asked the Minister for Finance if he is prepared to reconsider the claims of the ex-Connaught Rangers who were convicted in India for their protest against the Black and Tan régime in Ireland, and whether he will make provision (a) by way of gratuity for the dependent relatives of those men who were killed or executed in India or who have died since their release from prison as a result of prison treatment, by introducing legislation to bring such cases within the scope of the Army Pensions Acts, and (b) by way of pension or gratuity for the surviving members of the ex-Connaught Rangers by placing them on equal terms with the dismissed and resigned R.I.C. men, whose cases, it is stated, will be brought within the scope of Section 5 of the Superannuation and Pensions Act, 1923, by proposed legislation.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - EX-CONNAUGHT RANGERS' CLAIMS.
The claims put forward on behalf of the men of the Connaught Rangers who mutinied in India were fully inquired into by a committee specially appointed for the purpose in 1925. The committee reported that no claim for compensation arising out of the mutiny was sustainable, and, after careful consideration of their recommendation, the Government decided that the circumstances were not such as to warrant any payment to these men or their relatives out of Government funds. It was agreed, however, to afford an opportunity of obtaining Government work to such of the men concerned as were not already so employed, provided they had not already refused Government employment, or, having obtained it, lost it through causes within their own control.
It is not considered that any circumstances have arisen since the date of the Report to justify a modification of the view then arrived at.
Is it the considered opinion of the Minister and of the Executive Council that these men have no claims whatsoever on an Irish Government?
No more than many Irish civilians who, at heavy material loss and great risk, gave assistance during the national struggle.
Is the Minister aware that some of these men who came from India to prison are suffering from malaria and other tropical diseases from which some of them have died, that in certain cases their parents are in dire want, and that in one case a man's mother is now in the poorhouse as a result of this?
I am not aware of these circumstances.