Army Pensions Act 1927

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “the Principal Act” means the Army Pensions Act, 1923 (No. 26 of 1923);

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Defence;

the expression “degree of disablement” when used in relation to a disablement caused by disease means the degree of disablement assessed in respect of such disablement by the Army Pensions Board;

the expression “minimum degree of disablement” means eighty per cent. degree of disablement;

the expression “military service” when used in reference to a person who was a member of the Irish Volunteers or of the Irish Citizen Army means whenever such member was on duty, or was under arrest as the result of his activities as such member, or was evading capture or pursuit by the armed forces of the British Government, or was detained in a prison or internment camp by or by order of the British Government;

the word “wound” means an interruption of the normal continuity of body tissue caused by direct or indirect violence but does not include any injury due to the serious negligence or misconduct of the person suffering therefrom;

the word “disablement” means any injury of a permanent nature resulting in impairment of function caused by wound or disease and not due to the serious negligence or misconduct of the person suffering therefrom; and

other expressions and words which are also used in the Principal Act as amended by this Act shall, if not otherwise defined in this Act, have the same meanings respectively as such expressions and words have respectively in the Principal Act as so amended.

2 Construction of certain expressions.

2.—(1) The expression “discharged from the forces” when used in the Principal Act or in this Act in relation to an officer shall include and, when so used in the Principal Act, shall be deemed always to have included the demobilisation of such officer and, in the case of an officer holding a commission, the with-drawal of his commission for any reason, and the noun “discharge” when used as aforesaid shall be and be deemed always to have been construed accordingly.

(2) The word “killed” when used in the Principal Act or in this Act shall include and, when used in the Principal Act, shall be deemed always to have included death by drowning.

3 Amendments of the Principal Act.

3.—The Principal Act shall be construed and have effect as if the sections and sub-sections thereof mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act were respectively amended in the manner set out in the second column of that Schedule opposite each such section and sub-section respectively.

4 Alterations of scales under Principal Act in certain cases.

4.—(1) In the case of an officer who is discharged from the forces on or after the 1st day of October, 1924 (whether before or after the passing of this Act) and to whom a wound pension could be granted on such discharge under the Principal Act as amended by this Act, that Act as so amended shall apply to such officer as if the scales of pensions contained in the Third Schedule to this Act were inserted in the Principal Act in lieu of the scales of pensions contained in the First Schedule to that Act.

(2) In the case of those persons who signed the Proclamation published on Easter Monday in the year 1916 in connection with the rising of April and May of that year and in respect of whom the Minister may give or shall have given certificates under section 8 of the Principal Act, the Second Schedule to the Principal Act shall as from the passing of this Act apply and have effect as if the respective amounts of the several allowances and gratuities specified in that Schedule were double the amounts actually specified therein.

5 Establishment of Army Pensions Board.

5.—(1) There shall be established a board to be called the Army Pensions Board, which shall consist of a chairman and two ordinary members.

(2) The two ordinary members of the Army Pensions Board shall be duly qualified medical practitioners of whom one, but only one, shall be an officer of the Army Medical Service.

(3) The chairman of the Army Pensions Board and the ordinary member of that Board who is not an officer of the Army Medical Service shall be appointed by the Minister with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance and the ordinary member of the said Board who is an officer of the Army Medical Service shall be appointed by the Minister.

(4) Every member of the Army Pensions Board shall hold office during the pleasure of the Minister, but no member appointed with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance shall be removed from office without the concurrence of that Minister.

(5) There may be paid, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, to any member of the Army Pensions Board such fees or remuneration as the Minister for Finance may determine.

(6) The Minister may with the consent of the Minister for Finance make rules regulating the functions and procedure of the Army Pensions Board.

(7) The Army Pensions Board may for the purpose of carrying out the duties imposed on them by this Act make all such inquiries, summon all such witnesses, and take such evidence on oath (which they are hereby empowered to administer) or otherwise, as they may deem necessary.

6 Temporary incapacity of member of Army Pensions Board.

6.—(1) Whenever the chairman or an ordinary member of the Army Pensions Board is through ill-health or other sufficient cause temporarily incapacitated from performing his duties as such chairman or member, the Minister may, if he so thinks fit, appoint another person to be chairman or an ordinary member (as the case may be) of the Army Pensions Board in the place of the chairman or ordinary member so incapacitated for so long as such incapacity continues.

(2) Every person appointed under this section in the place of an ordinary member of the Army Pensions Board shall possess the same qualifications as are required by this Act to be possessed by the ordinary member in whose place he is so appointed.

(3) No appointment under this section of a person in the place of the chairman of the Army Pensions Board or of the ordinary member of the said Board who is not an officer of the Army Medical Service shall be made without the concurrence of the Minister for Finance.

