On that point, while I am a great believer in and advocate for peace in the Middle East, I would not advocate sending our troops there without a UN mandate. That is a debate for another day perhaps.

I ask the Minister for Defence the number of members who left the Army, the Naval Service and the Air Corps last year; the number of new members who were recruited; and the current membership of each branch of the Defence Forces.

I am sure the Tánaiste will accept that those figures are incredibly concerning. When this Government came into office, it inherited a crisis in terms of the numbers in the Defence Forces. The numbers at that point were 8,659. When the Tánaiste assumed the role of Minister, that number had reduced to 7,966. If I recall the figure he gave correctly, it now stands at 7,550. The trend has not changed at all. While recruitment is ongoing and we welcome the initiatives that have been taken and we wish that process well,…

The Tánaiste indicated that he does not think the Defence Forces are ambitious enough in their targets. I would make the same charge of the Government. In budget 2023, funding was provided to allow the recruitment of an additional 400 personnel, but that did not happen. In fact, as I said, the numbers actually went down further. This year, however, the funding provided in 2024 provides for the exact same target - an additional 400 people. I presume that is a net figure.

Does the Tánaiste accept that an additional 400 members, which would not even bring numbers up to where they were at this time last year, is not sufficient either? We are talking about the need to be more ambitious in our hopes and aspirations for the Defence Forces. Yes, we need the Defence Forces but, in the first instance, we need to see leadership and vision from the Government, and they are lacking.

The numbers speak for themselves.

I want to return to what is one of the more disappointing developments in the history of the Defence Forces, particularly its contemporary history. This is the decision to withdraw members from the UNDOF peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights. I would appreciate it if the Tánaiste would outline the current timeframe for the withdrawal of the infantry group from this mission and the number of Defence Forces personnel who will remain posted to the mission thereafter. I again ask whether there will be a reconsidera…

Whatever way the Tánaiste tries to justify this, he should not try to justify it as an example of flexibility. Far from it being a sign of flexibility, this goes to the core of the weakness of the Defence Forces as a result of the actions of successive Governments. I can see it is logical for a Minister to say that "circumstances must" and, in order to fulfil other commitments we have made, we have to withdraw from what is a crucially important UN peacekeeping mission. At the very minimum, however, I would expect a…

-----that has a UN mandate and we are withdrawing from that. Does the Tánaiste acknowledge it is a regrettable position that we have to withdraw and that it would be better if we had the capacity, if we are to take his other rationale at face value, to continue operating in this mission? Does he accept that?

I asked the Tánaiste whether he had considered the position we are in. Accepting the Tánaiste's rationale that we have to do this, I contend that it would have been much better had that decision not been made. It is crucially important if for no other reason than just imagining a hypothetical scenario where a peacekeeping mission is going to Gaza. I am sure that whichever body was organising that mission would look at the Irish and ask whether it could trust these lads not to pull out. That is what we are doing as …

-----but there is an important mission in the Golan Heights. Does the Tánaiste accept it is important? Does he accept it would be better if Ireland were able to continue participating in it? Those are the questions I have asked.

From 1999. I am talking about today.

That is what we are doing in the Golan Heights.

And you are withdrawing from one of the more important missions.

That is why I am trying to protect our reputation while you are trying to do it down.

There is a role in the Golan Heights.

I thank the Chair for her indulgence.

Is Deputy Chambers taking the third Topical Issue?

I am happy to swap.

I have been raising issues of the lack of services for children with disabilities in County Monaghan since I was elected to this House and, in fact, beforehand. Disability services over my county are sorely lacking. Even the service elected representatives receive is often lacking as well. There are two issues that I have raised with the Minister of State consistently that I want to put on the record of this House again. The first is in respect of respite services for children with disabilities in County Monaghan, …