Vol. 543 No. 2
207 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Defence when the maintenance of essential services allowances will be paid to members of the Defence Force who carried out such duties during the BSE period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26035/01]
Maintenance of essential services allowance was not paid to the 2,200-odd Defence Forces personnel who performed BSE-related duties. These personnel did however receive a once-off gratuity the amount of which was based on the number of duties performed. The overwhelming majority of these personnel have now been paid and gratuities totalling £745,500 have been paid to date.
Some difficulty was experienced in confirming the number of duties performed by a small number of other personnel and negotiations with the representative association have been continuing for a considerable time. Final agreement on the remaining gratuities was reached earlier this month, and arrangements to pay the outstanding gratuities, amounting to some £28,000 were put in place last week. Payment of all outstanding BSE-related gratuities will take place during the month of November.
