Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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330. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the policy regarding military personnel availing of Defence Forces counselling; if this information is disclosed to their superior officer; and if this has a bearing on their future deployment. [21014/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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As a matter of policy, personnel within the Defence Forces have access to a wide range of accessible and confidential counselling services both internally and externally. These include, the Personnel Support Services (PSS) within the individual formations which provide confidential services including Critical Incident Stress Management which is available to all Defence Forces personnel. In addition to their day to day role, the PSS supports contingents pre and post deployment and its trained personnel are also deployed in response to any significant operational incidents at home and overseas. In addition, a cohort of personnel designated and promoted as Designated Contact Persons, (DCPs) provide a local advisory and referral service at barrack level to their colleagues with a particular focus on recruits and new entrants.

Separately, a confidential counselling service provided by an independent service provider and funded by the Department is available to all members of the Defence Forces. Defence Forces personnel can access this service by calling a free phone number. A counsellor is available to talk, provide information, discuss needs and advise on follow up counselling. Face-to-face counselling can then be provided to individuals if required.

The service provider is bound to complete confidentiality by its code of practice with the only exception being where it has been identified that the individual poses a danger to themselves or others. The Defence Forces are only provided with anonymous statistical data for service evaluation purposes. No data which identifies individual users of the service or their location is provided. Defence Forces members using the Personal Support Service office are also afforded the same confidentiality.

The Defence Forces has a duty of care to both personnel who may be suffering some form of anxiety and personnel working with such individuals. A medical questionnaire completed at Annual/Occupational Medical requires Defence Forces personnel to declare whether or not they are, or have been, in receipt of counselling services either internally within the Defence Forces, or externally. An examining Medical Officer will review the questionnaire and explore, as relevant, the content.  If the Medical Officer feels there is a 'medical issue' such as depression, generalised anxiety state, PTSD, etc. he/she may decide to change the individual's Medical Classification Code (MCC) so that the individual is not exposed to an occupational environment which could aggravate his/her current medical situation.  Depending on the exact circumstances, this could be a temporary or permanent change to the Medical Classification Code and may have implications with regard to deployments overseas for example.  This outcome is only where there is a medical condition underlying the process for which the patient was in receipt of counselling.

An individual’s Medical Classification Code is deemed “Medical in Confidence”. Therefore, a Commanding Officer will not be informed as to the reason for the Medical Classification Code change. Thus, whilst the Commanding Officer will be aware that the Medical Classification Code has changed, he/she will not be aware as to the reason for the change.