I think the Minister has very clearly met the position in regard to the staff. I compliment him on the ingenious way he has dealt with the pensions of the salaried staffs who are members of the Railway Clearing System Superannuation Fund which is based on London. There is one difficulty which I hope will be overcome, that is the fact that, coupled with the compensation which would be provided for the staff made redundant, it would be necessary, in order to benefit from the amendment secured in the Transport Bill, to freeze the superannuation rights of the people made redundant.
In relation to the Railway Clearing System Superannuation Fund, for a start we can accept that the committee of that fund will be agreeable to a rule alteration to provide for freezing of personal rights, but I believe it will be physically impossible to have all the necessary rule alteration gone into before 1st October. What I am concerned about is the position of the salaried members of that fund who may go to the Dundalk Engineering Works. As I see the position, the staff will be declared redundant by C.I.E. It would seem to be necessary in order to benefit from the full provisions of the compensation that the rule alteration should be through at the time that they were declared redundant. It may be possible for an arrangement to be made between C.I.E. and the Dundalk Engineering Works to continue to regard such staff as seconded to C.I.E. and in turn linked to the Dundalk Engineering Works until the rule alteration had gone through, when they could be formally declared redundant. There is a possibility that redundancy might arise before the rule alteration would be carried through.
I am hopeful that there will be an understanding all round, that the position will be appreciated, that every effort will be made to get through the necessary rule alteration as quickly as possible. I do not think that on any side there will be avoidable delay, but as I see the position, it will be physically impossible to have the rule alteration through by 1st October. It would be disastrous for the people concerned if they were declared redundant before that rule alteration was through. They would lose the benefit of the amendment the Minister put into the Transport Bill on Report Stage in the Dáil. I hope there will be appreciation of that difficulty in dealing with this problem.
