459 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Defence when a disability pension will be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Cork.

The Army Pensions Acts provide that a disability pension may be granted in respect of disablement due to a wound or injury attributable to service in the Defence Forces. The person in question applied for a disability pension under those Acts in respect of spinal injuries which he sustained in a road traffic accident in 1985. Although a member of the Permanent Defence Force at the time, he was neither on duty nor travelling directly from duty to his home when the accident occurred. In these circumstances, there was a question about the attributability of the applicant's injuries to his service and, by letter dated 22 February 1989, my Department sought the views of the firm of accountants which was acting for him. To date, a reply has not been received.