asked the Minister for Finance whether he is aware that the pension of £60 a year provided for widows of deceased members of the Garda Síochána is grossly inadequate; and whether he will consider making an annual payment to the funds of the National Health Insurance Society with a view to making these widows eligible for non-contributory widows' pensions under the scheme operated by that society.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Gardaí Widows' Pensions.
The answer to the first part of the Deputy's question is that the pensions for which provision is made under the Garda Síochána Pensions Code for the widows of deceased members of the force were not intended to be in complete substitution for the normal provision which a man would make for his wife in the event of her becoming a widow, but were in the nature of a special addition to such provision in the case of Gardaí.
As regards the second part of the question, it may be pointed out that the average Garda widow's pension is substantially higher than the non-contributory widow's pension payable under the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts.
As a matter of fact, I made a mistake in putting the question in this form. The prefix "non" should not appear before the word "contributory". What I intended to suggest to the Minister was, that in view of the fact that under some Garda regulation, Guards do not pay national health insurance, when they die, their widows are not entitled to contributory widows' pensions. That is what I meant to bring before the Minister. Would the Minister consider making some annual payment to the national health insurance fund which, albeit that it would not entitle a Guard to sickness benefit, would ensure that the widow of a deceased Guard would be entitled to receive a contributory widows' and orphans' pension in addition to the £60 provided by the Garda Síochána Fund and £30 for each of her children?
The Deputy will admit that that is a different question from the one that he has actually raised in the question.
Quite.
The pensions which were granted to widows were supplementary to the ordinary provision that a man would make for his wife. They were related to the Garda pay of the day, I take it. The Garda pay now is in process of being increased substantially, and I take it that, when that particular operation has been completed, the question of pensions for widows of members of the existing Garda force will be examined.
Perhaps the Minister would say that he would look into the possibility of a contribution, such as I suggest, with a view to securing the right of the widows of those men getting a contributory pension through a scheme which, after all, applies to every other class of person similarly employed?
The Deputy is now raising a very big question—whether we will have contributions made by State servants. There are no widows' pensions in the Civil Service, but there are in the Army and in the Gardaí. It would be a new principle to call for a contribution in the case of State servants.