Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Government decided in January 1941 that two Medals should be struck in respect of service during the 1916-1921 period, one for service during Easter Week 1916 and the second for subsequent service up to the Truce of the 11th July 1921. In May 1942 the Government further decided that the second Medal, the Service (1917-1921) Medal, should be issued as follows:

• Medal with Bar to persons who are in possession of a military service certificate entitling them to a pension under the Military Service Pensions Acts in respect of the period subsequent to 1916 and prior to 11 July 1921 and to those persons not in possession of a certificate who satisfy the Minister for Defence that had they applied for a pension, their service was such as would have merited the award of a pension;
• Medal without Bar to persons who were enrolled in the Irish Republican Army, Fianna Éireann, Cumann na mBan and the Irish Citizen Army not less than three months prior to 11 July 1921, but who did not qualify for a pension.

In certain exceptional situations a medal can be posthumously awarded if no medal was previously issued. However, in order not to diminish the intrinsic value of such medals, this is only done in exceptional cases and only where there is incontrovertible verified evidence available that the criteria for the award of a medal have been met. The process by which applications and petitions or appeals under the Military Service Pensions Acts were investigated and verified was wound up in 1958 and as you can appreciate there are now no surviving members of the old IRA or related organisations alive who could verify membership.

Given the time that has elapsed there is now no mechanism available by which service and activities, in the absence of existing departmental records, can be investigated or verified. It is therefore very difficult to satisfy the requirements and therefore the award of such posthumous medals is rare.

All applications for a posthumous medal made to my Department are carefully considered. However, there are no plans to put in place wider arrangements or lower the criteria in relation to the award of posthumous medals.

Enquiries and requests for application forms should be addressed to Pensions Administration Section, Finance Branch, Department of Defence, Áras an tSáile, Renmore, Galway. H91 AN2E or by email to disability.pensions@defence.ie.