I move:
That Dáil Éireann approves of the Garda Síochána Pensions Order, 1976 made on the 8th day of June, 1976, by the Minister for Justice with the sanction of the Minister for the Public Service under Section 13 of the Police Forces Amalgamation Act, 1925.
The Garda Síochána Pensions Order, 1976, which I ask the House to approve, provides for a minor amendment of the Garda Síochána pensions code in regard to the reckoning of service of members who were appointed to the force after the age of 27 and who had prior service reckonable as "approved service" for Garda pension purposes.
Under the Garda Síochána Pensions Order, 1925, members of the force are in general entitled to double each year of their approved service in the force after 20 years for superannuation purposes. An order made in 1950 provided that in the case of any member serving on 1st January, 1950, who was appointed to the force after the age of 27, each year of service after his 47th birthday should be doubled when calculating his pension; a similar provision in relation to the calculation of the member's retirement gratuity was made in the 1951 pensions order.
Over the years these special provisions operated to the benefit of the members concerned. It has happened however that a small number of men, about 15 in all, who joined the force after the age of 27, who had prior service reckonable as approved service for Garda pension purposes and who either retired before reaching compulsory retirement age, or died while serving, would have been entitled to more favourable superannuation payments if their service after 20 years had been doubled, rather than after their 47th birthdays. The circumstances of these particular cases— appointment to the force after the age of 27, prior service reckonable as approved Garda service, and early retirement—were not foreseen when the 1950 and 1951 orders were being made and consequently provision was not made in those orders to cover such cases.
The order now before the House provides that in such cases superannuation will be calculated on the basis of doubling service after 20 years. In effect, this will increase the superannuation payments to the persons concerned. The order is being made effective from 1st January, 1967, so as to cover all the cases affected.
Minor discrepancies of this kind produced by the existing provisions of the Garda pensions code in the case of the few pensions involved can be felt by those concerned to be unjustifiable and unfair and I am glad to be able to take the initiative in removing this particular one. Indeed it has been and will be my policy to examine any anomalies of this kind that come to notice with a view to eliminating them if at all possible.
I commend the order for the approval of the House.
