Vol. 211 No. 5
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 Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1963, the Unemployment Assistance Acts, 1933 to 1963, the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts, 1935 to 1963, and the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1963.
I should like to draw the Minister's attention to one aspect of the drafting of this Bill. I recognise that it is not always easy in respect of this kind of social welfare legislation to be as explicit as one would wish to be but we can carry legislation by reference to extravagant lengths, making it extraordinarily difficult for Deputies really to determine what the exact effect of proposed legislation is and making it extraordinarily difficult to know what the position is hereafter because one is constrained to refer to a whole volume of legislation in order to determine the meaning of some of the sections of this Bill. Sections 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10—which we are now discussing—all refer to previous legislation. Section 9 says:
Section 28A (inserted by the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1960) of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion in subsection (2) after "section 26" of "or subsection (1) of section 27."
I recognise the problem of drafting legislation but that is a section which I defy anybody in the House to have the faintest notion as to what it means. We accept the Minister's word for what it does mean but if I rushed him now and asked him what the section actually does, he would find it difficult to answer without referring to a very carefully prepared brief.
Section 10 reads as follows:
The Third Schedule to the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by—
(a) the insertion in column (4) of Part I (inserted by the Act of 1963) at reference number 5 of "13," and
(b) the insertion in column (5) of the said Part I at the said reference number 5 of "8."
and I would suggest to the Minister that where these sections by reference create a new situation, he should consider whether it might not be possible to repeal the relevant section in the previous Acts and present a longer section in the new Bill which would succinctly set out the situation as it now is. Perhaps in the next Social Welfare (Amendment) Bill, the Minister would consider that procedure and insofar as is practicable have new sections which would comprehensively cover what he wishes to cover and repeal the previous sections which under the procedure we are now adopting it is sought to amend.
I appreciate very well the difficulty of understanding these things. As Deputy Dillon said, I could explain what these things do because I have a comprehensive note giving the explanation but I fully appreciate that it would be much more desirable from the point of view of Deputies if the Act in fact clearly indicated what each section does. I am sure that that point is constantly before the minds of the officers of my Department in their dealings with the parliamentary draftsman, but these are technical matters. In any case, I will have this examined to try to ensure that on future occasions it is clear what individual sections do and the effect they produce. Certainly I realise the desirability of doing it.
I should like to ask the Minister one question which I really intended to ask on Committee Stage. Would he mind telling me exactly what is the effect of section 13?
Previously minimum age limits existed for the obtaining of a widow's non-contributory pension and these age limits are now removed completely. A widow, if she is otherwise qualified with regard to means, may receive a non-contributory widow's pension regardless of her age or regardless of whether or not she has qualifying children. Previously that was not the position.
Surely it was not 70 years of age?
No; at 70 the question of awarding the old age pension arises.
