The Bill is identical with the Act which is just terminating and, in the ordinary way, it would be practically unnecessary to say anything in respect to it; but, in view of the fact that there is a number of new Deputies in the House who may not be aware of the procedure, I propose to make a short statement. The purpose of the Bill, as the Long Title and Section 1 indicate, is to maintain the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Acts, 1920 to 1943, in force for another year, that is, up to the 31st March, 1945. The Principal Act of 1923 and its various amending Acts are temporary measures, in that they must be extended from time to time—in practice, annually—by means of continuing Acts on the lines of the Bill now under consideration. When the Principal Act was passed, it was the intention that, at a later stage, a permanent Bill should be submitted for the consideration of the Oireachtas. A number of factors, however, principally the unavoidable organisational changes inherent in the development of the Defence Forces, prevented this being done up to 1938, when the draft of a permanent Defence Bill was completed. It became apparent, however, on the commencement of the present emergency, that it would be undesirable that the Bill should then be introduced, having regard to the expansion of the Defence Forces and the possibility that there would be further organisational changes and developments which might not fit into the framework of the Bill. It was decided, therefore—and the previous Dáil accepted that as regrettable but inevitable—that the introduction of the permanent Defence Bill would have to await at least the termination of the emergency.
In previous years, the Dáil has been kind enough to take the Second and subsequent Stages of the Continuation Bill on the same day, and I hope that Deputies will grant the same favour on this occasion.
