all interested persons and particularly Deputies who are members of either branch of the legal profession that the Oireachtas has thus provided an opportunity for the investigation, by a skilled committee, of proposed reforms, which deserves attention. The Rules Committee for the purpose of the Registration of Title Act, 1891, have, in fact, presented a number of very valuable recommendations for the amendment of that Act.
The work of the courts appears to be in a satisfactory condition. In particular, the delay in dealing with appeals from the Circuit Court, which, some years ago, was frequently complained of, has disappeared since the change in the appeal system which was made by the Courts of Justice Act, 1936. In the Circuit Court, it has unfortunately happened that two judges in neighbouring circuits have been absent, owing to illness, since the beginning of the present year. The work of both circuits is being done by one temporary judge with the assistance, from time to time, of members of the Circuit Court bench who can spare a little time from their own circuits. I desire here to express my thanks for this assistance.
In the Land Registry — Vote No. 37 — there are, unfortunately, some arrears of work, but they have been very considerably reduced since last year and further progress in that direction may be expected.
In the Vote for Prisons — No. 34C — it will be observed that the Estimate is based on an anticipated prison population of 525 as against 535 for last year. The expectation of a further decline in the prison population, which is the normal experience, may not be quite realised owing to the number of persons convicted of offences against the State, of whom there are at present about 50 in prison. As I have already mentioned, there were about 200 convictions of this kind, but it has been the practice for some time past as regards persons convicted by the Special Criminal Court that only those who are sentenced to penal servitude are kept in civil prisons. The majority, about 150, who are serving sentences of two years, or less, imprisonment are kept in military custody, and the cost of their maintenance, etc., does not appear on the Prisons Vote.
There are only four prisons actually being used at present — namely, Mountjoy, Portlaoighise, Limerick and Sligo. Cork Prison is, of course, being used, but not as a prison. We are using it as a Borstal institution. Arrangements have been made whereby the prisoners are allowed out of their cells, in association, for two hours each evening, when they were formerly locked up. That is a reform made during the last year.
As regards the Borstal institution, it has been clear for a long time past that the premises at Clonmel used for this purpose were unsuitable owing particularly to the absence of any playing field. Some months ago, the military authorities made an urgent request that the institution a Clonmel should be handed over to them for military purposes in connection with the present emergency. This was done, and the inmates and staff of the institution were transferred to Cork Prison, from which the ordinary prisoners were removed, being distributed between Limerick and Portlaoighise. I have recently visited the institution in Cork, and it seems to me that these premises also are unsuitable as a permanent arrangement. Deputies will appreciate that the present time is not a good one for making better arrangements in this respect, involving the acquisition or building of new premises, but I am very anxious indeed to do something in the matter, and I shall see that no opportunity to do so is neglected. I do not think that I have any more to say at this stage, but if there is any point on which Deputies would like further information, I shall do my best to supply it.
