Mr. NUGENTasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he will cause inquiries to be made as to the present condition of police pensioners in Dublin, both Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police; whether he is aware that, in consequence of the increased cost of food, many of the men find they are unable to exist on the pensions; is he aware that their average is £1 per week and in some cases as low as 10s.; whether he is also aware that numbers of these men have on various occasions applied to the several military and Government Departments in Dublin for employment, but without success; is he aware that there are numbers of the Royal Irish Constabulary on active service at the depot, being employed as clerks in the Production of Food and other Departments, whose chief duties consist of addressing envelopes; will he state whether the salaries of such men are chargeable to the War Office or are paid for out of the Irish police funds; and will he consider the payment of a war bonus to the police pensioners or providing them with suitable employment such as at present discharged by men on active service?
§ Mr. DUKEI am informed that there are only ten pensioners unemployed on the books of the Dublin Metropolitan Police Pensioners' Association, and that most of them were in temporary employment until recently. As regards the Royal Irish Constabulary, I have no special information; but as I stated in reply to the hon. Member for West Ham South on the 30th October, a large number of pensioners retired from the constabulary at their own request in order to obtain their positions. Out of 3,851 men who retired during the ten years 1904 to 1913 no less1542W than 2,358 were men of less than thirty years' service who retired at their own request though they could have served many years longer. The general average of Royal Irish Constabulary pensions is:
The pensions of the Dublin Metropolitan Police are:
Ex-Head Constables £71 per annum Ex-Sergeants £53 per annum Ex-Constables £41 per annum I am not aware that Royal Irish Constabulary pensioners have applied to Government Departments in Dublin for employment without success. A number of members of the Royal Irish Constabulary at the depot were employed on clerical work this year in the Department of Agriculture at the urgent request of the Department in connection with the compulsory tillage scheme, but they have now all returned to police duty. Two members of the force are employed on clerical work in the Intelligence Branch of the Headquarters, Irish Command. Their pay is charged to the Constabulary Vote. The conditions of the times affect pensioners from the public service as well as other classes, but I cannot hold out hope of the grant of a war bonus to these pensioners.
Under 10s. per week 20 10s. and under 15s. per week 38 15s. and under 20s.per week 168 20s. and under 25s.per week 151 25s. and over 154
§ Mr. P. MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether it is intended to grant a war bonus to Royal Irish Constabulary pensioners in Ireland; and if he is aware of the difficulty experienced by the pensioners in existing on their present pensions owing to the cost of living?
§ Mr. DUKEThe conditions of the times affect pensioners from the public service as well as all other classes, but I cannot hold out hope of the grant of a war bonus to these pensioners.
§ Mr. MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware that many Royal Irish Constabulary pensioners in Ireland are in straitened circumstances owing to the present cost of living; and whether it is intended to concede the demand of these men for an increased pension?
§ Mr. DUKEI would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on this subject to the hon. Member for West Ham South on the 30th October.
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§ Mr. MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will state the amount of the grant from the Constabulary Force Fund benefits branch paid to each of the two unmarried daughters of the late Pensioner Hynes, who died at Salthill, Galway, about a year ago; if he can state the number of years Pensioner Hynes was a subscriber to the fund and the total amount he contributed to the fund?
§ Mr. DUKETwo daughters of the late pensioner John Hynes each received a grant of £11 13s. 2d. from the benefit branch of the Constabulary Force Fund. Hynes subscribed for fifty-eight years, and contributed £33 12s. ld. Under the ordinary rules, children over eighteen are not entitled to any benefit, but, the pensioner's wife having pre-deceased him, the two daughters, though over eighteen years of age, became entitled collectively to one-third of the amount which would have been payable to their mother had she outlived her husband. I am informed that it seldom happens that the amount contributed to the fund exceeds the sum payable to the subscriber's family.
§ Mr. MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that between the years 1847–66 the sum of £43,000 was transferred from the Police Reward Fund to the Exchequer towards the payment of imperial pensions to the force; whether in these years a deduction of 2½ per cent. was made on the annual pay of the relative ranks of constable, sergeant, and head constable, £33, £40, and £60, respectively; and whether he will now consider the claims of the Royal Irish Constabulary pensioners by refunding that sum towards the payment of a war bonus in addition to any other contribution the Government may award them in response to their present demands?
§ Mr. DUKEIn the period mentioned a sum of £42,809 was transferred from the Constabulary Force Fund to the Superannuation Fund of the constabulary Force, which at that time under an Act of 1836 was maintained by a deduction of 2 per cent. from the pay of the force. The transfer was not in contravention of the Statute. In addition to the deduction from pay which lasted up to 1866, there was ½per cent. deduction for the Constabulary Force Fund. These deductions were made from all ranks. In 1866 the deduction for the Pension Fund was1544W abolished and all liability for pension charges was taken over by the Exchequer. In 1891 Parliament voted £150,000 to insure the ability of the Constabulary Force Fund to pay in full all claims which might arise against it under past and existing rules. The sum diverted from the fund between 1847 and 1856 (no transfer was made after that year) has therefore been more than repaid already.