Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I undertake to supply Deputy Costello with the yearly figures. Some 297 applications were made and 191 were deemed eligible for a pension or gratuity. Of those found eligible, 59 were wound pension and gratuity cases relating to compensation for a specific wound or injury. These are being reviewed. An actuarial report is prepared on the value of the compensation and the person in receipt of compensation is invited to submit personal financial information to the Department. Ultimately, the Minister decides by how much, if at all, the pension will be reduced. Those 59 cases fall into that category and relate to wound or injury cases.

Someone may lodge a claim on the basis of having suffered malaria on service abroad even though there is no specific wound or injury. They may make a civil claim, arguing that the Department of Defence did not provide the necessary protection or medication. Such compensation cannot be taken into account because when the Act was drafted it was not envisaged that people could sue for disease contracted abroad. There is a difference between the two categories. There is a third category, where someone suffers disease directly resulting from a wound or injury. If someone suffers a fracture while on overseas service and subsequently sues in respect of rheumatism that developed from the fracture, compensation is taken into account because it can be traced to a specific wound or injury.

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