I think it is very essential that there should be clarification for the benefit of those workers and county council employees generally who are affected by this Act as to just what the Act means in the first instance. I recall, during the administration of the previous Government, having discussions with the then Minister for Local Government along with representatives of trade unions who were interested in the operation of this Act as it affected their members. We were then assured that the Department were aware of the difficulties arising in relation to the Act and of the anomolies and injustices under which road workers were suffering as a result of the Act and that, studying these, it was proposed at some future date to amend the Local Government (Superannuation) Act so as to bring it into line with a more reasonable scheme for road workers.
When the Act first came to existence, local authorities were notified, as far as I can recall, that they could adopt Part VI of the Act by passing a resolution and that from the date of its adoption there would elapse a period of six months during which employees of the county council would be entitled to apply for registration as established servants. Many employees of different councils wherein the Act was put into effect did not avail of that opportunity. One of the reasons was that a lot of them never knew there was such a period of determination of their rights to apply for registration. I met many workers in different parts of the country at that time who knew nothing at all about the existence of anythinglike the Local Government (Superannuation) Act or, indeed, of a pensions Act in respect of their employment.
I could refer specifically to the County Meath where there is quite a large number of men who did not, for reasons of their own, apply for registration as established servants and, therefore, are debarred from any benefits which the Act might otherwise have conferred on them. In the light of that, I think the Minister should agree that people, particularly those with long periods of service—some of those workers have 20 or 30 years' service with county councils and others have even longer service—should be afforded a further opportunity of applying for registration.
Another injustice which has arisen from the operation of the Act is in relation to the method of counting years of service. During the war, as we well know, road workers and county council employees generally were directed to work for farmers; some went involuntarily and some went of their own free will. At the same time they were regarded as county council employees. In a number of counties where such workers are now applying for the benefits of the Superannuation Act, wherever they have been in the service of, say, farmers or even where they have been in the service of the Land Commission or been directed to work on local employment schemes by the council or seconded to any other form of employment they are being denied this period when it comes to counting the years of service in regard to their entitlement for superannuation allowance.
That is most unjust because it is quite conceivable that in some cases men might have been five, six or more years in the service of that council spent in a different form of employment such as I have indicated. This motion proposes to remedy that situation but I may say that here again, in my own experience in some counties, where law agents are inclined to interpret this Act more liberally than in others, this difficulty does not arise.There are, however, counties where the Act has been put into operation and where the law agents have very definitely taken the stand that periods other than those in which a worker was in the continuous employment of the county council and had been paid by the council, would not be counted in respect of his superannuation entitlement.
The third item which we mentioned in this motion is the contribution that the worker is required to make. A ½d. in the 1/- is a very substantial amount when it comes to its deduction at the end of the week. So far as the road workers in County Dublin are concerned, I think the contribution they are asked to pay runs in the neighbourhood of 4/- or more in some cases; the higher the wage, of course, the more they have to pay because of this basis of calculation of contribution. That is a very considerable hardship upon those workers who are already lowly paid. I do not think anyone will argue that they are paid adequately. They are badly paid; yet low as their wages are they are required, under the terms of this Act, to contribute very substantially for the dubious privilege of eventually receiving a pension at some time.
I believe that steps should be taken to alter the law if alteration of the law is necessary. That is a matter upon which the Minister, when he is replying to this motion, might advise us, whether the things which this motion sets out to achieve could be done without the lengthy and tortuous process of amending the Act. If that could be done without having to go through the long delays of passing amendments through the House, it would be of great advantage to those concerned. Certainly a contribution of 1/- per week by these workers would appear to be an adequate demand upon their resources in order to secure the benefit of superannuation.
Those are briefly the reasons which prompted me and others to put down this motion. I hope the Minister will give some definite indication as to what he intends to do about this Act. I do not think he will argue that it is satisfactory. Nobody who has had anyexperience of it would make that case. It is completely unsatisfactory and it has bedevilled the situation so far as road workers employed by different councils are concerned. So bad is it that certain county councils have refused to adopt it at all because of its unsatisfactory nature. It is of very little use for a piece of legislation like that to be enacted by this Parliament and written down in the Statute Book, if it is not going to be operated for the benefit of those for whom it was originally intended. The effect of this piece of legislation has not been beneficial up to now except in isolated cases. It does need at least these alterations in its form and many more which will be indicated by other Deputies in the course of the discussion.
