Mr. Derek Ryan:

It is a poignant day and we had a remembrance ceremony at McKee Barracks on Sunday for the three deceased members.

Deputy McFadden asked what the committee could do to help the veterans, and I speak on behalf of IUNVA as well. Funding is our top priority. We spoke about highlighting the need for the Fuchsia appeal. I am delighted to hear so many Deputies and Senators, including the Chair, stating they would support this appeal in future. The last element is the idea of veterans' affairs and the covenant. We spoke about a covenant between the State and its organisations, including veteran organisations. Topics for discussion among ourselves - and I hope with elected representatives, as God willing, we will see them all in the new year - include terms and conditions of service prior to discharge and retirement for service personnel, both reservists and Permanent Defence Forces personnel. Some reservists have many decades of service to the State and they do not get a pension. They are not recognised officially by the State. It is important that reservists, as well as our Defences Forces, would prior to discharge have some form of interaction with regard to terms and conditions of service.

There is also the issue of health care. I know young men and women colleagues who have left the Defence Forces. While they were in the Defence Forces, things happened, and they were in the care of psychiatric staff.

The day they were discharged from the Defence Forces the care and help stopped. A covenant would fill that crack such that the health care would continue. It is cost neutral for the State to do that because the Defence Forces already have the medical personnel and facilities that the former soldier would have had access to, as well as the soldier’s file, rather than putting the soldier out the gate to join a long waiting list for a HSE clinic.

Education is another service soldiers need before retirement. In America and in certain European countries when service men are coming to retirement places are made available for vocational training within local authorities and institutes of technology because while the skills we learn in service are of massive benefit to the State they need to be retuned and re-honed and given direction. There is a possibility that the State could help service personnel coming out of service to re-skill and up-skill, thereby giving them skill sets so that they do not have to rely on our meagre resources.

They should have priority access to State-sponsored housing schemes. If they were injured or invalided out of the Defence Forces they need help in ensuring that appropriate accommodation is made available. Many have been discharged in recent years from the Defence Forces with problems they believe are related to Lariam. I am not saying they are or not but it is a live topic. Very young men and women have been discharged and are finding it hard to cope coming out of an institution, whether they have been there for three, six or 21 years, where everything is provided and they have to dip into a meagre pension. A half pension after 21 years as a private is not a large sum of money. They need access to financial and tax advice prior to discharge. When I retired from the Defence Forces the world of tax affairs and filling in tax forms was completely alien to me but I was married to a tax consultant.

The State has a positive moral obligation to maintain the organisations that provide direct access to support for veterans thus allowing those with unique knowledge of prior service to act in the best interests of the veterans. Military service, like service as an elected representative, is a unique part of Irish society that the greater public does not have access to. I know many elected representatives who have said they would need post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, counselling after their term.