Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Feighan for raising this important issue. Disablement benefit is one of the payments available from my Department under the occupational injuries scheme and may be payable as a single lump sum or regular pension, depending on the extent of the injury or effect of the disease. Eligibility is not limited to miners or to any particular occupation. It is a social insurance benefit and, therefore, any person may qualify for it if they work, or worked, and pay, or paid, PRSI at class A, B, D, J or M, and lose physical or mental ability because of an accident at work, a commuter accident on a direct route between home and their workplace or a prescribed disease contracted as a result of their work. The level of payment depends on the assessed degree of loss of physical or mental faculty. A prescribed disease is a disease that has developed because of the type of work a person does and also includes any condition resulting from this disease.

Since 2010, my Department has received a total of 247 claims for disablement benefit from former Arigna miners in respect of a variety of diseases and injuries. Of these, 89 have been awarded, 81 were found to be ineligible and 77 are still under investigation. In regard to the total of 81 cases that were found to be ineligible, some of the common reasons for ineligibility are, for example, claims for occupational asthma which have not been made within the statutory limit of ten years of leaving the relevant employment, and, similarly, in respect of occupational deafness, the claim must be made within five years of leaving the relevant employment. In addition, former miners who ceased mining employment prior to 1 May 1967, when the legislation for occupational injuries came into effect, are not covered under the scheme for injuries or diseases originating before that date. In a majority of the total of 77 outstanding cases, my Department is waiting for additional information or evidence to be supplied by the claimant in support of their claim. A small number are awaiting a medical assessment by the Department's medical assessor. My Department will do all it can to process these claims through to conclusion as quickly as possible.