asked the Minister for Finance if he will sympathetically consider allowing Army service during the Emergency to count for pension purposes in respect of Civil Service and other State employees in order to increase their number of years service; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Civil Service Superannuation.
89.
As already indicated in my reply to a Parliamentary Question on 30th June last, I have decided that service of up to two years in the Army during the Emergency may be reckoned for the purposes of Civil Service superannuation. The concession extends also to the gardaí and national and secondary teachers.
Does the Minister consider that those who left the Civil Service to join the Army during the Emergency and returned to the service afterwards are not entitled to the same consideration as, for instance, the employees of local authorities who will be granted full service for doing just that?
When I answered this question on 30th June last Deputy Tully asked a supplementary question, which was very similar, and I am afraid he has forgotten what I told him.
I am consistent anyway.
I told him that he was mistaken. The position is that someone who was in the Civil Service and left to serve in the Army during the Emergency and then came back to the Civil Service gets full credit for his service during the Emergency. What we are talking about here is people who were not in the Civil Service before the Emergency, who served during the Emergency in the Army and, after demobilisation, went into the Civil Service.
I am talking about something I mentioned earlier today. I am talking about the Land Commission ganger, who is employed by the State in a very junior capacity, if you like. He had been employed by the Land Commission when he joined the Army and served for six years during the Emergency, returning to the Land Commission at the end of the Emergency; the State are offering him three years and the Minister for Lands has stated that the Minister for Finance will not sanction any more of that service. I want to know why cannot he be treated the same as local authority employees or, in fact, senior civil servants.
If he was entitled to superannuation when he went into the Army from the Public Service——
He was not a public servant.
Then the position is as I have stated. If he was not a public servant the position is that he is benefiting under this consession to an extent to which he would not otherwise benefit.
If he is an employee of a local authority he is entitled by an Act of this Oireachtas to get full credit for service, having left during the Emergency to serve in the Army and returned after the Emergency——
Even though he had no superannuation?
He had no superannuation rights until 1948, as the Minister probably remembers. This new superannuation scheme was introduced in 1970 for State employees. An attempt is being made to make this half service. I am suggesting the Minister should ensure that these people get full service the same as their colleagues in other outside employment get.
This is not the point raised by Deputy Tully on the last occasion. I will look into it but I think the position is that there were other concessions made in regard to the Civil Service which were not made by local authorities. I will look into the point raised by the Deputy.
If the Minister looks into it I will be satisfied. He has been quoted as refusing to sanction this.