Deputy Lyons has given notice of a matter which he intended raising on the adjournment, but the reply given to the question by the Deputy seems to dispose of his point.
ORDUITHE AN LAE. - THE ADJOURNMENT—TREATMENT OF EX-NATIONAL ARMY MEN.
If I might intervene, I should like to say that I do not really know what Deputy Lyons' point is. I gave an answer to his question to-day very fully. Some of these cases will come under the new Amending Bill when it becomes an Act. I do not see any reason for occupying the time of the House in discussing cases that could not possibly be dealt with before the Amending Bill has become law. If Deputy Lyons has any point outside that, I am prepared to deal with it. But I do not really know. what other point the Deputy makes.
I do not want to raise the question at this late hour, if I can get an assurance from the Minister that something will be done for men who contracted disease while serving in the Army. I want to point out to the Minister the amount of trouble that ex-soldiers have to go through to prove that they contracted the disease they suffer from in the Army.
The cases that the Deputy speaks of will come to be reviewed under an Act passed recently. Where, therefore, does the negligence of the Minister enter into the matter?
The question that I gave notice to raise was as to the treatment of men who had contracted disease while serving in the Army.
As to the negligence of the Minister for Defence. That is what the Deputy gave notice of. If an Act has been passed to provide certain machinery for dealing with that matter, that is all that is to be said about it. The Deputy cannot review an Act by way of question on the adjournment.
I do not want to do that as long as I am sure that the hundreds of men who contracted diseases such as tuberculosis, rheumatism, sciatica, and different other complaints——
An Act has been passed for dealing with these men. That was one of the main reasons why the Act was passed, and nothing remains to be discussed now. The Deputy is not in order in discussing the matter now.
The Dáil adjourned at 10.35 p.m. to Thursday, 28th April, 1927, at 3 p.m.