Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will take a look at it now that the Deputy has raised it. As I said before, terms and conditions for any Defence Forces competitions are always individually developed and consulted on. Terms and conditions for such competitions, including for medical officers, can have materially different terms and conditions to what was previously provided for, depending on the recruitment and retention situation that applies at that point in time or any other changes we must respond to. If the Deputy is telling me there is a serious problem developing with keeping medical officers in the Defence Forces then we will have to respond to that as we have had to do with the Naval Service and as we have had to do successfully with the Air Corps. There are specialists that are absolutely essential parts of the functioning of the Defence Forces in terms of contribution, skill set and structure and we must ensure those essential skill sets are there as part of the overall complement. Medical officers are absolutely in that category.

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