The State Boards under the aegis of the Department of Defence are the Civil Defence Board, the Army Pensions Board and the Board of Coiste an Asgard.
The information requested by the Deputy in relation to these Boards is set out below:
|
Agency
|
Date Created
|
Estimated date of Abolishment
|
Budget 2012
|
No of Staff
|
|
Civil Defence Board
|
7 May, 2003
|
31 December 2012
|
€5.585m
(Grant In Aid)
|
23
|
|
Army Pensions Board
|
1927
|
N/A
|
€103,000
|
1
|
|
Coiste an Asgard
|
16 February, 1987
|
31 December 2012
|
Nil
|
Nil
|
The Civil Defence Board is due to be abolished on 31 December 2012 following the enactment of the Civil Defence Repeal Bill. The Civil Defence function will be re-integrated into the Department of Defence as a Branch of the Department.
In December 2009, the previous Government announced that the National Sail Training Scheme, managed by Coiste an Asgard was to be discontinued. The Company has been inactive since. The winding-up process is well advanced and it is anticipated that the company will be in a position to close by the end of this year, following a final audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The Army Pensions Board is an independent statutory body established under the Army Pensions Act, 1927. It consists of a Chairman, a doctor from the Army Medical Corps and a civilian doctor. The principal function of the Board is to investigate applications for pensions, allowances and gratuities arising from the death or disablement of members of the Defence Forces in the course of their military service. The Board determines the question of attributability to service; assesses the degree of disability in cases of disablement and reports its findings to the Minister for Defence. A civil servant of the Department of Defence is assigned to act as Secretary to the Board. There are no plans to abolish the Army Pensions Board.
No outside consultants have been hired by any of the agencies under the aegis of my Department since March, 2011.
