Vol. 414 No. 4
259 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Defence if he intends to remove the anomaly whereby ex-servicemen/ women, who complete more than 21 years service, lose the extra increment paid for service over that period on reaching age 66; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Under the Defence Forces (Pensions) schemes, a soldier's pension consists of: (a) a basic pension in respect of 21 years' qualifying service; (b) in the case of soldiers discharged on or after 1 August 1990, and subject to certain conditions, an addition to basic pension in respect of military service allowance of 40 per cent of the rate of that allowance; (c) where the qualifying service is 31 or more years the addition referred to at (b) is increased to 50 per cent of the rate of the military service allowance; and (d) an additional increment of £3.28 a week in respect of each year of qualifying service in excess of 21 years but not exceeding 31 years.
The basic pension and the addition at (b) in respect of military service allowance are paid for life. When the pensioner becomes entitled to a social welfare retirement pension at age 65 or a contributory old age pension at age 66, the additional increment at (d) and the 50 per cent addition in respect of military service allowance at (c) no longer apply.
These arrangements are in accordance with the principle of co-ordinating occupational pensions in the public sector with social welfare entitlements in the case of employees who are fully insured under the Social Welfare Acts. The addition in respect of military service allowance flows from a recommendation of the Commission on Remuneration and Conditions of Service in the Defence Forces, which did not, however, recommend any change in the arrangements regarding the additional increment at (d).
