Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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As a card-carrying member of ONE myself, I am delighted to see the witnesses from ONE and the UN vets here today. When I left the Army back in 1980, soldiers were forgotten once they had walked out the gate. Many soldiers fell on very hard times and I have met many who fell on hard times that were beyond belief. ONE and the UN vets have provided a focus for former members to remain engaged and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude for that.

On the subject of recognising veterans, it is not uncommon in other parts of the world for veterans to have a lapel badge to identify them as veterans, and that is something we should do. The idea of a monument to serving members from the civilian forces, the gardaí and the Army is not before time. My first recollection of the Defence Forces in Ireland was the funerals after the Niemba massacre. It was on my birthday and I listened all night to the death march on Raidió Éireann. I served with Captain Gleeson's brother, Fergus Gleeson, in Galway so I have a huge affinity with them. We are unique in having provided an army of peace, not a fighting army. Many of our soldiers have died in the service of peace, not war, and this needs to be recognised.

The need for pre-discharge or pre-demobilisation education was raised. In Carlow recently, I saw 200 members of the Defence Forces of all ranks graduate with FETAC level 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 qualifications. I commend our Defence Forces on this, as we are one of the few armies in the world that have been brave enough to engage with education, and we now have private soldiers with academic qualifications similar to those of their officers. As I said at a recent EU interparliamentary committee meeting on education, I am concerned by those who do not access education. There is no requirement to access education, but when a soldier comes to the end of his service, as Mr. Dillon said, he will need skills to survive outside the barracks. Many in this room will recall the days when soldiers came to the end of their service and quietly lived on in a barracks until they died. Nobody passed any remarks about the fact that a person was living in such quarters having long since ceased to serve as an active soldier. This does not happen any more, and soldiers now serve an average of five years. The turnover is rapid, as job opportunities are there and people are better educated. After a period of overseas travel they have greater opportunities so they do not stay in the Defence Forces as long as they used to.

Education and health are the two areas we should put some sort of funding towards in recognition of service to the State. I propose a transition period in the last two years of a soldier's life, to be given over to preparing him, through educational or resettlement programmes, to enter civilian life. I acknowledge the work of ONE and the UN vets. The work done by both organisations is incredible in the short time they have been in existence.