Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-16
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

While the measures have not changed, what has changed is that the numbers are increasing. I appreciate that might not be at the rate or in the numbers we all want, but numbers have now stabilised and are moving in the right direction. My intention and ambition are to work directly with the Defence Forces to ensure they have the right structure and the capacity and ability to increase the number of recruits. We will see an increase in the numbers of men and women we can train in Gormanston.
I have not yet met the representative organisations but I have made it clear that I will meet all of them in the new year. I have met them in various contexts and I will sit down with them in the new year. I know that my Department has worked closely and has had very good relationships with the representative organisations. A lot of progress has been made, much of which has come directly from the Defence Forces. I was looking recently at what has happened in the past number of years and much of it has been at the request of the representative organisations. When I meet them, I will, of course, be engaging on the concerns and issues they have and their potential requests. It is important that we bed down the work being done at the moment and make sure that the changes taking place have time to bed into the system so we can start to see those numbers increase.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-16