Mr. Mark Ecock:

Deputy Berry asked about the possibility of Reserve doctors performing medicals. Pre-2013, we had a large number of personnel in the establishment. After the establishment of the single-force concept, the CMU or the medical corps, from a Reserve perspective, was reduced to about 20% of what it was pre-2013. That affects our ability to have a number of key personnel who are able to do medicals. The establishment did not reflect being able to have that. Our Reserve doctors who are suitably qualified can perform the medicals, but we just do not have the establishment with the 1,000 applicants that we have. We do not have the number of doctors to do that. We need to change the establishment. We have key personnel, even if they are small in number. Our infectious disease specialists were able to help during the pandemic. We also have anaesthetists and doctors of psychology. We can attract the key personnel, but we need to have the establishment so that we can grow and recruit these people. Again, we do not want to have the same application process so that we just have the surge capacity to take in these personnel who can give us the ability to provide the input to the Defence Forces in times of pandemic and when they are needed for grave utilisation. We need to change the establishment so it allows us to recruit them. The models, such as the one used by the British Army, are all out there. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. We just need to look at what they are doing across the water in terms of the establishments, with key hospitals and other things of that nature which the British army does. We need to take that template and import it into the Irish system. That would give us the surge capacity and the ability to attract specialists into the Defence Forces and potentially not have to outsource the medicals. There are plenty of solutions there but we are not engaged properly in order to be able to establish them.