asked the Minister for Defence if he will abolish the means test for all old IRA veterans when they apply for special disability allowance; and if he will provide that the widows of old IRA veterans will get more generous consideration.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Old IRA Allowances.
40.
The purpose of a special allowance is to augment the means of members of the Old IRA and kindred organisations who are incapable of self-support by reason of age or permanent infirmity and whose means from other sources are below a certain level. A means test is, therefore, essential for the operation of the scheme.
The Army Pensions Act, 1968, effected a considerable easement in the conditions governing the grant of allowances to the widows of disablement pensioners, including IRA veterans. No further legislation is contemplated relating to the widows of veterans.
Would the Minister not agree that it would not be taxing the Exchequer too much if the limited number of Old IRA men still living were given an allowance, because under the special disability allowance they cannot qualify for any pension at present?
I do not follow the point the Deputy is putting to me now. I have already stated that the special allowance is a method by which the State supplements the income of the applicants and it is a cardinal principle of the scheme that there is a means test in it.
Am I right in thinking that it is only those who are suffering from disability who qualify for an IRA pension now?
These are special allowances as distinct from service pensions and, in order to qualify, an applicant must have a duty awarded medal. He must be either over 70 years of age or alternatively be incapable of self-support by reason of infirmity of mind or body, and his income must be below a certain specified sum.
The purpose of my question was to show that the refusal of a pension at this late stage bears severely on these people.