Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's statement to the effect that Defence Forces personnel are receiving the medical care they need. That is an issue of paramount importance to all of us. My interest in the area of medical services dates back to the decision of the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Shatter, to close the Curragh families clinic. When I previously raised this matter with him, Deputy Shatter advised the House that the establishment figure for medics within the Defence Forces was 32. The Minister has just stated that this figure now stands at 28. Much more significantly, figures provided by the then Minister, Deputy Shatter, indicated that 45 private GP practices provided services to the Defence Forces in 2012 and that these accommodated 36,000 visits during that year. The cost to the Exchequer in this regard was €1.4 million. In 2011, 51 GP practices accommodated 39,000 visits at a cost of €1.5 million to the Exchequer. The figures for these visits seem inordinately high and it is extraordinary that this number of GP practices are providing services in addition to those provided by Defence Forces medics. The current position with regard to the general population is that 141 medical professionals provide services to every 100,000 members of the population. This would equate to 14.1 doctors for every 10,000 personnel within the Defence Forces.

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