41 Mr. N. O’Keeffe asked the Minister for Defence if consideration will be given to the entitlement of a person (details supplied) in County Cork to a disablement pension from his Department. [19860/04]

Under the Army Pensions Acts, a wound or disability pension may be granted to a former member of the Permanent Defence Force in respect of permanent disablement due to a wound or injury attributable to military service. Noise induced hearing loss comes within the scope of this provision. Under the Acts, application for a wound pension must be made to my Department within one year of discharge from the Permanent Defence Force.

The person in question was discharged from the Permanent Defence Force in June 1989 and he first made an inquiry regarding a pension in respect of disablement in February 1997. As this was outside the statutory time limit, it was not open to my Department to accept an application for a wound pension from him. This person received civil compensation from my Department in 1998 in settlement of a civil action alleging loss of hearing.