7 Reference of applications to Army Pensions Board.

7.—(1) Every application for the grant of a pension, gratuity, or allowance under the Principal Act which is pending at the date of the passing of this Act and every application for the grant of a pension, gratuity, or allowance under the Principal Act as amended by this Act or under this Act (save as is hereinafter otherwise provided) shall be referred by the Minister to the Army Pensions Board.

(2) The Army Pensions Board shall report to the Minister in the prescribed form on every application referred to them under this section and for the purpose of such report shall cause every such application to be investigated in such manner as shall be prescribed by regulations made under this Act with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

(3) No application for a pension, allowance, or gratuity under this Act which is based on a wound received on or after the 1st day of October, 1924, or on the death of a person killed on or after that date shall be referred to the Army Pensions Board.

8 Assessment of degree of disability.

8.—(1) Whenever the Army Pensions Board report that a person is suffering from a disablement caused by disease they shall assess and state in such report the degree of the disablement from which such person is suffering.

(2) Every assessment under this section of a degree of disablement shall be made on a percentage basis, and total disablement shall be assessed at one hundred per cent. and every disablement less than total disablement shall be assessed as a percentage of total disablement.

9 Disability pensions in certain cases.

9.—(1) Every person who was discharged from the forces before the 1st day of October, 1924, and was at the date of his discharge suffering from a disablement caused by disease attributable to service in the forces during the period which commenced on the 1st day of April, 1922, and ended on the 30th day of September, 1924, may, if the degree of such disablement (otherwise than by reason of the serious negligence or misconduct of such person) is at the date of his examination by the Army Pensions Board or becomes after such date but within four years after his discharge not less than the minimum degree of disablement, be granted a disability pension at the rate mentioned in the appropriate column of the Second Schedule to this Act opposite to the appropriate degree of disablement mentioned in the first column of that Schedule.

(2) If a person to whom a pension is granted under this section was married before the date of his discharge from the forces and is at the date of the commencement of such pension a married man for the purposes of this Act then he shall for so long after such commencement as he continues to be a married man for the purposes of this Act be entitled to be paid and receive a married pension at the rate mentioned in the appropriate column of the Second Schedule to this Act opposite to the appropriate degree of disablement mentioned in the first column of that Schedule.

(3) Every pension granted under this section shall commence from such date as the Minister, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, shall determine but such date shall not be earlier than the 16th day of December, 1926, nor than the date on which the disablement first amounted or amounts to the minimum degree of disablement.

10 Disability pensions in certain other cases.

10.—(1) Every person who is discharged from the forces on or after the 1st day of October, 1924 (whether before or after the passing of this Act), and is at the date of his discharge suffering from a disablement caused by disease attributable to service in the forces during the period which commenced on the 1st day of April, 1922, and ended on the 30th day of September, 1924, may, if the degree of such disablement (otherwise than by reason of the serious negligence or misconduct of such person) is at the date of his examination by the Army Pensions Board or becomes after such date but within four years after his discharge not less than the minimum degree of disablement, be granted a disability pension at the rate specified in that behalf in those provisions of the Third Schedule to this Act which are applicable to the case of such persons.

(2) If a person to whom a pension is granted under this section was married before the 1st day of October, 1924, and is at the commencement of such pension a married man for the purposes of this Act then he shall for so long after such commencement as he continues to be a married man for the purposes of this Act be entitled to be paid and receive a married pension at the rate specified in that behalf in those provisions of the Third Schedule to this Act which are applicable to the case of such person.

(3) Every pension granted under this section shall commence from such date as the Minister, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, shall determine, but such date shall not be earlier than—

(a) in the case of a person who is discharged from the forces before the passing of this Act, the 16th day of December, 1926, nor

(b) in the case of a person who is discharged from the forces on the day of or after the passing of this Act, the day after the date of such discharge, nor

(c) in any case, the date on which the disablement first amounts to the minimum degree of disablement.

11 Wound pensions and gratuities in certain cases.

11.—(1) Every person who was discharged from the forces before the 1st day of October, 1924, and was at the date of such discharge suffering from a disablement due to a wound attributable to his service in the forces and received on or after the 1st day of October, 1923, while he was a member of the forces may, if the degree of such disablement is at the date of his examination by the Army Pensions Board not less than twenty per cent., be granted a wound pension at the rate mentioned in the appropriate column of the Second Schedule to this Act opposite to the appropriate degree of disablement mentioned in the first column of that Schedule.

(2) If a person to whom a pension is granted under this section was married before the date of his discharge from the forces and is at the date of the commencement of such pension a married man for the purposes of this Act then he shall for so long after such commencement as he continues to be a married man for the purposes of this Act be entitled to be paid and receive a married pension at the rate mentioned in the appropriate column of the Second Schedule to this Act opposite to the appropriate degree of disablement mentioned in the first column of that Schedule.

