CLAUSE 10.—(Application to Ireland.) (Hansard, 9 April 1919)

§ Major O'NEILL
I beg to move, to leave out Clause 10. I do not do so on the merits of the case, but simply because the Joint Financial Secretary to the Treasury wishes to have an opportunity to make a statement with regard to the National Insurance Commission in Ireland.

§ Sir EDGAR JONES
I beg to second the Amendment.

§ Mr. BALDWIN
The position of the Irish National Insurance Commissioners is rather different from the Commissioners in Great Britain, because their duties as a Commission are continued under this Bill. They have put a very strong case to me, showing that they were appointed for a short time originally, and have continued in office year by year. I was so satisfied by what they said of the difficulty of them continuing to be able to give their best work in Ireland unless some greater security of tenure was afforded that I communicated with the Chief Secretary and suggested to him that we should place the male members of the Commission on the permanent establishment. With regard to Mrs. Dickie, the one lady member, as it was impossible, owing to the regulations which precluded married women 2137 from that privilege, it has been decided that she should be granted a term of some length. I also communicated with the Chief Secretary that I should be glad to consider, if this were done, making the term of these established officers pensionable. I received a message from the Chief Secretary agreeing with my suggestion, and I think this will relieve a very natural apprehension that was felt by the Irish Members about the position of the members of the Irish Commission. I am much obliged to my hon. Friend for giving me an opportunity of making this announcement.

§ Major O'NEILL
I should like to ask, with regard to Mrs. Dickie, if the hon. Gentleman can state what period of time he proposes to adopt in her case, with regard to being placed upon a permanent basis, otherwise it seems unsatisfactory that the only woman member of the Irish National Commissioners should be placed possibly in a worse position than the others. Curiously enough this announcement bears very closely upon the last Amendment, namely, the deletion of the words in the last Clause. It appears that so far as married women are concerned they are under some special disability in the Civil Service, which affects Mrs. Dickie possibly adversely. This House has been reverberating during the last few days with expressions of opinion as to the competence of women in every sphere and the desire that women should be placed on an equality with men. If this disability exists in the Civil Service now, I hope it will not be allowed to operate to the detriment of the woman, as in this particular case, who has served in the Civil Service for seventeen years, a woman of the greatest ability, who is doing the most excellent work as one of the National Health Commissioners. I suggest that this cannot be dealt with in the present Bill, but it is only right that this disability under which a woman suffers should not be allowed to exist. I hope the hon. Gentleman will say for what period of time he intends to establish Mrs. Dickie's position. I thank him on behalf of Irish Members who take an interest in this matter for the very generous way in which he has met us.

§ Mr. BALDWIN
All I can tell my hon. and gallant Friend this evening is that the words I used in communicating with the Chief Secretary were that it should be for a definite and a fairly long time.

§ Major O'NEILL
Will that mean that Mrs. Dickie will not be put upon any less definite basis than the male members of the Commission?

§ Mr. BALDWIN
I think so.

§ Major O'NEILL
I ask leave to withdraw my Amendment.