asked the Minister for Defence if he will take steps to ensure that the retirement gratuity at present given to married NCOs and men with long service will be extended to single men who retire after long service.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Army Retirement Gratuities.
98.
I regret that I cannot undertake that gratuities will be payable to discharged single non-commissioned officers and privates in addition to their pensions.
99.
asked the Minister for Defence whether there is any distinction between payment of bonus for service in the Army on retirement to married and single personnel; and, if so, why.
Under the Defence Forces (Pensions) Schemes married officers are eligible for gratuities on retirement in addition to retired pay, but single officers are not. As recently announced, gratuities will be payable to married, but not to unmarried, long-service non-commissioned officers and privates discharged on pension.
As to the distinction, the Defence Forces (Pensions) Schemes are a separate and comprehensive code of superannuation catering for the conditions peculiar to military service, and the principles on which they are based are not similar to those of other superannuation codes. The original scheme of 1937 evidently took the line that married officers — who might be living in married quarters in barracks or living in private houses at places other than where they intended to settle on retirement — should be paid a retirement gratuity to assist them in setting up home afresh. A single officer would not be likely to have as great a problem in this respect and hence no gratuity was provided for him. In the same way, the payment of gratuities, in addition to pension, to unmarried long-service soldiers is not contemplated.