Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 39: To ask the Minister for Defence if, following his Dáil response of 1 March 2005 he has reviewed the regulations in this regard; his plans to change the regulations to address this anomaly; the action he has taken following his Dáil response; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12351/05]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The central issue here, raised on 1 March 2005 is currently being examined by my officials in order to address the particular difficulty outlined by the Deputy. I understand that in practice cases such as this only arise infrequently. Nevertheless, I feel that we must provide compassionately for these cases administratively on an individual basis in order to avoid the imposition of unjustifiable hardship. At this stage, I do not envisage any requirement to change the provisions of the relevant Defence Force regulations with specific regard to the period within which a recruit must reach the appropriate standard for final approval. These provisions were outlined in my reply of 1 March 2005.