asked the Minister for Defence why the allowance per eligible child has been fixed at £20 per annum for the Army and £28 for civil servants.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Children's Allowances for Army Officers and Civil Servants.
47.
The grant of children's allowances to Army officers under the recent pay award was a new departure and, unlike the case of those particular grades of civil servants whose salaries are differentiated on a marriage basis, was not inherent in their pay structure. There is, therefore, no connection between the rates of children's allowances applicable to the two classes in question.
Two rates of children's allowances apply in the Civil Service—a standard rate of £28 a year and an ex-gratia rate of £11 a year. Civil servants in grades to which marriage differentiated scales of pay do not apply do not receive children's allowances.
Does the Minister think it fair to discriminate between the payments to civil servants and to Army personnel?
The payment of children's allowances was always inherent in the pay structure of those classes of civil servants. That was not the case with Army officers.
When the Minister says: "it is inherent in the pay structure," is that terminology not employed to hide the fact that there is a differentiation in favour of civil servants as against Army personnel?
No. There is no question of differentiation. This was a new departure, to give children's allowances to Army personnel.