I should like to know if the allowances referred to in this section apply to FCA personnel.
Army Pensions Bill, 1980: Committee and Final Stages.
Section 1 to 4, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 5.
Question proposed: "That section 5 stand part of the Bill."
No, just to the Permanent Defence Forces.
Do I take it then in relation to an injury received in training or in the performance of duties by the FCA the widows of those members are not entitled to any concessions under the Bill?
Not under this legislation.
It is an area that should be included.
I understand that it comes under a separate code. It comes under an LDF compensation code.
Question put and agreed to.
SECTION 6.
Question proposed: "That section 6 stand part of the Bill."
As I said at the outset, unless we give all Stages to the Minister now it is possible that it could be the autumn before the Bill would become law and I want it to become law as soon as possible but it is not good enough for the Minister to say that it can be altered by regulation. Those of us with experience in that regard know that we will be told that there is no accommodation in the Act to provide for an allowance of this sort once a person lives four years and a day after receiving the injury or wound. Surely it must be within the capacity of the doctors to say whether or not death was caused prematurely as a result of the wound or injury sustained in the cause of duty. When you establish a four-year limit you are helping the widows of those people who meet their death as a result of injuries or wounds but you make it very difficult for the widows of those people who do not die within the specified time. I ask the Minister to look at this again. If he cannot eliminate it, the limit could be extended even to ten years because the question here is whether or not death is attributable to an injury or wound received in the course of duty. It does not matter whether it is four years or ten years. If that injury was the cause of the person's death and was received in the course of duty, the allowance or award should be given regardless of whether it is four years and a day or 20 years and a day. If the injury received was a contributory factor to the person's death, there should be no time limit.
One of the major problems could relate to medical evidence. In the investigation of this type of case the problem is that the longer it goes the more difficult it is to link up with the original injury. I shall have a look at this in the context of the regulations.
That is not good enough. Is the Minister saying that it is not within the capacity of the medical people to say whether death was caused by an injury received? Surely in the certification of death they must be able to say whether an injury or wound received in the course of duty contributed to the death of the person concerned. I do not accept—with all respect—the Minister's suggestion about the regulations. We all remember the case mentioned by Deputy Lipper and the hassel there was about that.
The injury has to be received on duty. There is also very often the problem of witnesses and whether they are available. That relates generally to time limit but I shall consider the matter as sympathetically as possible.
Reluctantly, I accept that.
Question put and agreed to.
Sections 7 to 9, inclusive, agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported without amendment and passed.