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

I understand there is an ongoing review in terms of health provision. GPs would be in for about an hour in the morning to do medical assessments. It is not a full-time contract. They come in and out as they are needed. The other doctors or medical personnel who are permanently employed as Defence Forces doctors are there to do some of the work I outlined. I have a reasonable understanding of this area because we have looked at the Defence Forces medical provision in the context of offering assistance to fight Ebola in West Africa. One of the issues I encountered when examining what we had the capacity to do was that we do not much spare headroom here in terms of extra doctors and medical staff that we can easily deploy abroad in big numbers. There is an ongoing review in terms of medical provision but we are talking about a very active, physically demanding lifestyle, both at home and abroad, for nearly 10,000 personnel and we need a good qualified cohort of doctors in appropriate numbers to ensure that they remain fit and strong, both mentally and physically.