Vol. 536 No. 2
82 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Defence his views on whether a person (details supplied) was informed as to the reason he was retired in the interests of the service; if the Government will issue an apology to this person: and if S.636, S.639 and Government File S.17418 will be made available to this person. [13508/01]
On the advice of the Government, the individual concerned was retired, by the President, with effect from a date in June, 1969. The retirement was effected pursuant to section 47(2) of the Defence Act, 1954 and paragraph 18(1)(f2>f) of Defence Force Regulations A.15, which provide that an officer may be retired "in the interest of the service".
The individual initiated proceedings in the High Court in November 1998 in relation to the circumstances of his retirement some 29 years earlier. The High Court found in favour of the State in June 1999. The individual appealed the case to the Supreme Court in September 1999. The Supreme Court found in favour of the State in January 2001.
With regard to the question of access to those documents referred to by the Deputy, I understand that a document exists in the National Archives which is the formal record of the Government decision taken on 20 June 1969 to advise the President that the individual be retired from the Defence Forces with effect from a date in June 1969 for the reason that such retirement would be in the interests of the service. This formal record of that Government decision bears the reference of an associated Department of the Taoiseach file (reference S. 17418). It would see, from previous correspondence, that the individual has already had sight of the record of this Government decision in the National Archives.
I further understand that the file S. 17418 contains a memorandum from the Minister for Defence dated 19 June 1969 in relation to a matter of the individual's retirement. This memorandum originated in the Department of Defence. It is not the practice to release such documents.
