Mr. Kieran Brennan:

Deputy Clarke spoke about her lack of knowledge of the Defence Forces benevolent fund, which is not well known. The Defence Forces benevolent fund is a fund that is set up within the Defence Forces, where serving members of Defence Forces make a subscription to it. It is used for various reasons. The veterans associations have been able to get access to that funding over the last number of years. As I said, along with colleagues in ONE, we do it on a case-by-case basis. I will give one example of a recent case that we put forward of an old soldier, who had served in the Army apprentice school in Naas and who died a number of years ago. His grave in Naas needed refurbishment and it had no headstone. This was not fitting for an old soldier who served his country well, not just at home but overseas. Mr. Thompson, who I will ask to speak about mental health issues in a moment, put in a case to the benevolent fund. We got the funding to put a proper headstone and a proper surround around that veteran’s grave. There was also a small commemoration to remember him. That just shows the type of value of the Defence Forces benevolent fund, which I commend for supporting the veterans. All of them will become veterans in due course.

On mental health, the Deputy asked a question about the linkage between overseas service and mental health issues at home. Obviously, I am not a professional so I cannot definitively say, but based on my personal experience of traumas that people have experienced overseas and, indeed, some of my own personal experience, my own personal, private view is that there is a definite link in respect of that. I will ask my colleague, Mr. Thompson, who is our national welfare officer to speak briefly on that particular issue of mental health in respect of IUNVA veterans.