Vol. 491 No. 7
138 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Defence the position regarding military hospitals; the cost of running these hospitals each year; his future plans regarding these institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13304/98]
139 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Defence the position regarding access to military hospitals of immediate family members of both retired and serving Defence Forces personnel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13305/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 138 and 139 together.
At present three military hospitals are being operated by the Army Medical Corps. They are St. Bricin's Military Hospital, Dublin, the Curragh Military Hospital and a hospital at Collins Barracks, Cork. The Defence Forces Review Implementation Plan 1996-98 states that a military hospital providing general medical, surgical, some specialist services and medical supplies will be located at St. Bricin's Hospital, Dublin.
It is proposed that medical support in the Curragh Camp will be provided by a military medical facility which will continue all current out-patient medical and occupational services, including dental and pharmacy services. The facility will also have an infirmary which will replace the existing hospital. Cork military hospital will also become a military medical facility which will continue to provide the present out-patient services and will have a small infirmary.
Separate budgetary details in respect of the three military hospitals are not normally quantified as the hospitals are operated as part of the services provided by the Army Medical Corps. However, there are no plans to reduce the amount of funding provided in the Estimates in respect of medical services for the Defence Forces. The total overall cost of operating the Army Medical Corps is approximately £13 million per year.
The Curragh Military Hospital provides an out-patient clinic and medication without charge to the dependants of enlisted personnel who reside in the Curragh Camp and its environs. The report of the Commission on Remuneration and Conditions of Service in the Defence Forces, the Gleeson Commission, observed that this facility is inequitable to those soldiers whose dependants are not located at the Curragh Camp and its environs. The commission recommended that the special arrangements for soldiers' dependants at the Curragh Hospital be phased out.
Other than the medical facility at the Curragh, there is no access to military hospitals for the families and immediate dependants of either serving or retired members of the Defence Forces.
