Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the ombudsman. We all know people from all walks of life within the Defence Forces and we are well aware of the all the absolutely amazing work they have done. There are ex-members who, when they left the service, were delighted with the work they did. There are, however, many examples of post-traumatic stress disorder and the supports do not seem to be there for those members. I spoke to a gentleman recently, perhaps two or three days ago, who had met a poor gentleman who had been injured very badly on one of the peace missions a number of years ago. He is homeless but falls outside this remit because he is an ex-member of the Defence Forces. I do not like using the word "power" but the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces should be given more strength in depth to investigate and assist people. Is there provision for helping such people, who might have fallen by the wayside and perhaps been forgotten about when they did so much for their country and have been proud to wear the uniform of their country? They may have participated in peace missions or whatever.

We must congratulate all members of the Defence Forces for their work during this pandemic. They have gone well above and beyond for the pennies and not the pounds they are paid to assist people. That should be acknowledged as well.

My final point concerns the reporting within the Defence Forces. I mentioned suicides on site or harassment etc. Senator Buttimer mentioned it might be no harm to have an extra meeting with the witness at some future point to formulate some recommendations for assisting and strengthening the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces under legislation. This is about assisting; in that the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces should have enough power to assist the people it represents and we, as public representatives, should also be assisting the office and vice versa. The people benefiting from this should be the members of the Defence Forces and those who have left the Defence Forces. I will leave it at that. I thank the ombudsman again for the in-depth report.