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A GROUP REPRESENTING enlisted military personnel has cautiously welcomed news that a private medical care scheme will be rolled out for the Defence Forces.
Yesterday the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin announced that the scheme was getting underway.
The Tánaiste had previously announced that the initiative had been agreed in principle at the PDFORRA Annual Delegate Conference in May. Until this announcement private medical care was only available to commissioned officers.
The measure was a key recommendation in the Commission on Defence Forces report which looked at modernisation of the Irish military.
PDFORRA, which represents all soldiers, aircrew and sailors below officer rank has said in a statement that they will need to examine the scheme. The group had been campaigning for the introduction of the measure.
“Whilst we welcome any measures that may aid in the retention of and recruitment of new entrants into the Defence forces, the devil will be in the details. We look forward to engaging with all the stakeholders to ensure that this comes to fruition.
“As this was first announced at our ADC in May, and PDFORRA looks forward to meeting with the minister and the department to see what has been proposed and how it will be enacted,” the statement read.
The Department of Defence said it will allow all personnel to avail of referrals to private consultants when deemed clinically necessary by an examining medical officer.
“This initiative, which is in addition to the comprehensive package of primary healthcare benefits already available to all members, will be of great benefit to all personnel in the Permanent Defence Force.
“The roll out continues the significant progress being made in making a career in our Defence Forces exciting and rewarding,” the Tánaiste said.
The Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Lt General Sean Clancy also welcomed the announcement and said it “demonstrated real progress”.
Meanwhile the Tánaiste and the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Seán Clancy, reviewed the men and women of the 68 Infantry Group ahead of their departure for a six-month deployment to Syria as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
The deployment will see 133 Irish troops deploy to Syria – it will be the last UNDOF mission by Ireland.
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Why would we give two hoots?
@Wishywashy: The government is attempting to undermine the cause of the protests by linking them to outside agitators. It’s not true of course.
The Serb government eased the lockdown before the June 21st election in order to get a big turn out and win votes, after the votes were counted they re-imposed the knockdown after announcing a spike in COVID-19 cases. The protestors upset at this, are a mix of people upset at the bent election and conspiracy minded who think COVID dies not exist or was exaggerated as a political tool to stifle descent.
The reason why we should care is that there is now a rapidly worsening outbreak of COVID in Serbia, the government capitulated to the protestors demands, ended the lockdown a 2nd time, so Serbia is now faced with a worsening mishandled outbreak they cannot control. That outbreak could force border closures and cause problems/outbreaks elsewhere in Europe.
Mr Bald of the Bald and Bankrupt YouTube channel caught Coronavirus in Serbia and was in hospital for a month and the ICU for a week.
Here’s his video: https://youtu.be/clscC120ZQM
He didn’t realise how ill he was and was taken to hospital in taxi by a concerned friend. They found his oxygen levels were in “the low 70s”. He recons the low oxygen levels affected his judgment and that’s why he didn’t realise he was dying.
Also, Serbia was caught covering up the severity of the outbreak.
There was an election on June 21, some protestors were upset about the bent election, think the corrupt government eased the lockdown in order to win votes. There’s now a second wave of infections, that’s why the lockdown was re-imposed, or maybe the first never ended, or maybe it’s to stifle protests. One of the leaders of the protest was a 5G conspiracy theorist, but there’s various reasons why people were protesting.
@David Jordan: he is brilliant to watch !! Especially his south American travels
@Maalouf: you might want to do a bit of background research on him, you will think twice about watching his videos.
@David Jordan: oh a communist sympathizer who worked for MI5 probably still does by the look of his videos. Reserch who you watch
@Tiktok: Sources please. Have been following him for a good while and this is the first I’ve heard of that
@Alex Nevin: Used enjoys his videos until I found out he’s a d!rty little git
@Hup Abù: eh hem..I quite enjoyed his videos until I learned he’s a d!try little git
@Alex Nevin: he used to post under a pseudonym in a sex tourist forum and people have corroborated events he mentions in the pseudonym account with facts known about his life (where he has been, an unfounded rape accusation, ex wife from Belarus, tips for learning Russian). He posted despicable stories and totally denigrated all of the people he pretends to be friends with. https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/cz1sz4/the_x_files_of_bald_bankrupt_a_brief_summary_and/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body
Sure or government used the pandemic to form a government nobody voted for!
@Aaron Jones: you got precisely what you voted for. No overall control….
@ℝ: yeah I never voted for mehole or Leotard!
@Aaron Jones: 76% didn’t vote for Mary Who either but sure that’s democracy for ye.
@GrumpyAulFella: I never voted for Mary Lou!
@GrumpyAulFella: Why can’t people understand how our voting system works!? What you mean to say is 76% didn’t give SF their no1 vote.
Probably the ringleader and a spy.
@:
They should protest at the Chinese embassy
have your say