Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

There are several things happening that we need to see continue to encourage more and enhance greater uptake when it comes to those who wish to join the Defence Forces. I have said the numbers wishing to join are pretty substantial, but it is about then translating them. My focus this year is making sure we have the accommodation we need for training and that we have enough personnel for those in our Defence Forces carrying out the training. There were changes made recently to provide allowances in that regard. It is important that those changes were made, but where more needs to be done, that is my focus this year in supporting the Defence Forces.
I acknowledge there is an ambition there within the Defence Forces to reach these targets and to go beyond that, because we all want to be ambitious in this regard. As I said, for female participation, there will be targeted campaigns and a particular focus on how we can encourage more women into the Defence Forces, but also how we can make sure they are reflective of the entire community we now live in and the new communities who have come to Ireland. We need to see in our Defence Forces what we see in our own communities. Several actions have already been taken in terms of the increase in recruitment and with the retirement age. The anecdotal evidence is we are starting to see that having an impact and helping when it comes to recruitment and retention, but anything that has changed recently will take time to see the overall impact of those retirement age changes.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17