§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if and when the administration of the Old Age Pensions Acts is, under Section 5 of the Government of Ireland Act, 1914, transferred from the Government of the United Kingdom to the Irish Government, it is intended to pension off or transfer to Great Britain those of the existing pension officers in Ireland (using the word existing as defined in the Act) who may not be required in Ireland in their capacity as officers and surveyors of Customs and Excise, or in what other way it is intended to dispose of them, seeing that they will not, under Sections 2154W 5 and 36 of the Act, be transferred along with the old age pensions service from the control of the Government of the United Kingdom to the control of the Irish Government; and whether a sum, equal to the cost of the pension officers as such (not including the cost of their revenue work) at the date of the transfer of the old age pensions service, will be added to the Transferred Sum to enable the Irish Government to provide a staff of pension officers of its own?
§ Mr. McKENNAI fear I am not in a position to make any statement on this matter. As I informed the hon. Member on the 15th instant, it is not the case that the pension officers employed in Ireland would pass automatically under the control of the Irish Government if the administration of the Old Age Pensions Acts were transferred to it. The questions now raised by the hon. Member fall to be determined, if the contingency should arise, by the Civil Service Committee under Section 36 (2) and (3) of the Act, so far as concerns the status of the officers, and by the Joint Exchequer Board under Section 17 (6) so far as concerns an addition to the Transferred Sum.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked how many Excise stations and districts, respectively, there were in Ireland immediately before the putting into operation of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908; how many such stations and districts there now are; in how many Excise stations in Ireland are the officers also employed as pension officers; how many officers, excluding temporary, are employed in the Excise stations in which no old age pension work is done; whether the appointment of a pension officer is a distinct and separate appointment, made by the Treasury, from the appointment of the same person as a Customs and Excise officer, made by the Board of Customs and Excise; and to which of the two positions is his salary attached, and, if apportioned, in what proportions?
§ Mr. McKENNABefore the Old Age Pensions Act came into operation there were in Ireland 150 Excise stations and 41 districts. Now there are 348 stations and 56 districts. The number of stations in which the officers are employed as pension officers is 299; in the remaining 49 stations there are 120 officers who do no old age pension work. All officers of Customs and Excise are ex-officio pension officers, though they are not necessarily all employed on old age pension work and none of them are 2155W exclusively so employed. The salary is attached to the position of officer of Customs and Excise.