§ 89. Mr. PARKINSONasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether in the event of his scale of salary being reduced or his pension rights or other conditions of service under which he was serving at the time of his transfer being made worse after the end of the transitional period, an Irish civil servant who was transferred from the British to the Irish Free State Government can claim to retire with special terms; if so, what special terms he would be entitled to claim; and whether the rights and privileges of such civil servants, which they held at the date of their transfer, are protected by Article 10 of the Treaty, after as well as during the transitional period?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for DOMINION AFFAIRS (Mr. Amery)The rights conferred by Article 10 of the Articles of Agreement upon civil servants transferred from the 2298 British Government to the Government of the Irish Free State are statutory rights, the force of law having been given to them in the Irish Free State by Article 78 of the First Schedule to the Constitution of the Irish Free State Act, 1922, of the Irish Free State Parliament. An authoritative interpretation of those statutory rights can, however, only be given by a Court of Law, and I am not, therefore, in a position to answer that part of the hon. Member's question.