Mr. Oliver Shanley:

I thank the Chairman. I am a former member of An Garda Síochána, at garda rank. I am making this presentation on behalf of a group of former gardaí who left the Garda force for various reasons before 1 October 1976, having had the required five years of service or more, and who are being denied a Garda pension. I thank the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality for affording us this opportunity to present our case on our entitlement to receive a Garda pension.

With me are ex-gardaí Mr. Anthony Morris and Mr. Pat Hynes.

In 1978 the Garda representative body reached an agreement with the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Finance that members of garda rank who had resigned from the force on or after 1 October 1976 would have their pensions preserved from the age of 60 years. I refer to agreed report 218 of the Garda Conciliation Council which has been circulated. It was followed by agreed report 530 in 1997 and agreed report 543 in 1999 which provided for the preservation of pension entitlements for members of garda rank who had left the force for any reason after 1 October 1976. The details of the aforementioned agreements only came to light when members of our pre-1 October 1976 group of ex-gardaí of garda rank were approaching the age of 60 years and began to make inquiries with the Department of Justice and Equality about their entitlement to their Garda pension. They were informed by letter by the Department of Justice and Equality that, on foot of agreed reports 218, 530 and 543, they were not entitled to their Garda pensions as they had left the force before 1 October 1976.

I emphasise that the members of our group knew absolutely nothing about the agreements made between the Garda representative body and the Departments of Justice and Equality and Finance which excluded us without our knowledge from the Garda superannuation scheme and attempted to deprive us of our constitutional right to a Garda pension, despite the fact that we had the required five years service or more. Following these disclosures by the Department of Justice and Equality, we engaged in correspondence with it on whether agreed reports 218, 530 and 543 were underpinned by a statutory instrument. The Department replied that the agreed reports operated on an administrative basis only and were not incorporated into a statutory instrument but that it was intended that they would be in the future.

The Garda superannuation scheme was introduced by way of Statutory Instrument 63/1925. The Police Force Amalgamation Act 1925, section 13, is the primary legislation on which it is based. The statutory instrument was amended by several subsequent statutory instruments but agreed reports 218, 530 and 543 operate, as stated, on an administrative basis only. We sought legal opinions and were advised that we had a justified grievance, according to the Cox and Lovett case law cited and the Michael Woods case, and had been wrongfully deprived of our Garda pension, which is a property right under the Constitution. The legal advice also stated our right to sue in respect of this injustice was beyond the capacity of the legal system to redress owing to the lapse of time and could only be resolved by the Oireachtas by means of legislation.

If our group had known about the negotiations conducted between the Garda representative body and the Departments of Justice and Equality and Finance, we would have endeavoured to be included in the negotiations at the time. Failing that, we would have commenced, or considered commencing, legal proceedings. We place our case in the hands of members and thank each and every one of them for his or her courtesy in listening to our presentation and reading our submission.