Mr. Damien Quigley:

I am the national support officer with PDFORRA. I am also a director of the PDFORRA medical assistance scheme, which was established by our organisation in 2018 to assist injured members in the Defence Forces to seek access to medical treatment and remain in service. The rationale behind setting up such a scheme was that a number of people were being discharged from the Defence Forces while waiting for treatment in the public health service.

The scheme has been extremely successful, with 3,000 members enrolled in it of whom 274 have received access to treatment, the vast majority in a hospital in Belfast under the terms of the Northern Ireland planned healthcare scheme. The medical assistance scheme was established under the terms of the EU cross-border healthcare directive, which has ended in Northern Ireland since Brexit and the Government has put in place the Northern Ireland planned healthcare scheme until December 2021.

The medical support scheme has been a fantastic benefit to our members who receive treatment speedily. Many of our members have told us they went on to get promoted, remain in service, avoid medical discharge and continue in their careers. In many cases, they have served overseas. We want to take the scheme to the next level and we hope to roll it out to family members. This would be just and deserved as the families of Defence Forces members contribute an awful lot while we are engaged in military service. This is our plan. To do so we need the Northern Ireland planned healthcare scheme to continue beyond December 2021 and we need support from the Department to continue to professionalise and take on staff.