Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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116. To ask the Minister for Defence why there has been an extremely lengthy delay of approximately 15 months thus far in processing an application for a disability pension under the Army Pensions Acts by a person (details supplied), in County Dublin; his views that this delay is acceptable. [33669/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I note the concerns raised by the Deputy regarding the length of time taken to process the application for a disability pension in the case in question. However, the nature of disability pension applications means that the procedure for investigating them takes some time to complete. Once an application is received in my Department the details provided must be checked and verified. This is done by liaising with Army Administration in the Defence Forces. Once all the details have been verified, the applicant is referred to the Army Pensions Board for examination. The Army Pensions Board is a statutory independent Board appointed to investigate disability applications under the Army Pensions Acts and to report to the Minister thereon. The convening of the Board is subject to the availability of the members and the Board deals with all disability pension applications in chronological order. As outlined previously in relation to this case, my Department expects to be in a position to write to the applicant in the near future and advise of the decision regarding his application.