Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 30 Apr 1992

Vol. 418 No. 9

Adjournment Debate. - Compensation for Widow of Irish Soldier.

Mr. G. O'Sullivan

At the outset I should like to pay tribute to the Department of Defence, the Minister for Defence and Mr. Michael Martin of PDFORRA in responding to the needs of Mrs. Margaret McCarthy. It is gratifying that this financial burden will be lifted from this woman, as reported in the media this morning.

The Irish Army have a proud record in the service of the United Nations. They carry out peacekeeping operations in very trying and sometimes dangerous circumstances. The Irish Army have responded magnificently to the calls made by the United Nations. The members of the Irish Defence Force serving in troubled spots throughout the world have been a source of pride to all of us at home. Irish soldiers are not at war; they are agents of the United Nations and should not be penalised for this.

The case of the widow of Corporal McCarthy is a particularly sad one. Indeed I would even go further and say it is a disgraceful case. Corporal McCarthy, a young married man, lost his life on a peacekeeping operation. His wife and family have not only suffered the loss of a husband and father but have had to deal with financial problems due to the rigid regulations imposed by an insurance company and the insensitivity of a local authority. There is now an urgent need for a total re-examination of this type of insurance policy. Soldiers involved in UN peacekeeping operations should be exempt from any such clause in mortgage protection policies. It would appear that Mrs. McCarthy was an innocent victim of the group policy taken out by Cork County Council. I urge the Minister to immediately clarify the position and take action to rectify this totally unacceptable situation.

I should like to make a comparison between Irish soldiers on UN peacekeeping operations and gardaí who are constantly at war against crime. If, God forbid, a garda was killed during the course of duty, would his mortgage policy be declared null and void? I do not think so. I am sure every right thinking person would agree that the same conditions should apply to policies taken out by members of our Army as apply in the case of policies taken out by gardaí. Our Army are not at war; they keep the peace. Very often they have to do their duty under the most severe provocation.

I ask the Minister to immediately intervene in this case to ensure that this woman and her family do not have to suffer any more than they have suffered already. I put it to the Minister that never again should the widow of a soldier who has given his life in the service of this country and the United Nations have to suffer such a traumatic experience. I ask the Minister and the Department of Defence to rectify this unacceptable and scandalous situation.

Minister for State at the Department of Defence (Mr. Dempsey)

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this matter. I fully share the Deputy's concern at the problems encountered by the wodow of an Irish soldier who died in the Lebanon in securing death benefits payable under a mortgage protection policy.

I am informed that the insurers declined to pay death benefit on the basis of a war exclusion clause in the insurance policy. As the Deputy said, Irish soldiers who serve overseas are engaged in peacekeeping missions; they are not at war. Neither are they within a war zone in any commonsense meaning of those words. I understand that since yesterday proposals have been drawn up by the insurance company for consideration by the lending institution, Cork County Council.

For more than 30 years Irish soldiers have served the cause of peace in many countries around the world. Sadly, military personnel have lost their lives on a number of occasions. So far as my Department are aware, this is the first and only occasion on which a war exclusion clause has been invoked. Ireland's international prestige has been greatly enhanced by the work of the Defence Forces overseas and the success of our soldiers in international peacekeeping has been a source of considerable pride for Irish people. It is most inequitable that the service of a soldier with the United Nations should be advanced as a pretext for declining to honour a mortgage protection policy which was taken out in good faith, adding greatly to the stress of the recently bereaved family.

I should like to take this opportunity to reassure the relatives of other personnel serving in the Lebanon and whose local authority mortgages are covered by the same policy that the Department of Defence, on becoming aware of the problems being encountered, took immediate steps to remove any possible ambiguity about the situation by arranging and paying for additional mortgage protection insurance for all such personnel.

The widow of a soldier who is killed while serving overseas with the United Nations receives an ex gratia payment of £38,245 plus a lump sum equal to one year's pay and a pension ranging from 50 per cent to 90 per cent of pay, depending on the number of dependent children. In addition, the social welfare contributory pension is paid. In general the compensation provisions in operation are designed to ensure that a widow with a family will receive an income at least as great as that provided by her late husband.