Defence Forces: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Diarmuid Wilson (FF), Administrative Panel

I move:
“That Seanad Éireann:
recognises that:
- Irish people take great pride in our Defence Forces and the contribution made by the Permanent Defence Force, the Reserve Defence Force and by Civil Defence;
- the single greatest asset the Defence Forces has is its personnel; and
welcomes:
- significant progress on pay for the Defence Forces with the most recent increase awarded in August 2025;
- payment of recruits on completion of training of €41,880 in Year 1, a 51 per cent increase since 2019;
- payment of a Cadet on commissioning is €45,795, a 48 per cent increase from 2019;
- payment for a graduate entrant on commissioning beginning at €51,184;
- the extension of private medical care to all ranks in the Defence Forces;
- the extension of the Service Commitment Scheme for Air Corps pilots to Air Traffic Controllers;
- provision of fitness, training and sports facilities across its installations;
- a doubling of the Patrol Duty allowance;
- the extension of the Naval Service tax credit for a further five years;
- the implementation of a payment to Officer Instructors in the Defence Forces;
- the increase in the maximum age of retirement to 62 and the age of recruitment for General Service/Cadets to 39, and to 50 for Direct Entry specialists;
- the commencement of the application of the Working Time Directive across the Defence Forces in January 2025;
- the Joint Induction Training Centre in Gormanston which, when fully operational, will enable training to be provided to 900 recruits per annum;
- the establishment of a Retention Team in the Defence Forces to start building a clear pathway to reduce overall attrition;
- the development of a Defence Forces Strategic Workforce Plan; and
further welcomes:
- the appointment of the first female Minister for Defence;
- the significant increase in the Defence Budget in recent years; and
acknowledges:
- the ongoing staffing challenges in the Defence Forces;
- that, as of 30th November, 2025, total numbers in the Defence Forces stood at 7,715 personnel or 79 per cent of an agreed establishment strength of 9,739;
- the challenge of meeting the Commission on Defence Forces recommended target of 11,500 personnel by 2028; and
calls for:
- an evaluation of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 with regard to its impact on retention in the Defence Forces;
- the disparity in pension entitlements for personnel who enlisted post 1994 and pre 2024 to be addressed;
- the appointment of an adjudicator to the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme for the Permanent Defence Forces;
- Defence Forces Chaplains and the Director of Military Prosecutions to be allowed to avail of membership of a representative association;
- the commencement of adjustments to pay and allowances as agreed under the local bargaining arrangements of the Public Service Pay Agreement 2024-2026;
- the establishment of a Specialist Pay Review Body, outside of local bargaining provisions, to consider the appropriateness of current rates of technical pay to specialists;
- improvements in initial Cadet pay;
- a review of the current duty pay system;
- implementation of the third strand of the Working Time Directive;
- examination of the introduction of Long Service Increments; and
- the introduction of the rank of Lance Corporal.”
I will be sharing time with Senator Gallagher.

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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/seanad/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21