§ Mr. T. GRIFFITHSasked the Chief Secretary whether Section 55 of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, applies in its entirety to existing Irish civil servants under the Free State Government; whether the Imperial Government still remains, after the setting up of the Free State Government, the guarantors of the tenure of office, salaries, superannuation, and conditions generally of those existing civil servants; and whether the Civil Service Committee will be set up in accordance with Section 56 of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on the 19th December last by the Leader of the House to a question addressed to him by the hon. and learned Member for York (Sir J. Butcher), in which it was stated that His Majesty's Government will be the guarantor of the pensions for which provision i3 made in Article 10 of the Treaty. That Article supersedes, so far as officers transferred to the Free State are concerned, the provisions contained in the Government of Ireland Act, but it provides specifically that those officers who are discharged or retire in consequence of the change of Government shall be given fair compensation on terms not less favourable than those accorded by the Act. It is proposed to discuss the whole matter with representatives of the Provisional Government prior to the establishment of the Free State.