I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £437,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1961, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Garda Síochána including Pensions, etc. (9 & 10 Geo. 5, c. 68; No. 25 of 1924; No. 7 of 1925; No. 10 of 1926; No. 32 of 1933; No. 5 of 1937; No. 19 of 1941; Nos. 1 and 17 of 1945; No. 41 of 1947; No. 44 of 1956; and No. 43 of 1959) and for payments of compensation and other expenses arising out of service in the Local Security Force (No. 19 of 1946 and No. 15 of 1949).
The additional sum is required mainly to provide for additional expenditure resulting from increases in rates of Garda pay and allowances. A sum of £427,000 is needed to meet the cost of the pay award, granted with effect from 1st March, 1960 which followed the acceptance by the Government in full of the findings of the Garda Arbitration Board on a claim for pay increases. A further net charge on Subhead A of £63,000 is due to the acceptance of a recommendation by the Garda Conciliation Council for the abolition of the non-pensionable rent allowance and the establishment in lieu of a consolidated rate of pay. The implementation of other recommendations by the Council has meant additional expenditure of £4,860 in respect of increases in the allowances payable to members who use their own bicycles on duty and to Inspectors and Officers who are required to own and use their motor cars; another £4,000 is needed to meet an increase of 50 per cent. granted during the year in the rates of allowances payable for cleaning of public offices in Garda stations. Also the necessity to maintain and extend the services of a large number of Garda on the Border involved expenditure additional to estimated requirements on the purchase of wireless and technical equipment.
The cost of those items as well as the preliminary expenses in connection with the introduction of the police dog service amounted to nearly £10,000. Altogether the total additional sum required is £508,850 but savings on other Subheads and a surplus in the receipts which are appropriated-in-aid of the Vote have contributed to reducing the total to a net sum of £437,000.