Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the direct question on why we are making the savings, we are making them because there are fewer people employed here. The number has deceased from 536 in 2013 to 511 in 2014. That is the straight answer.

In terms of why we are contracting GP practices, that is mainly for medical assessment. A good deal of medical assessment takes place in the Defence Forces in terms of new recruits, meeting fitness levels and all the rest of it. We use GPs from outside the Defence Forces to do that because Defence Forces doctors by and large focus on medical needs within the Defence Forces around everything including injury and so on. I will give the Deputy more detail on that. The main medical services organised by the central medical unit are generally primary care services, occupational health, physiotherapy, mental health and dental services. The locations for care vary from individual barracks at home, across the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps to locations overseas which can, logistically, environmentally, operationally, be challenging. The doctors and medical personnel within the Defence Forces - of whom we need more and attracting doctors into the Defence Forces is an issue - focus on the services I mentioned and then we use GPs as we need them just as the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, uses veterinary practitioners as it needs them. We use them primarily for medical assessments, which are standard but time-consuming. I do know why the Deputy is shaking his head but that is my understanding of how it works.