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

The Commission on the Defence Forces report recommended significant changes for the Defence Forces and defence provision in Ireland. It covered high-level Defence Forces structures, defence capabilities, organisation, culture and human resources, the Reserve Defence Force and funding. One of the recommendations in the report was the creation of a new enlisted rank of lance corporal in the Army and Air Corps.
The detailed implementation plan for the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces has identified that this recommendation requires further evaluation. The further evaluation will be informed by work under way in the Defence Forces on force design, which is also a Commission on the Defence Forces recommendation. The report recommended, "The Chief of Defence to initiate an immediate force design process assisted by external experts with access to international military expertise." This is the same force design process I mentioned earlier, which will help us achieve our overall targets. The Defence Forces have established force design teams within the Army, the Naval Service and the Air Corps and an overarching strategic force design office. The force design teams are working with external expertise in designing a structure for a modern force of Ireland’s size taking into account the Defence Forces' roles and the capabilities required to deliver these roles. The outcome of the work on force design will inform further evaluation on the introduction of the rank of lance corporal. Such further evaluation will also require consultation with other key stakeholders, including the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, regarding all aspects of the resource, policy, financial and legislative implications of introducing a new rank into the Defence Forces.
I also point out that the Government has implemented a range of measures aimed at addressing the recruitment and retention challenges in the Defence Forces. I have mentioned these already. They include the increase in the maximum recruitment age to 39 years for those roles that had a recruitment age below that and to 50 years for direct entry specialists. The mandatory retirement age has been increased to 62, private secondary healthcare has been rolled out to all PDF members, the patrol duty allowance has been doubled, the Naval Service tax credit has been extended for a further five years and there has also been significant progress on pay. There is more work that needs to be done. That work is happening at the moment. We will then be able to make a more informed decision on this rank.

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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