Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the position with regard to the case of a person (details supplied) who wishes to leave the Army; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34917/19]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Section 75 of the Defence Act 1954 provides that an enlisted member of the Defence Forces is entitled to purchase discharge from the Defence Forces, except during a period of emergency. Defence Forces Regulations A.10 provide that where a non-commissioned officer or private wishes to discharge from the Permanent Defence Force and has completed less than 12 years in his or her current engagement (other than where he or she seeks to discharge within three months of his or her attestation) he or she is entitled to his or her discharge by purchase. In addition to setting out the scale of payments applicable, the Regulations provide that following the payment of the amount due, a person's discharge shall not proceed until such date as the Deputy Chief of Staff (Support) or the Director of HR Branch, subject to the exigencies of the service and the question of his or her replacement, may decide. A discharge under these circumstances cannot be delayed longer than three months after the date of lodgement of the appropriate sum.

This individual referred to was discharged from the Defence Forces at the end of August 2019.