§ Mr. T. GRIFFITHSasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been drawn to the position of those men who were employed in the Royal Ordnance Department, Dublin; whether he is aware that with the birth of the Free State all these men were discharged, although they had been guaranteed employment until they reached the age of 60; and whether, in view of the fact that they cannot get similar employment in Ireland, and that if they had been kept in their employment until the specified age they would have received much greater gratuities, he will consider the possibility of granting them further assistance in view of the special circumstances?
§ Mr. GWYNNEI have been asked to reply. I think the hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The War Department had not guaranteed these men employment until the age of 60, and they were liable to be discharged whenever their services were no longer required. In point, of fact, however, as many as possible of them, including all the pre-War regularly employed men, have been given the option of transfer to other depots in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. I regret that the remainder have necessarily been discharged, as no further work was available for them. The discharged men have received the gratuities to which they were entitled by their terms of service in accordance with Section 4 of the Superannuation Act of 1887, and, whilst I have every sympathy with their position, I regret that the War Office have no power to grant them further assistance.