I move:—
That the Dáil hereby approves of the Gárda Síochána Pensions Order, 1942, made on the 18th day of June, 1942, 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 before the Dáil on the 24th day of June, 1942.
There is only one case to be dealt with at present under this Order, where a man who was dismissed was reinstated, and it is necessary to have this Pensions Order to have approval for the grant of a pension. The Gárda Síochana Pensions Order, 1925, provides that a man who has been dismissed from the force and is subsequently reinstated may have reckoned as approved service his service prior to dismissal. That Order does not,however, apply to men who formerly served in the Dublin Metropolitan Police and who stayed on after the Treaty. The pensions of such men are regulated by the Dublin Metropolitan Police Pensions Order, 1922, which is generally similar to the Order of 1925, but which does not contain a provision dealing with the case of a man who was dismissed and reinstated. Such a case has recently come to light as a result of a former Dublin metropolitan policeman retiring on reaching the age limit, and as matters now stand he could not be given his full pension and, indeed, there is some doubt as to whether he could get a pension at all. This would be obviously unjust, and the new Order is intended to cover this case and some others which are likely to arise in the future. The effect of the Order will be to give him credit for his full service. I understand that this man was out of the force for a few months in 1925 and was subsequently reinstated. This question arose when he was about to retire.
