This Bill is an extensive one, but as it has already been so fully discussed in the Dáil and has received so much publicity in the Press, I feel that it will be unnecessary for me to delay the Seanad with a long discourse on its provisions. It results largely from the consideration by the Government of the representations which have been made by Deputies, Senators, organisations representing the Old I.R.A. and ex-servicemen for improvements in the existing Army pensions code and it represents the full extent to which, in the present financial circumstances, the Government have found themselves able to go in their desire to meet these representations as far as possible. The Bill does, in fact, provide substantial benefits in a number of ways which I will outline briefly.
The existing Army Pensions Acts make certain provision for the dependent relatives of those who were killed or executed during the 1916-1923 period, or who died as a result of wounds received or disease contracted during that period. The Government have decided to provide in this Bill for increases in the allowances at present payable to those relatives, and, in particular, to recognise in a special way, the position of the relatives of deceased persons who, having had pre-Truce service, died during the 1916-1923 period or died within four years from wounds or disease attributable to their military service during that period. As I indicated to the Dáil, the death of a person within the four years period from wound or disease is being regarded as meriting the same consideration as if the person had been executed or killed outright during the period from April, 1916, to September, 1923. The enhanced allowances which will now be payable— generally as from 1st January 1953—to the relatives of the deceased persons to whom I have been referring are set out in Part II of the Bill. A widow, a parent, a sister or a permanently invalided brother may benefit under this part, although, of course only one allowance will, as at present, be payable in respect of any deceased person. In the case of a widow the allowance will be £250 a year; in the case of a parent, £180 a year, and in the case of a widowed or unmarried sister or a permanently invalided brother, £125 a year. There will be a dependency test for brothers and sisters. These allowances represent a considerable increase on those payable under the existing Acts, but I am sure that the Government's decision to provide for these enhanced allowances will commend itself to every member of the Seanad.
In addition to making provision for those allowances the Bill provides, at Part III, for increases in the pensions and allowances payable under the existing Acts. Under the Army Pensions (Increase) Act, 1949, certain of those pensions and allowances have already been increased. Later, by the Pensions (Increase) Act, 1950, the pensions and superannuation of the various classes of State pensioners, such as civil servants, to which the Act related, were increased according to a scale which is now set out in Section 12 of the present Bill.
Part III of the Bill is rather difficult, because it refers back to a large number of the provisions of the existing Acts, but what is being done, in effect, is to take the pensions and allowances as they were before they were increased by the increase Act of 1949, and to increase them by the appropriate sum in accordance with the scale as laid down in Section 12. Where a pension was not increased at all by the increase Act of 1949, it will now be increased by the full appropriate sum and where there was an increase in 1949 which did not equal the appropriate sum as we are now considering it, there will be a further increase up to the appropriate sum. A number of pensions and allowances were increased by the full appropriate sum in 1949, and these will not, of course, be further increased by this Bill.
There is a ceiling of £450 a year, beyond which pensions under the Army Pensions Acts, or combination of such pensions with Defence Forces service pensions will not be increased, and where pensions are related to pay, as is the case, for instance, with the disability pensions payable to officers who left the Forces after 1st October, 1924, the pensions will not be increased beyond the figure which would represent the pension payable to an officer of similar rank and service who was serving on 2nd September, 1946. These conditions already apply to the pensions payable to the other classes of State servants to which the Pensions (Increase) Act, 1950, apply. The increases now provided for in the Bill will operate as from the 1st January, 1953.
I should perhaps mention particularly that the allowances of £100 a year at present payable to sisters of the signatories of the Proclamation of 1916 are being increased to £250 a year, and I might also at this stage say that, in Section 45, provision is made for new allowances of £125 a year for certain children of the signatories. We are also, by Section 25 of the Bill, providing for enhanced allowances for the widows and children of members of the Defence Forces who are killed on duty, or die within four years of wounds received on duty. The ordinary allowances payable to such dependents are set out in Section 27, but, in the special cases I have mentioned, these will, under Section 25, be increased by 50 per cent.
The existing Acts provide for additional married pensions, subject to certain conditions as to the date of marriage, for persons who are in receipt of pensions in respect of wounds or disease attributable to military service. Speaking in a general way, in order to be eligible for a married pension, a person must have been married on the date of his wound or on the date on which he was discharged suffering from disease. Where a person dies while in receipt of a married pension, his widow and children are eligible for certain allowances. The Government have now decided, in the case of persons who had pre-truce service, to extend the statutory dates of marriage for the purposes of married pensions and widow's and children's allowances; and the date which has been decided upon, and now provided for in Part IV of the Bill, is 9th December, 1932, that is, the day before the Army Pensions Act, 1932, became law. The decision will apply to all disablement pensioners under the Acts of 1923, 1927 and 1932, and to their widows and children. The bringing forward of the marriage date will benefit a considerable number of disablement pensioners who are not at present in receipt of married pensions and also a large number of widows and children who are not now eligible for allowances because, owing to the date of marriage, the deceased husband had not a married pension at the time of his death.
I next come to Part V of the Bill which relates to special allowances. Senators are no doubt aware that these allowances are payable to persons who gave pre-truce service and who are, owing to age or infirmity, incapable of self-support. Almost 3,000 of these allowances are now being paid. A number of new provisions relating to special allowances is contained in Part V. In the first place, pensioners under the Connaught Rangers (Pensions) Acts are being made eligible for these allowances. Secondly, the maximum allowances are, in the case of persons under 70 years of age. being increased by £26 a year for persons eligible for the unmarried rate and by £33 10s. a year for persons eligible for the married rate. I should explain that persons of the age of 70 or over have already received considerable benefit by having military service pensions, disability pensions, special allowances or any combination of them up to £80 a year ignored as means for old age pension purposes and by having old age pensions completely ignored as means for special allowances purposes. The increased allowances now proposed for persons under 70 are, therefore, called for in order to give some corresponding degree of benefit to them.
Part V also enables the Minister to consider, in cases of hardship, a further application within 12 months from a person who has been refused a special allowance or who has had an allowance terminated. Up to the present the Minister has had no discretion in this matter and a person, on an allowance being refused or terminated, had to wait for 12 months before being able to make a fresh application. I should emphasise that it is not intended that there should be any general departure from the 12 months' rule. The new provision is, as I said, intended for cases of hardship.
I should perhaps mention, as I did in the Dáil, that the joint directions of the Ministers for Defence and Finance governing the assessment of means for special allowance purposes are being amended so as to enable the first £30 of a military service pension or a disability pension or combination of them to be ignored as means in the cases of persons under 70 years of age and to provide for revised methods of assessment of the earnings of children under 18 and also as regards transfers of property by applicants for special allowances.
Part VI contains a number of miscellaneous provisions which are explained in the memorandum which accompanied the Bill. I do not think it is necessary for me to go into them now. I have, in fact, confined myself to a general review of the principal provisions of the Bill. If any further explanation of particular sections is required, I shall be glad to give it. I hope, however, that what I have said will have been sufficient to show the Seanad that the Bill marks a considerable advance on the provision of the existing Acts and that the Government have made some effort to accede to the requests made to them from the various interested sources.
