I beg to move:—
Go gceaduíghidh an Dáil leis seo Ordú Pinsean Constáblaíocht Ríoga na hEireann (Fir d'Eirigh as agus Fir do Briseadh), 1924, a dhin an tAire Airgid an 10adh lá d'Eanair, 1924, fé alt 5 den Acht Aois-Liúntas agus Pinsean, 1923 (Uimh. 34 de 1923) agus a leagadh fé bhráid na Dála an 15adh lá d'Eanair, 1924.
That the Dáil hereby approve of the Royal Irish Constabulary (Resigned and Dismissed) Pension Order, 1924, made on the 10th day of January, 1924, by the Minister for Finance under Section 5 of the Superannuation and Pensions Act, 1923 (No. 34 of 1923), and laid before the Dáil on the 15th day of January, 1924.
In this Order we carry out substantially, and as far as we feel justified in doing in the present circumstances of the country, promises that were made to the R.I.C. who left the force or were discharged because of their national sympathies. Perhaps if the conditions of the country were the same as when the late General Collins made his promise to the men, the order in some details might be slightly different. However, it is an order that does treat them well. It gives to these men their completed years of actual service with the addition of any period between the date of their leaving the force and the 31st day of March, 1922. It adds twelve years to their actual completed service for the purpose of computing the pension.
There are certain conditions attached to the order. One is a proviso that no pension shall be payable to any man who, having been offered an appointment in any branch of the public service of the Saorstát which, in the opinion of the Minister for Home Affairs, is reasonably suitable for him, declines to accept such an appointment. We think it is only fair that as far as possible, use should be made of these men. They were promised by the people who were in charge of Sinn Féin and by representatives of the Dáil in the old days, that if they did resign they would be looked after. Definite specific promises were not, perhaps, given to them, but they were given very clear general promises. We are bound by those promises and by the later promises of the late General Collins to compensate these men, but we do not wish to have a large number of able-bodied and comparatively young men drawing pensions for which the State is not receiving any value. Our intention is, as far as possible, to employ these men, as far as they are found suitable, on any suitable police or other work, that can be found for them. If any of them is offered employment and he refuses to accept it, then no pension will be paid to him. I think that there is no injustice to the men and no harshness in that provision. Pensions will be retrospective only to the 8th August, the date on which the Act was passed. We are advised that there is no power under the Act to calculate the pension from any earlier date. Complaint has been made that no provision is made for the widows of men who have died since they left the R.I.C. There is no power to give pensions to widows under this Act and, as a matter of fact, when the matter was being debated in the Dáil on the 30th July last, the President specifically stated that pensions would not be given except to the men themselves. No exception was taken to that in the Dáil at the time.
The Order will involve a fairly considerable expense to the State. I do not know exactly how many men will receive the pension. A large number of cases were reviewed by a Committee set up by the Minister for Home Affairs, and some 600 odd cases were passed by that Committee. In the case of some men, however, additional information has come to light since, and it may be that a number of names, possibly even a substantial number, may be struck off that list. However carefully we may scrutinise the list, there is no doubt whatever that under this Order men will get the pension who have no real right or claim to it. Men may have resigned for reasons of their own. They may have resigned without any national sympathy, but simply because they had cold feet. They may have resigned because they were tired of the police force. They may have resigned for a whole variety of reasons. Now of course they allege, and they have alleged, that they resigned because of their national sympathies. In justice to those who really did come out at a time when it was difficult and a sacrifice for them to come out, we cannot make the door so narrow or demand such absolute proof as would exclude those who are really entitled. We are making every possible enquiry, and before a pension is given every enquiry that can possibly be made will be made in each case. Some who are not entitled perhaps will get through, but there seems to be no way of avoiding that. If such men do get through, perhaps under the provisions of the Order as it stands we will be able to make them do some work if they are young men who can suitably be put to work. In that case the pension will quite possibly be suspended and the State will be getting value for a considerable number of years ahead.
