Vol. 501 No. 2
63 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Defence if a decision has been taken regarding the number of Army bands; if so, when this decision was taken; if it has been communicated to the Defence Forces and agreement reached; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4903/99]
70 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Defence when a decision will be made in relation to the Army bands; his views on whether his recent statement is the right approach in relation to the bands; and the number of meetings he has had with the representative associations in this regard. [5006/99]
87 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Defence his views on the future feasibility of keeping the Army bands following the costs to his Department stemming from deafness claims from members of the bands; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1635/99]
200 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Defence if a decision has been taken regarding the number of Army bands; if so, when this decision was taken; if it has been communicated to the Defence Forces and agreement reached; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4940/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 63, 70, 87 and 200 together.
To date 40 claims for hearing loss have been received from serving members of the school of music and 57 such claims have been received from former members. Despite this high number of claims from serving and former members of the school of music, there are no proposals at present to reduce the overall numbers of musicians in the school.
Recently I approved a proposal from the military authorities that the military band at the Curragh should be amalgamated with the band of the Eastern Command, the Army No. 1 Band. The amalgamation of these two bands does not involve any reduction in the overall numbers of musicians within the school of music as already provided for within the Defence Forces review implementation plan approved by the previous Government.
