Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 26: To ask the Minister for Defence if he has reviewed the regulations in regard to Defence Forces recruits who are injured during training being discharged due to their not having access to the public health service within the requisite six months (details supplied); if he plans to change the regulations to address this anomaly; the action he has taken following his Dáil reply on this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17617/05]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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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 to Question No. 78 of 1 March 2005.

The central issue here, raised on 1 March 2005, has been examined by my officials to address the particular difficulty outlined by the Deputy. I understand that in practice cases such as this arise very infrequently. Nevertheless, we must deal compassionately with these cases on an individual basis to avoid the imposition of unjustifiable hardship.

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that revised arrangements for such rare cases have recently been agreed by the director of the medical corps and my officials. In the event of an injury attributable to service or illness occurring to a recruit and when the public health services required are not available in sufficient time to provide such treatment as is necessary to permit the recruit to achieve the medical classification code required for final approval, financial sanction may now be given for private treatment. Such sanction will be contingent on the recruit being likely to achieve the necessary medical classification code in sufficient time for final approval. Decisions will be made on the individual merits of each case based on the opinion of the relevant military medical authorities.