§ Mr. P. MEEHANasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware that the unpensionable allowances given to Irish prison warders under the new scheme are paid at the rate of 4d. and 8d. per day in lieu of the fixed pensionable rate of £5 and £10 per year under the old system; that the new unpensionable rates are paid only 288 days per year, Sundays, Roman Catholic holidays, annual leave, sickness, etc., not being paid for; that the highest possible amounts that can be earned under the new unpensionable system are £4 16s. and £9 12s. per year, as compared with the old fixed pensionable system of £5 and £10 per year; that the old fixed pensionable system has worked successfully for over thirty years in the Irish prisons service without presenting any difficulties in administration; will he now say what difficulties in administration would be likely to arise by continuing the old system of allowances, and on what grounds it has been stated that the new unpensionable rates, which show a loss of at least from 4 s. to 8s. per year, are a better system of remuneration; and will he also say what amount has been saved in those allowances since the 1st April, 1916, by the operation of the new unpensionable rates?
§ Mr. DUKEThe £10 and £5 per annum allowances formerly paid to Irish prison officers for special duties which are not replaced by new inclusive scales of salary have been replaced by working pay at rates of 8d. and 4d. per day, based on hourly rates. The old allowances were temporary and payable while an officer continued to discharge the duties to which they were attached. They were pensionable only when held by an officer at the actual date of his retirement. The new allowances of working pay are non-pensionable and are not restricted as suggested.2146W They are paid in respect of the duties to which they are attached for duty necessarily performed on any day, and are not paid when the work is not done owing to absence on leave or owing to sickness, etc. The system of working pay has been in operation since 1st April and the earnings paid indicate that in certain cases the annual earnings may amount to over £12 per annum when the rate is 8d. and over £6 when the rate is 4d. The arrangements as regards working pay are intended to facilitate the interchange of officers and duties in the interests of the public service. They are in the interests of the officers themselves to the extent that those who perform the work receive the money allocated for the duty. Working pay is intended, as a rule, to apply to officers of the lowest grade. As the new scheme of classification is designed to admit of continuous promotion from junior to senior classes, and provide a fairly wide field for such promotion, a qualified warder on retirement will presumably not belong to the junior grade and will probably be eligible for a pension based on a higher value of salary and emoluments than under the old system. No saving is anticipated by the change from the old system of providing for special duties to the new one.