It is not often that one takes farewell of a Bill of this character with any degree of sentimentality, but I have some such feeling now, because I was one of the three original trustees who took over from the committee of management which had carried out the preliminary work. They did their work very well. My fellow-trustees were ex-Senator Foran and Dr. Rowlette. We had the honour to be the first trustees of the society and, for that reason, I feel some responsibility in the matter of answering certain suggestions that were made during the debate about the investments of the society. I said that I approach this with some sentiment. Indeed, I feel like Grattan on a famous occasion when he said that he watched over the cradle of Irish freedom and wept over its doom.
I feel that I watched over the cradle of the unified society; now I feel as if I am being asked to take part in its execution and the confiscation of some of its goods and possessions for a purpose for which they were never intended. I refer to the use of this £1,000,000 of National Health Insurance Society funds, the property of the members of the society, for the purpose of purchasing and completing Store Street. That is a purpose of which a good many of them may not be in favour. Senator Dr. O'Connell said that they would not have an opportunity of expressing their sentiments on it. But they are part of the general public. There is a genuine feeling about the taking over of Store Street and, since that feeling is pretty general, I think it is most regrettable that this £1,000,000 of the society's carefully nurtured investments should be used in that direction. I feel that the moral implications of spending money while it is still in the possession of its legal owners are not such as we can readily condone. I have a conscientious objection to passing this Bill in order to make that possible.
The Minister advanced certain arguments in favour of the case he was making for the application of this £1,000,000 towards the purchase and completion of Store Street. He drew a certain analogy. It reminded me of the fact that Árus Brugha was originally purchased by the provisional committee on behalf of the committee out of society funds. That was right. That was quite legitimate and natural because the building was for their own use. I would like to remind the Minister courteously that the step he proposes to take is quite different. He proposes to devote the £1,000,000 towards providing accommodation for the Department of Social Welfare. The point he made does not carry conviction. I am more concerned, however, with the innuendoes made with regard to the investments of the society. For nine years I was a trustee of the unified society. We had charge of the bulk of the investments. We were real trustees. I believe that subsequent trustees waived their right in that respect and did not exercise that particular function. I and my fellow-trustees had the power to invest the money. We had frequent meetings with our brokers. We had frequent consultations. The Minister talked about investing the funds in Nigeria, in darkest Africa, in the territory of Seretse Khama and in the production of ground-nuts. Our policy was deliberately framed on quite different lines. From the beginning we determined that every penny of the society's money that could be repatriated should be repatriated. At the end, I think there was just one small amount outstanding of Bank of England stock. Gradually we got rid of all our external investments and we used the repatriated assets for the purpose of doing good both to the members of the society, who were the real owners of the money, and to the Irish nation. In that we had the inspiration of our wonderful chairman, Dr. Dignan. I would like to remind the House of a very interesting occurrence. When war broke out and everybody was a little panicky about finance, Dr. Dignan suggested that we should meet the Minister for Finance at the time, the present Uachtarán. He was not available; but Dr. Dignan and my fellow-trustees, together with our able secretary, Mr. Rory Henderson, had the opportunity of meeting Mr. McElligott, Secretary of the Department of Finance. He gave us a good deal of time, examined all our investments and congratulated us on the prudence we had shown. I think that should be borne in mind. So long as the trustees of the National Health Insurance Society had the power, they administered the affairs of the society most competently. The Minister was kind enough to furnish us with a memorandum. So long as we had charge of the society, there was no such thing as investing the money in ground-nut schemes.
During the course of this debate a tribute was paid to the management of the society. I am sure that, subsequent to my having my connection with it so summarily and unfortunately cut, my successors were just as concerned as we were; indeed, they so proved themselves in the running of the society, and the proof of that is that the investments of the society are so sound to-day. I think the success of the society in the past was mainly due to one man, Dr. Dignan. I hate to bring his name into the discussion since it has been hurled from every political platform and been the subject of a cheap, party warfare across the floor of the other House. I have no wish to do that. But before this Bill passes into the limbo of forgotten things, I would like people to realise what a truly great man he is. He devoted untold labour to the work and interest of the society. He had a very mixed pack to guide. The management committee consisted of a chairman, nominated by the Government, three trustees nominated by the Government, three representatives of employers nominated by the Government, representatives of the trade unions and elected personnel representing the insured members. They came from different parts of the country. They had a different political outlook and different social affiliations. They might have been a very hard team to drive, but we were fortunate in having this great chairman, who put before us the objects for which we should strive. In all his advice there was one end and one aim; that was the interests of the insured persons. We did what we could for the staffs, and we had a most loyal and devoted staff.
His lordship worked them very hard, and all of us very hard, but the response was magnificent. Even when he was doing all that there was the cruellest setback. A paragraph appeared one day in a leading morning newspaper to the effect that the affairs of the society were not going well and that his Lordship, the Bishop of Clonfert, was chairman and then it was suggested that another would take over. We could never trace the origin of that paragraph, but it was a most outrageous thing for a newspaper to print. Then, after Dr. Rowlette's regrettable death, we got the idea that the Department had some feelings that we were very extravagant people and that we spent money uselessly. We had the great advantage of having Mr. Keady, one of the greatest personalities in national health insurance in the world. To our great advantage he took the place of the late Dr. Rowlette. He was a man of tremendous ability, of great honesty and insight. We asked him to look over the affairs of the society. He did so and he had to admit that it was being run most efficiently and most economically. Many a time the Bishop would prevent the expenditure of a penny when he could, unless it was absolutely necessary. He was most careful of the funds of the society. Mr. Keady is a man of great honesty. He admitted at a meeting that he had had ideas that we were an extravagant society. He discovered, however, that when he went through everything, he was wrong in his ideas and he gave us the greatest praise for the way in which the financial affairs of the society were managed. That was a great satisfaction to us all. I think that most of everything we did was due to the Bishop. I could not describe what an inspiration he was. Every member of the committee of management venerated and loved him.
We all came from different parts of the country and we all had our different political opinions but we left these differences of political opinion outside in O'Connell Street before we entered the committee room. In the committee room we differed and it was one of those committees where you could differ and differ with the chairman. I have often differed with the chairman on most important points but he was such a great man that, even though certain matters were very dear to him he would respect our different opinions. He knew our opinions were honest. Therefore we were a very happy team. It was rather pathetic that after eight or nine years his Lordship said: "I did not feel those years passing. I must have been very happy." We were indeed all very happy. I wish I could convey all that I personally owe both to his Lordship and to my fellow trustee for what I learned from them and from the other members of the committee of management— Labour men, employers and industrialists. We all learned something from each other. I do not think I ever spent more educative years. I came from writing books at my desk and I did not know a great deal about public business. My education was advanced during those nine years and I consider that they were the most fruitful years of my life. For that reason, I should like to say farewell to the society and I hope that in the days to come the work of the National Health Insurance Society will be done as well as it was done under Dr. Dignan.