Naval Service
Dail Éireann — 2024-03-21
============================================================

Cathal Berry (IND), Kildare South

I very much welcome this additional proposed hardware. We should always remember that it is not a ship that makes the crew, it is the crew that makes the ship and crewing the ship is so important. As the Tánaiste knows, I always acknowledge progress. The doubling of the patrol duty allowance at the start of the year is a help. The increase in the recruitment and retirement age is also a big help. According to a post on Twitter, I see that 33 new recruits started in Gormanston yesterday. I wish them well in their training. There is a maximum of 11 months left in this Dáil term. Does the Tánaiste see a turning around of Naval Service recruitment and retention in the next 11 months? Does he see an increase in numbers before the Thirty-third Dáil comes to a close?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-03-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-03-21