Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 May 2022
431. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Defence the location in which unsuccessful military pension claims relating to the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence period are now stored; and if they can be added to State digital archives. [24698/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection (MSPC) project is a joint Department of Defence and Defence Forces contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. The MSPC owes its origins to the decision of the Oireachtas of Saorstát Éireann in June 1923 to recognise and compensate wounded members, and the widows, children and dependents of deceased members of Óglaigh na hÉireann, including the National Forces, the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Republican Army and the Irish Citizen Army through the payment of allowances and gratuities. Over time, provision was enhanced and broadened to include members of the Hibernian Rifles, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann and certain members of the Connaught Rangers. Two streams of legislation are relevant to the material in the collection:
- The Army Pensions Acts from 1923 to 1953
- The Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924, 1934 and 1949.
The MSPC project is mandated to preserve and make available the files and records of the Department of Defence dealing with the service of qualifying members of these organisations from the period April 1916 to the 30th of September 1923. This involves cataloguing and digitising in the region of 275,000 files. These files include both successful and unsuccessful pension applications relating to this period.
To date, there has been eleven releases of material under the MSPC project, the latest release was in November 2021. Since the first release of material in 2014, more than 108,000 files have been individually catalogued by the MSPC team, with over 38,000 scanned files currently fully downloadable online. All releases of records from MSPC and the online resources are hosted on the Military Archives Website (www.militaryarchives.ie).
If you wish to locate a particular file that does not appear to have been processed and feature on this website yet, you can pass on the relevant details to Executive@defence.ie. Officials in my Department will liaise with the archivists and establish the location of this file, and if possible have it included in the next release of files in 2022.
