Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

An investment in the men and women in our Defence Forces is an investment in our security and the security of our State. We all fully agree and we are all aligned in that. We all fully agree we need to expand and grow our Defence Forces and expand our capabilities. That means more money but it also means making sure that pay and conditions are as strong as they can be. We have made significant progress in the past number of years. Conditions not just for our cadets, but across the Defence Forces, have improved. Through public sector pay agreements, overall pay has increased. There has also been investment in specialities and particular roles as well as encouraging people to come in with different qualifications. I accept if somebody is coming in later in life with a mortgage and family, we need to be able to look at that and see how we attract those types of people and make sure it is viable for them. That is where accommodation comes in and where paying for meals and other elements are important. We need to make sure it is accessible to people and they are not living in Donegal and having to go to Cork. We are looking at where training takes places and are trying to address all the different challenges, particularly when we have increased the age threshold. I welcome that and I witnessed the impact that had on recruitment to An Garda Síochána. I also see how it is starting to trickle through when it comes to our Defence Forces.
Both Deputies mentioned training. Whether it is maritime security strategy, the information sharing environment we are now part of at a European level, our PESCO programmes, the European Defence Agency or, indeed, the Partnership for Peace programmes we are involved in with the UN, much of what we do is around training. Our recruits are going to other countries and training troops on the ground there and exchanges that take place are a really important part of that overall training. For example, that type of exchange and training is a core part of the most recent memorandum of understanding with the UK. While I cannot speak directly to the Malta programme with Deputy Ó Fearghaíl at the moment, I am happy to follow up on that. I assure him that training and exchanges right across the EU and beyond and various different types of programme, peacebuilding or otherwise, are a core part of what we do. It is essential to the overall training of our own teams as well. The training we provide is seen as world-class. That is certainly something I am prioritising in every programme we are developing and in every exchange that is taking place with other international and European partners.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07