Oral Answers to Questions — Armed Forces – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 12 March 1947.
Mr Ronald Ross
, County Londonderry
12:00,
12 March 1947
asked the Minister of Defence how many ex-Servicemen from the United Kingdom and non-Service Eire citizens have been discharged from civil employment with the Armed Forces in Northern Ireland since 1st January.
Mr Albert Alexander
, Sheffield, Hillsborough
Since 1st January 86 ex-Servicemen and nine non-Service Eire citizens have been discharged from civil employment by the Service Departments in Northern Ireland.
Mr Ronald Ross
, County Londonderry
Is the right hon. Gentleman not ashamed that these ex-Servicemen should be sacked from their jobs in order to keep the citizens of a neutral State, who never served this country, in their employment?
Mr Albert Alexander
, Sheffield, Hillsborough
This matter has been dealt with several times in the House. The figures I have just given cover a great number of different stations in Northern Ireland, and probably in cases where ex-Servicemen have been discharged, there were no Eire men serving who could have been discharged.
Mr Ronald Ross
, County Londonderry
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that many jobs are held by Eire non-Servicemen, and for which there are quite competent ex-Servicemen available?
Mr Thomas Skeffington-Lodge
, Bedford
Is my right hon. Friend not aware that, relatively speaking, Eire did more to help this country in the war than Northern Ireland?
Mr Anthony Mulvey
, Fermanagh and Tyrone
Can the right hon. Gentleman say how many British ex-Servicemen, natives of Eire, have been refused renewals of residence permits in Northern Ireland?
Mr Albert Alexander
, Sheffield, Hillsborough
I have no actual figures on that point.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
