Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 23 Nov 1999

Vol. 511 No. 3

Written Answers. - Retirement Query.

Bernard Allen

Ceist:

123 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Defence if he will make a statement on the situation where a person (details supplied) in Cork, who is a civilian general operative at Haulbowline naval base, Cork, was refused his wish to resign on health grounds despite the fact that he is in receipt of an invalidity pension from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs on the grounds that he is permanently incapable of working; the way in which the chief medical officer can state that there are insufficient grounds to grant ill health retirement in this case; and the reason for the conflict of attitude between his Department and the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. [24388/99]

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith)

The person referred to is employed as a civilian general operative in the Naval Base, Haulbowline. He submitted an application to retire on health grounds in June 1997.

As part of the procedure for dealing with an application to retire on health grounds, the chief medical officer of the Civil Service must receive medical reports from the employee's medical advisers and be satisfied that the employee concerned is permanently incapacitated for the duties of his employment. However, on the basis of the medical evidence presented to him to date, the chief medical officer is unable to consider ill-health retirement in this particular case. In that regard the chief medical officer has advised that the medical papers submitted in respect of the employee concerned, at the time of his application for ill health retirement, suggest that the disability was of a particular medical condition, which subsequent medical reports have revealed may not exist.

The question of granting ill health retirement to the employee concerned will be re-examined, when he is in a position to furnish further medical evidence in support of his application, such medical evidence was requested in a letter to the applicant dated 4 October 1999.