I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £30,900 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1949, for Wound and Disability Pensions, Further Pensions and Married Pensions, Allowances and Gratuities (No. 26 of 1923, No. 12 of 1927, No. 24 of 1932, No. 15 of 1937, No. 2 of 1941, No. 14 of 1943 and No. 3 of 1946); Military Service Pensions, Allowances and Gratuities (No. 48 of 1924, No. 26 of 1932, No. 43 of 1934, No. 33 of 1938, No. 5 of 1944 and Nos. 11 and 34 of 1945); Pensions, Allowances and Gratuities (No. 37 of 1936 and No. 9 of 1948); Payments in respect of Compensation for Members of the Local Defence Force (No. 19 of 1946); and for sundry contributions and Expenses in respect thereof, etc.; and for an ExtraStatutory Grant.
The circumstances that made it necessary to bring in this Supplementary Estimate as shown in the White Paper are as follows:—Under sub-head C, £4,000 is needed to cover the arrears of wound and disability pensions which come in the course of payment during the year. When the original Estimate was drafted in the winter of 1947 it was estimated that there was an average of four months to be met. In fact, that average has been greatly exceeded and in some cases there were arrears of pensions falling for payment up to as many as three years. Under sub-head G, there is a sum of £10,300 falling for payment which was not reckoned on this year, the reason being that, in connection with the abatement clauses of the Military Service Pensions Act, the abatement in the case of Civic Guards was heretofore reckoned on their pay and allowances of various kinds. This year it was found that that was incorrect and that we were only entitled to make the abatement on the pay of the Guards without taking into account the various allowances. Therefore, under this sub-head we have to make a refund in the abatement, going back as far as 20 years. The amount of money involved in that refund to members of the Garda Síochána is £10,300. In addition to that, there is £5,000 in respect of the deficit on current abatement. It was reckoned that under the appropriate section there would be a reduction of £28,000 and in the working year it transpired that that Estimate was not fulfilled. The abatement came to only £23,000. The balance, £2,700, is simply a normal variation in the expenditure under this sub-head. The small figure, £131, under sub-head K is required to implement the abatement clause in connection with the Connaught Rangers Act, which was introduced in the course of last year.
Under sub-head M, Special Allowances, when framing the Estimate for the financial year coming to an end, it was calculated that the number of people falling for special allowances would be at the rate of 20 a month and that the average allocation made to each of the 20 would be £62. In the working of the scheme throughout the year, we found that we were dealing with and putting through 40 a month and that the average allowance to each person was £65. That accounts for the extra sum asked for under that particular heading. That makes a total of £43,000 odd required under this Supplementary Estimate and there is a drawback under other sub-heads amounting to £12,000, leaving a balance of the amount I mentioned at the outset.
