asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he intends to give retired national health insurance officers who were attached to his Department any compassionate gratuity, as was promised to them.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Retired National Health Insurance Officers.
35.
I would refer the Deputy to the reply I gave to a similar question from Deputy Tully on February 11th, 1965.
Surely the Minister is aware that his Department have given to those people an assurance in writing on numerous occasions over the past seven years that the matter is under consideration?
There has certainly been no promise, as implied in the question. When the pension scheme was introduced under the old National Health Society, from which these people came, they were specifically excluded from the scheme and were given an increase in their remuneration to compensate for the lack of superannuation.
In that case, would it not be far more honest for the Department to tell those people they are not going to get any pension or gratuity rather than tell them again and again, as well as telling public representatives who made inquiries, that the matter is under consideration? That has been done over seven years.
I am not aware that it has been done.
Will the Minister take my word for it or does he want documentary proof, which I have in my possession?
I shall look into that.