I move:
That it is expedient to authorise such payments out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas as are necessary to give effect to any Act of the present session to amend and extend the Mental Treatment Acts, 1945 to 1958.
Committee on Finance. - Mental Treatment Bill, 1960—Money Resolution.
What sort of charges will come in course of payment under this Money Resolution?
For instance, the payment of fees to registered medical practitioners as distinct from those fees payable to authorised medical officers, the authorised medical officer being in general the dispensary doctor. Under the Bill we are giving powers of certification to any registered medical practitioner, and in respect of such certificate he may receive a fee of £2 2s. od. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a Money Resolution for that and for any incidental expenses that may arise.
Does the charge for these fees fall directly on the Department as distinct from the local authority?
It will fall on the local authority, I think.
It is fifty-fifty.
The Minister meets half of any such charge.
I would not have thought that that required a Money Resolution.
As well as that, there are superannuation payments.
That is the real answer.
We have got into the habit of passing Money Resolutions in an offhand way. It might be no harm if, on occasions of this kind, Minister would be concerned to inform themselves in advance as to what a Money Resolution for a particular Bill requires. I am not trying to trip the Minister up at all. I fully appreciate that, for reasons of courtesy into which we need not go, he was anxious and willing to give me such information as occurred to his mind in reply to my question, of which I had not given him notice.
More anxious than he was this morning for me.
Where one comes on a Money Resolution associated with amending legislation of this kind, it is desirable that the House should know the extent of the probable charge. The Minister will agree with me, I think, that there is a revolutionary difference between the half contribution his Department makes to the health costs of the local authorities under this Bill and the very restricted charge that will come in course of payment if this Money Resolution applies almost exclusively to Section 41 which deals with superannuation.
Since the Deputy is anxious that this should be dealt with at length, I am quite prepared to make a full statement on the matter. I am merely anxious to economise on the time of the House.
(Interruptions.)
That is the sort of laughter one might hear in the desert at night.
Do not get cross. Tell us what the Money Resolution is for.
The behaviour of the Minister is the sort one might expect in these institutions.
We have had our bit of fun, but it is important that we should get this Bill in operation by the 31st March.
As a result of our cooperation, you are getting it.
Would the Leader of the Opposition contain himself? I was ready to take the Second Stage before Christmas, but I was asked to defer it. I was ready to take the Committee Stage some weeks ago, but I was again asked to defer.
The Minister was never asked to defer in this session.
Is this relevant to the Money Resolution?
I am pointing out to the Leader of the Opposition and to Deputy Sweetman that the people who are going to suffer because of this waste of Parliamentary time are those who are going to be the ultimate beneficiaries under the superannuation provisions of this Bill.
Look at your colleagues laughing at you.
Having said that, may I say why it is necessary—since the Leader of the Opposition does not appear to appreciate it—to introduce a Money Resolution at all.
The job of the Leader of the Opposition is to ask the Minister to justify his Money Resolution.
Wait. I am going to justify it for the Deputy. The Dáil Standing Order No. 115 provides, in Clause 2, that when a Bill incidentally involves any charge on the public revenue, a Money Resolution must be passed any time before the Committee Stage of the Bill is taken. That is why we have the Money Resolution. This Bill incidentally involves a charge on the public revenue.
Is that not obvious? Otherwise there would be a Financial Resolution, not a Money Resolution.
I do not know whether this sort of interruption on the part of Deputies is like a fellow whistling to keep his heart up when passing a bye-election in Sligo and Leitrim.
(Interruptions.)
Order! The Minister.
The Minister on the Money Resolution, please—not giving us a lecture on Standing Orders, which he disobeys on more occasions than anybody else.
With regard to the Bill now before the House——
The Money Resolution.
The Bill. The Money Resolution is attached to the Bill. It is not expected it will involve any charges on the public revenue. Indirect charges may arise by way of recoupment under the Health (Services) Act.
Not the Health Services Act. The Health (Financial Provisions) Act.
It is the Health grant which appears in the Estimate and which will, perhaps, be involved under a few heads: the provisions of Section 3, which enable payments to be made to patients for work done; the provisions of Section 31, which will enable mental hospital authorities to provide preventive and after-care services; and the provisions of Section 41 and the First Schedule, which provide for improved superannuation benefits to officers and servants of mental hospital authorities.
None of these can be regarded as likely to cause substantially increased expenditure. Any additional cost involved should be met by an increased contribution, which will be payable by future entrants and by the fact that these future entrants will be eligible for widows' and orphans' pensions only if death is due to an injury sustained in the course of duty and not, as at present, in respect of death in service, whether due to injuries or not. The fact that, in future, fees will be payable to all registered medical practitioners will not affect the total amount disbursed. It will merely mean that the money will be distributed over a greater number of doctors. That is the reason for this Money Resolution.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolution reported and agreed to.