I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934.
Public Business. - Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Bill, 1945—First Stage.
Before passing the First Stage of this Bill I desire to notify the Minister that, if the popular impression as to the contents of the Bill is correct, it is our intention to oppose every stage of it. If possible, I should like the Minister to make a brief statement at this stage on the scope of the Bill in regard to certain matters: first, whether the Bill will deprive any of those who instigated a case in court of the benefits of the court's decision; and secondly, whether the benefits of the court's decision will be denied to any others who may not have been associated with the legal proceedings.
The Bill, I understand, will be circulated in the course of the evening. I hope it will be in the hands of Deputies within the next hour or two. It is not proposed to deprive any of the persons who received conditional Orders of the right of being reheard. We are bringing in a section which provides for that, but that applies only to those cases which were in, say, up to the first of the present month. Outside of that, the other sections apply to the validating of the operations of the referee and his advisory committee from the beginning up to date.
It is clear from the Minister's statement——
I do not want to interrupt, when the Deputy wants information, but, if the First Reading is opposed, a brief statement for and another against is the usual procedure. However, the Deputy may ask a question.
The First Reading is being opposed. Therefore, I take it that I have your permission to make a short statement?
Yes.
It is clear from the Minister's reply that the intention of this legislation is to deprive those who were not directly associated with the legal proceedings of the benefits of the findings of the court. I want to impress on the Minister and on the Government and on the Dáil that that is a very unwise and possibly a very dangerous proceeding. It took some time to wean a great number of people in this country away from lawlessness, and back to a spirit of respect for the law and respect for the institutions of this State, including Parliament. It took a very wearying amount of organisation and argument to convince a great number of people that they should place their faith in the courts and in the sense of justice of Parliament. Eventually the overwhelming majority of the people concerned decided to rely on the courts for justice, according to the law, and on Parliament for fair play. They got justice from the courts, and they hope for fair play from Parliament. This Bill proposes to deny the benefits of a court decision to hundreds and hundreds whose names were not associated with the conditional Order, but who were, in fact, subscribers to the idea of bringing cases before the courts, both in the bodily sense and in the financial sense. The cases taken were merely test cases, and the proposed legislation, I say without hesitation, is an unwise attempt to cheat those people of their legal rights. It is in the national sense dangerous; in the political sense it is unwise, and in the sense of honour it is unfair.
Question put.
The Dáil divided: Tá, 46; Níl, 30.
Tá
- Aiken, Frank.
- Allen, Denis.
- Bartley, Gerald.
- Beegan, Patrick.
- Boland, Gerald.
- Breen, Daniel.
- Brennan, Martin.
- Brennan, Thomas.
- Breslin, Cormac.
- Briscoe, Robert.
- Buckley, Seán.
- Burke, Patrick (Co. Dublin).
- Carter, Thomas.
- Colley, Harry.
- Derrig, Thomas.
- De Valera, Eamon.
- Flynn, Stephen.
- Harris, Thomas.
- Healy, John B.
- Hilliard, Michael.
- Humphreys, Francis.
- Killilea, Mark.
- Kilroy, James.
- Kissane, Eamon.
- Lemass, Seán F.
- Little, Patrick J.
- Loughman, Frank.
- Lydon, Michael F.
- McCann, John.
- McCarthy, Seán.
- MacEntee, Seán.
- Moran, Michael.
- Moylan, Seán.
- O Ceallaigh, Seán T.
- O'Connor, John S.
- O'Grady, Seán.
- O'Loghlen, Peter J.
- O'Reilly, Matthew.
- O'Sullivan, Ted.
- Rice, Bridget M.
- Ryan, Mary B.
- Smith, Patrick.
- Traynor, Oscar.
- Ua Donnchadha, Dómhnall.
- Walsh, Laurence.
- Ward, Conn.
Níl
- Beirne, John.
- Bennett, George C.
- Blowick, Joseph.
- Browne, Patrick.
- Byrne, Alfred.
- Cafferky, Dominick.
- Cogan, Patrick.
- Coogan, Eamonn.
- Corish, Richard.
- Dockrell, Henry M.
- Donnellan, Michael.
- Doyle, Peadar S.
- Dwyer, William.
- Everett, James.
- Fagan, Charles.
- Giles, Patrick.
- Keating, John.
- Keyes, Michael.
- Larkin, James (Junior).
- MacEoin, Seán.
- McFadden, Michael Og.
- McMenamin, Daniel.
- Norton, William.
- O'Donnell, William F.
- O'Higgins, Thomas F.
- O'Leary, John.
- O'Reilly, Thomas.
- O'Sullivan, Martin.
- Pattison, James P.
- Rogers, Patrick J.
Tellers:—Tá: Deputies Kissane and Ó Briain; Níl: Deputies P.S. Doyle and Bennett.
Question declared carried.
Second Stage ordered for Wednesday, 14th February.