We are in complete agreement that this pensions Order should be approved but we got the Order only this morning. The Minister said, in his own gentle fashion, that Senators "of course had got the memorandum." Senators have got the memorandum but they have not read the memorandum and have not had an opportunity of studying it. As usual, of course, this is an Order which can only be read by reference to other documents.
I take it that this particular scheme has been going to and fro between the Department of Justice and the Department of Finance for years. Then the Seanad gets it on a Wednesday morning and it is supposed to become law that afternoon. Senator Quirke established an all-time record to-day by suggesting that we should pass through all its stages a Bill which has not yet come before the House. This proposal is not quite as bad as that but it is of the same order.
I do not want to object to the passing of this Order nor do I want to stand between the members of the Garda and any improvement in their pensions schemes. I am entirely in agreement with the proposal to pay a lump sum on retirement. I think that is a perfectly sound provision and I am glad that it is being proposed but I should like, as a parliamentarian, to protest against the manner in which it is sought to rush it through this House. Civil servants have been considering this proposal for years but we do not even get an afternoon to consider it.