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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 25 Feb 1998

Vol. 487 No. 7

Written Answers. - Defence Forces Pensions.

Liz McManus

Question:

106 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Defence the likely financial implications, if any, for Defence Forces' disability pensions arising from the series of personal injury claims for deafness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4918/98]

Under the Army Pensions Acts, a former member of the Permanent Defence Force may, following retirement, apply for a disability pension in respect of permanent disablement due to a wound or an injury attributable to military service, whether at home or abroad, or to a disease attributable to or aggravated by overseas service with a United Nations force. Application for a pension in respect of noise-induced hearing loss must be made within one year after retirement. The minimum degree of disablement required to qualify for a pension under this heading is 20 per cent; a gratuity may be payable where the degree of disablement is less than 20 per cent.

Those Acts also provide that any compensation received by a person in respect of a particular disablement may be taken into consideration in fixing the amount of disability pension-gratuity for the same disabelment. This provision applies whether the compensation is received before or after the award of the disability pension-gratuity. It is considered that the majority of the litigants in relation to hearing loss would be precluded at this stage from applying for a disability pension under the Army Pensions Acts either because the statutory time limit for making application has expired or because they are still serving members of the Permanent Defence Force. While there has been an upward swing in the number of disability pension applications for loss of hearing in the past couple of years — which totalled about 100 in 1997 — the numbers involved are not significant in the context of the overall number of personnel injury claims.

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