No doubt Senators generally are already aware of the circumstances which have made this Bill necessary. In the case of certain civil servants who were transferred from the service of the British Government, with special rights in regard to tenure and conditions of service Board, which is a statutory, judicial tribunal, that while the officers in question had not been discharged from their employment, their translation from the Civil Service of Saorstát Eireann to the Civil Service of the Government of Éire operated to effect their discharge from the service of the which it was held had ceased to exist upon the coming into operation of the Constitution. It will be seen that this discharge had no detrimental effect upon the employment of the officers in question. Their employment was continued, and the tenure, conditions of service, remuneration, security or privileges were all likewise continued, and have been secured to these transferred officers under the Constitution.
This measure, which has been passed by the Dáil and which is now before the House, provides that, if it should be held in the future that a public servant, by reason of the coming into operation of the Constitution, was discharged from the service of the Government of Saorstát Eireann, such discharge shall not be held to imply or constitute an actual discharge from employment. The Bill, therefore, provides in Section 2 (a) and (b) that every public servant, who was in office prior to the 29th December, 1937, shall be deemed to have received an appointment on the same terms, conditions and tenure, and in all respects identical, with that held by him in the service of the Government of It is further provided in Section 2 (c) of the Bill that such discharge followed by appointment as above shall not constitute a break in service, such as would entitle an officer to compensation under the terms of the 1929 Act.
Sections 2 (d) and 3 of the Bill deal with the special case of officers transferred to the service of this country from the service of Great Britain. These officers were all transferred, secured in certain rights in relation to the terms and conditions of employment. If they are discharged, or if their conditions of employment are altered to their detriment, these officers are entitled, as I have already indicated, under the Act of 1929 to claim compensation which take the form of retiring allowances at enhanced rates. The decision of the Article X Board that the change of employment which took place on the coming into operation of the Constitution effected a discharge of these officers would render the Government liable to pay compensation of demand to everyone of the transferred officers, numbering about 9,000, who still remain in the service. No actual discharge from employment of these officers had been effected. As I have said their remuneration, tenure and conditions of employment remain unchanged. Accordingly, the Government of compensation to persons who have suffered no material loss or damage. It is not, of course, intended to deprive transferred officers of any of their rights to compensation in the event to actual discharge from their employment or any detrimental alteration of their conditions of service. It is intended merely in this Bill to protect the taxpayers from a heavy burden of compensation in respect of any purely notional discharge or notional alteration of conditions of employment consequent on the coming into operation of the Constitution. As a corollary to the former provisions, it has been necessary to provide that nothings in this Bill shall be construed as effecting any detrimental change in the conditions of service of the transferred officers. That has been provided for in Section 4 of the Bill.
Section 5 of the Bill was amended on Report Stage in the other House in order to go as far as was reasonable to meet representations received from the body of transferred officers and from various quarters in the other House, that it would be equitable to allow a fair interval to elapse after the decision in the test case, which has necessitated this Bill, before placing a complete stopper on the hearing of claims of transferred officers. It will be accordingly observed that this section of the Bill, as passed by Dáil Eireann, provides for the exclusion from the operation of it of any transferred officer whose claim for compensation arising out of the coming into operation of the Constitution was made in writing on or before the 31st October of this year. Any such claims which have not been already referred to the board will be referred to it and any awards of compensation made by the board will be duly paid.
In the event of any possible question arising as to the date on which a claim was made, it has been thought advisable to leave the decision of that question to the Civil Service Compensation Board, to sift any evidence as to the date of the application and to decide whether the claim was made within the permitted period or not. Provision has been made in this Bill accordingly. That is a full explanation of the measure now before the House. I have only to add that so far as the Bill is concerned it is an agreed measure and I think meets very equitably and fairly any claims which have arisen up to the date limited in the Bill. I shall be glad if the House can see its way, having adopted the principle of the measure, to let me have all the stages this evening so as to clear up the anomaly which at present exists, whereby all civil servants would have the right to go out and claim, as I have said, enhanced compensation for what is after all, not an altertion, to their actual detriment in their conditions of service.