(3) Every pension granted under this section shall commence from such date as the Minister, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, shall determine but such date shall not in any case be earlier than the day next after the date on which the person to whom the pension was granted was discharged from the forces.

(4) Every person who was discharged from the forces before the 1st day of October, 1924, and was at the date of such discharge suffering from a disablement due to a wound attributable to his service in the forces and received on or after the 1st day of October, 1923, while he was a member of the forces may, if the degree of such disablement is at the date of his examination by the Army Pensions Board less than twenty per cent., be granted a gratuity of such amount as the Minister having regard to all the circumstances of the case shall with the consent of the Minister for Finance determine, but no such gratuity shall, in the case of a person who immediately before his discharge from the forces was an officer, exceed one hundred pounds or, in the case of a person who immediately before his discharge from the forces was a soldier, exceed sixty pounds.

(5) In the case of a person who at the date of his discharge from the forces is suffering from any of the disablements mentioned in the first column of the Fourth Schedule to this Act, the degree of such person's disablement for the purposes of this section shall be the degree set out in the second column of that Schedule opposite to the disablement from which such person is so suffering.

(6) In the case of a person who at the date of his discharge from the forces is suffering from a disablement not mentioned in the first column of the Fourth Schedule to this Act, the degree of such person's disablement for the purposes of this section shall be the degree assessed in that behalf by the Army Pensions Board.

12 Wound pensions and gratuities in certain other cases.

12.—(1) Every person who is discharged from the forces on or after the 1st day of October, 1924 (whether before or after the passing of this Act) and is at the date of such discharge suffering from a disablement due to a wound attributable to his service in the forces and received on or after the 1st day of October, 1923 (whether before or after the passing of this Act) while he was a member of the forces may, if the degree of such disablement is at the date of his examination by the Army Pensions Board or on behalf of the Minister (as the case may be) not less than twenty per cent., be granted a wound pension at the rate specified in that behalf in those provisions of the Third Schedule to this Act which are applicable to the case of such person.

(2) If a person to whom a pension is granted under this section was at the date on which he received the wound, in the case of an officer, a married man for the purposes of this Act or, in the case of a soldier, in receipt of marriage allowance as a married soldier and, in any case, is at the commencement of such pension a married man for the purposes of this Act then he shall for so long after such commencement as he continues to be a married man for the purposes of this Act be entitled to be paid and to receive a married pension at the rate specified in that behalf in those provisions of the Third Schedule to this Act which are applicable to his case.

(3) Every pension granted under this section shall, in the case of a person who is discharged from the forces on the date of or after the passing of this Act, commence from the date of such discharge or, in the case of a person who is discharged from the forces before the date of the passing of this Act, commence from such date not earlier than the day next after the date of such discharge nor later than the date of the passing of this Act as the Minister, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, shall determine.

(4) Every person who is discharged from the forces on or after the 1st day of October, 1924 (whether before or after the passing of this Act) and is at the date of his discharge suffering from a disablement due to a wound attributable to his service in the forces and received on or after the 1st day of October, 1923 (whether before or after the passing of this Act) while he was a member of the forces may, if the degree of such disablement is at the date of his examination by the Army Pensions Board or on behalf of the Minister (as the case may be) less than twenty per cent., be granted—

(a) in the case of a person who immediately before his discharge from the forces is an officer, a gratuity of such amount, not exceeding eighty pounds, as the Minister having regard to all the circumstances of the case shall with the consent of the Minister for Finance determine, together with a further gratuity calculated at the rate of five pounds for each completed year of such person's service in the forces, or

(b) in the case of a person who immediately before his discharge from the forces is a soldier, a gratuity of such amount, not exceeding forty pounds, as the Minister having regard to all the circumstances of the case shall with the consent of the Minister for Finance determine, together with a further gratuity calculated at the rate of two pounds and ten shillings for each completed year of such person's service in the forces.

(5) In the case of a person who at the date of his discharge from the forces is suffering from any of the disablements mentioned in the first column of the Fourth Schedule to this Act, the degree of such person's disablement for the purposes of this section shall be the degree set out in the second column of that Schedule opposite to the disablement from which such person is so suffering.

(6) In the case of a person who at the date of his discharge from the forces is suffering from a disablement not mentioned in the first column of the Fourth Schedule to this Act, the degree of such person's disablement for the purposes of this section shall, if the wound to which the disablement is due was received before the 1st day of October, 1924, be the degree assessed in that behalf by the Army Pensions Board and, if such wound was received on or after the 1st day of October, 1924, be the degree assessed in that behalf by the Minister.

13 Disability pensions in certain special cases.