Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Defence the procedures that are used to vet the qualifications and employment records of all non-Defence Forces staff who are employed to work directly with Irish forces serving abroad; if these procedures have recently been reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7177/06]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The only detailed records retained by the Defence Forces on the employment of civilian personnel abroad refer to the civilian doctors supplied by Medicare Solutions Limited for service with the Irish UNMIL contingent in Liberia. Medicare Solutions Limited was the medical agency contracted by the Department of Defence for this purpose. The contract was initially for a period of three months commencing on 1 June 2004 and was subsequently extended. Medicare Solutions Limited supplied a number of civilian doctors for periods lasting from a few weeks to three months. This contract eventually expired on 31 December 2005. As and from 1 January 2006, the Defence Forces have been in a position to provide military medical officers from within the medical corps. The services of an agency are therefore no longer required.

The procedure for selecting suitable individual doctors was that candidates were identified and selected by the medical corps from curricula vitae supplied to the Department by Medicare Solutions Limited, in respect of those doctors on their books who had expressed an interest in working with the Irish military contingent in Liberia. Selection was done on the basis of the professional qualifications and clinical experience of the various applicants, as per their individual curricula vitae.

The Defence Forces have from time to time directly employed some local people in a civilian capacity with missions overseas. These civilians however were in various ancillary occupations such as interpreters, cleaners, etc.