asked the Minister for Local Government whether it is permissable for a psychiatric nurse to retire before the usual retiral age and to have reckoned for purposes of assessment of pension the years spent in the Defence Forces during the emergency.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pensions of psychiatric Nurses.
45.
A psychiatric nurse of a mental hospital authority having not less than 20 years actual pensionable service may retire voluntarily when he has attained the age of 55 years. Retirement, without loss of pension rights, before that age is permissable only for exceptional reasons, such as permanent incapacity due to ill-health. There are no provisions whereby such an officer can reckon emergency service in the Defence Force for pension purposes unless, being an established officer of a mental hospital authority or local authority before the emergency, he was given leave of absence to join the emergency Defence Force.