I move:
That in the opinion of Dáil Éireann the Government should increase the pensions of resigned and dismissed members of the RIC and thus give them "not less generous treatment" as promised and grant them parity with their comrades who continued in the service.
I know this motion has the support of many Deputies. I regret that it should be necessary to introduce such a motion, because the promise was made specifically by an Irish Government, and given with the consent of every member of the Dáil of that day, that these men would not be treated any less generously. The members of the RIC who acted on the appeal then made feel they have a very great grievance because the promise then given to them was not observed at any time since. Due to the increased cost of living, and other reasons, the pensions they are now getting are totally inadequate to meet their requirements. Certainly these pensions do not come up to the standard enjoyed by the people who continued to serve on in that force.
It is a long time since that promise was made, since the appeal was issued to the members of that force to refuse to serve—to resign. We know there were members of that force who were dismissed because they refused to obey the orders given to them to carry out brutal activities. They are still suffering from that loyalty to the Irish people. I personally sent the appeal to the members of the force through their relatives—brothers, fathers and mothers. I made it quite clear when talking to them that if they resigned, they would not be treated less generously than those who served on.
Why did we do that at the time? It was because we recognised that the RIC were the eyes and ears of the British administration, that they knew every blade of grass, and therefore were aware of all the activities in their respective areas. They were a very efficient force, well sheltered, well paid. Being the eyes and ears of the British administration, the Irish Government of the day started out to break up the efficiency of the force and to lower the morale of the members who carried on. This was secured by the efforts of the comrades of those who continued to serve on.
The morale of the RIC did in fact break up, and by our action then, we compelled the British and the RIC, in a few months in 1919, to vacate more than 400 barracks throughout the country. That left the job of administration practically impossible for the British and made our activities all the easier. As I have said, the promise was at that time given that those who resigned would not be treated any less generously. I shall not compare the pensions these people now have with the pensions others who served with them now enjoy from the British Government. I know our pensions are a very poor comparison. The Government should honour the bond.
There are dismissed RIC: there are some members of the force who, for various reasons, were unable to resign and some of these became members of our Forces. When the State was established, they were recognised and given appointments to compensate them because they carried out the orders they received. But I consider the old member of the RIC who had a year or two to serve and was called on to resign and surrender everything made a big sacrifice. I regret to say it was a sacrifice because we never honoured the bond. Some of these, even some officers and one in particular whom I know said: "I have only one year to serve and surely I can punch my ticket for that year? I shall not do this, that or the other." He was dismissed because he was caught out although he was an innocent man in many ways. I am glad that the Cumann na nGaedheal Government gave him his pension. I visited him in Dungarvan and I was in uniform at the time. He said the visit meant more to him than the pension because he and his family could hold up their heads when I had paid him that tribute. It would show that he was an Irishman before anything else. He richly deserved that little tribute which was resented by certain people—why, I do not know.
I do not understand why people are jealous because these dismissed and resigned RIC men have mediocre pensions in view of the fact that a promise was made to them that they would not be less generously treated. I feel it is not necessary to labour the case and that the Government will recognise the justice of the claim. Practically every Deputy recognises their claim and there was only one argument made against it—the financial stringency. According to all the reports, that no longer holds. Therefore, I hope the Government propose to accept this motion and put it into effect at the earliest possible moment.