I move:—
That the Dáil hereby approves of the Gárda Síochána Pensions Order, 1938, made on the 6th day of May, 1938, by the Minister for Justice, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, under Section 13 of the Police Forces Amalgamation Act, 1925, and laid on the Table of the Dáil on the 11th day of May, 1938.
The necessity for this order arises from the contemplated change in the Commissionership of the Gárda. Articles 1, 2 and 3 are formal. Article 4—This Article is intended to ensure that the Gárda Síochána Pensions Order, 1925 (as amended by any subsequent order) shall apply to the present commissioner. The wording of Article 3 of the 1925 order left some room for doubt on this point.
Article 5.—The "requisition period of approved service" referred to in this Article is 25 years in the case of the present commissioner and 30 years in the case of any future commissioner who joined the force after the 19th October, 1925. The Article provides that when a commissioner has completed such period of service, he may retire on pension, but only with the consent of the Minister if he has attained the age of 60. Under the 1925 order a commissioner irrespective of his length of service could not retire on pension except on medical grounds before the age of 50.
Article 6.—This Article enables, in the case of the present commissioner, the period which he served in the D.M.P. prior to his dismissal therefrom in July, 1921, and the period from such dismissal to the date of his re-instatement (1st April, 1925), to be reckoned as approved service for pension. This provision is identical with those contained in Section 3 of the Superannuation and Pensions Act, 1923, and in Section 11 of the Dublin Police Act, 1924, which applied to other members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police who were dismissed for political reasons prior to the Truce and were subsequently reinstated therein. The Article also enables the Minister for Finance to add as approved service, in the case of any commissioner, a period not exceeding 10 years.
Article 7.—This Article is intended to cover the case of a civil servant appointed, without break of service, to the post of commissioner. It provides that in such a case the full period served in a pensionable capacity in the Civil Service may be reckoned as approved service, for the purpose of pension, on retirement from the Gárda. Under the 1925 order only three-fourths of such service, served after the age of 20, could be so reckoned.
The present commissioner joined the D.M.P., as it then was, on the 20th January, 1911. He was dismissed for political reasons on the 24th July, 1921. From July, 1921, to May, 1922, he was engaged on intelligence work. From May, 1922, to May, 1925, he was Secretary of the Civil Aviation Organisation. In May, 1923, he was appointed Secretary of the D.M.P., which was then a recognised post. On the 1st May, 1925, he was reinstated in the D.M.P. with the rank of chief superintendent. Under the order, it is provided that the breaks shall count and that the commissioner's service shall be regarded as continuous service from 1911. That would give him a service of 27 years, and it is proposed to add three years' service for pension purposes. Ten years is mentioned in the order, but this is merely suggested by the Department of Finance as a round figure. It is proposed to add three years, which will give him the maximum pension of two-thirds of his salary. The idea of the Principal Order is that any member of the force is entitled to full pension after 30 years' actual service. In calculating the actual pension, every year's service after the twentieth year counts as two. The effect of that is that every member of the Guards who has 30 years' service, gets credit for 40 years, which entitles him to a pension of forty-sixtieths of his salary. I should like to add, at this stage, that I recognise that the position of chief commissioner is a very onerous one, and I should like to avail of this opportunity to express my deep appreciation of the services rendered by the commissioner who is now retiring.