I move:
That a sum not exceeding £6,959,800 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1966, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Defence, including certain Services administered by that Office; for the Pay and Expenses of the Defence Forces; and for payment of a Grant-in-Aid.
As Deputies are aware, the Estimates for 1965-1966 for Defence and Army Pensions were debated in the previous Dáil but were not reported, and, accordingly, have to be introduced again.
As is customary, my predecessor made a long and detailed statement when introducing these Estimates. His statement was printed in the Official Report of the Debates of Tuesday, 2nd March, 1965—Volume 214, No. 8, commencing in column 1271, and the Estimates were debated exhaustively on that day and on Wednesday the 3rd and Tuesday the 9th March, 1965.
On that account, I feel that Deputies might not wish to be burdened today with a repetition of my predecessor's statement, and that it would be more for the convenience of the House if I were to confine myself now to the brief remarks which I have just made, undertaking at the same time to deal to the best of my ability with such questions, if there are any, as it may be desired to put to me arising from the Estimates. Nevertheless, I am completely in the hands of the House in the matter. If it is desired that I should repeat my predecesor's statement, I have no objection to doing so.
There is, however, one point to which I might, perhaps, refer specifically now, seeing that it was raised by some Deputies in connection with the recent Pensions Abatement Bill. It is the question of the abatement of Defence Forces pensions where the recipients are in employment remunerated from public funds. A Defence Forces (Pensions) Scheme is at present being prepared, and should soon be ready to be placed before both Houses of the Oireachtas, which will deal with this matter, with retrospective effect to 1st January, 1965, in a manner which, I hope, will be satisfactory to all concerned.
