I move amendment No. 2:
In page 4, Section 3, before sub-section (2) to insert the following new sub-section:
(2) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) of this section shall be construed as continuing in force after the operative date the provisions of Emergency Powers (No. 30) Order, 1940.
This is, again, a question which was raised last night but not by formal motion. The proposal is that Emergency Powers (No. 30) Order, 1940, should cease to have effect as from 1st September. Emergency Powers Order, No. 30, is the Order under which the provisions of the Act of 1929, under which transferred civil servants were permitted to retire from the public service in certain circumstances, have been abrogated. I put down the amendment in the hope that the Minister might, in the interval between the discussion last night and this afternoon, have examined the propositions which were advanced. Senators Hayes and Douglas and some others, in addition to myself, pressed on the Minister that he had nothing to lose, but that in fact he would probably have very much to gain by discontinuing, as from 1st September, the operation of Emergency Powers Order, No. 30. I would prefer to rely on the loyalty to the Government of the 6,000 civil servants concerned and their desire to serve the State rather than to tell them that they would have to serve whether they liked it or not.
I already pointed out that 15,000 civil servants who were transferred to the Irish Government in 1922 have already left the service and are in the enjoyment of whatever advantages were transmitted to them by the Treaty of 1921 and, subsequently, by the Act of 1922, and that only the remaining 6,000, who have weathered all the storms of the last 25 years, now remain for consideration. A number of those civil servants who have been serving for the last 25 years, must, in the natural order of things, be approaching the retiring age and the Order does not affect them. Any person who was 35 years of age at the time of the transfer has now reached the retiring age, and nothing that the Order does will affect his rights to leave the service and take his pension, if he is so disposed. All we are doing, by the retention of Order No. 30, is to hold to their desks those who are under 60 years of age and who, in the majority of cases, have minor posts and could not afford to retire, even if they wished.
It will be appreciated by the House that a civil servant on retirement will suffer a reduction in his income of 50 per cent. Take a civil servant who has £400 a year—and there will be a very great number of these concerned—he will not get more than half £400 a year as pension. On retirement, his income immediately goes down to £200. In the case of a civil servant with £300 a year, the most he can hope for is a pension of £3 a week. As I pointed out, more than 4,000 of the 6,000 civil servants involved are serving in the Post Office as postmen and minor grade clerks, people who have small salaries and probably find it almost impossible to live a reasonable life on these salaries. These are not likely to retire from the service on a pension which cuts their income in half. I do not think I am justified in forcing the matter to a division. I put down the amendment so that a decision might be taken in regard to the matter and I am perfectly satisfied to hear the Minister and to leave it at that.
