The following letter has been received from the Minister for Finance:—
By direction of the Minister for Finance, I send herewith three copies of the Royal Irish Constabulary Pensions Order of 1924, made by the Minister for Finance in pursuance of Section 5 (I.) of the Superannuation and Pensions Act, 1923.
I am to call attention to the provisions of Sub-Section 2 of the above Section, which enacts:—"No Order made under this Section shall come into operation unless and until it has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas and approved by resolution of the Dáil, and when considering any such resolution the Dáil shall duly consider any recommendation which shall have been previously made by the Seanad in respect of such Order."
In other words, that letter comes to this: that any Order under that R.I.C. Pensions Order, made under the Superannuation and Pensions Act, 1923, has to be laid on the table of each House. It was laid on the Table of this House on the 15th of this month, and, thereafter, if any recommendation is to be made to the Dáil before they pass a resolution approving of it, that recommendation should be made pretty soon, because the Orders only lie on the Table of this House for three weeks. They are already there since the 15th. Therefore, if any Senator wishes this Seanad should consider a recommendation to the Dáil before they pass a resolution confirming it, it is as well he should know the time is running out.