The Deputy said fewer people have been recruited this year than have left. That is not correct, in my understanding. So far, up to 30 September, 494 personnel had been inducted, and the latest advice from the military indicates it will have a further 250 by the end of the year.

There have been 443 discharges, which is fewer than last year. This year could be a turning point in the recruitment story. We hope that in respect of the retention issue, successfully raising the retirement age to 62 will have a significant effect next year and in the following year. Moreover, there are other measures we want to introduce, relating to instructors and so forth, that will have a beneficial impact. We have forced this pace, changed the modalities of recruitment and introduced significant incentives, …

I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to outline the unprecedented levels of capital investment we are making at Haulbowline naval base in County Cork. Since the introduction of the infrastructure development plan, we have completed in excess of €12 million worth of projects at the naval base, including a refurbishment of the operations training building, an upgrade of accommodation block 8, a regeneration of Spencer jetty, an upgrade of the oil wharf and the installation of a fire detection and firefighting syste…

The new gym at the old tank building is progressing well and we are basically down to procurement timelines. Investment will not be an issue and the gym will happen. There are also, as I said, significant accommodation projects. The refurbishment of the block 9 office facility, for example, commenced in August of this year. Once refurbishment works have been completed on this proposed structure, block 9 will provide a mixed-unit office facility that will allow consolidation of the Naval Service, support command hea…

A whole range of accommodation projects are under way. We have the refurbishment of block 4 in Haulbowline, with 74 beds at a cost of €500,000. I mentioned the refurbishment of the old communications building, creating 20 beds at a cost of €4.2 million, and the refurbishment of the cadet mess building in Haulbowline, creating 24 beds at a cost of €3.7 million, and on it goes. We are refurbishing block 8 in Haulbowline, where there will be 70 beds. The projects are all progressing fairly quickly. There are no delays…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Recruitment and retention of Defence Forces personnel is a significant challenge, which I have acknowledged on a number of occasions. The Government will continue to work to ensure the Defence Forces remain an attractive career option for both existing and potential members. Considerable progress has been made to address potential barriers to recruitment and retention. A number of financial and non-financial retention initiatives are being implemented, including an increas…

We addressed that in the previous question. Approximately 10,000 people indicated an interest. Many of them did not follow through but still. This is an ongoing issue for me when I discuss these issues with the Defence Forces and military leadership. I gave figures in answer to the previous question. I believe 494 personnel have been inducted so far this year and approximately 250 more will be inducted by the end of the year. That is why the issue of the instructor incentivisation is important. I want to check the …

Just to return to the figures, as of 30 September, 494 personnel had been inducted in 2024 and the latest advice is that it is planned to have a further 250 inducted this year. That is nearly 750 personnel, which would be the highest number of inductions for some time. That indicates we are beginning to turn the corner in respect of the issue of recruitment and retention and the gap between net loss on an ongoing basis. We might arrest that this year, which would be a significant turning point. On the second issue,…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 29 and 31 together. I reiterate that the safety and security of Ireland’s Defence Forces personnel stationed in Lebanon remain of paramount concern to me and the Government. I pay tribute to all our Defence Force personnel in Lebanon for their exceptional work, professionalism and resilience. I am also conscious of their families here at home who are very anxious and concerned at the situation in Lebanon, which is very understandable. The House can be reassured that I have made, …

The Defence Forces have advised that there are sufficient supplies of both water and food in Camp Shamrock, as well as the availability of contingency food packs, and that further deliveries were made to Camp Shamrock over the last weekend. This is in addition to a contingency supply chain to allow all of UNIFIL to remain in place for up to 30 days. During the summer, in advance of all of this, the Defence Forces had shipped out supplies or secured them locally. This provides up to 30 days of contingency supply in …

They have not done so yet.

As I said, leave into and out of the mission area is currently restricted due to the security issues, which is understandable. Likewise, planning continues for the November rotation. UNP 6-52 is one of the outposts where we lead, and at UNP 6-50, which is manned by Polish soldiers, we also lead in terms of the Irish PolBatt scenario. That will be a matter for the force commander. They still have supplies for close to three weeks in the outpost. It is an issue that will have to be negotiated with regard to safe pass…

There are currently three branches of the Reserve Defence Force, namely, the Army Reserve, the Naval Service Reserve and the First Line Reserve. The First Line Reserve comprises former members of the Permanent Defence Force and has no defined establishment. The Second Line Reserve, consisting of the Army Reserve and the Naval Service Reserve, has an establishment of 4,069 personnel. As of 31 August 2024, the effective strength of the Second Line Reserve stood at 1,553, which is comprised of 1,456 Army Reserve perso…

I believe the Deputy's time with the FCA stood him in good stead and prepared him well for his parliamentary and ministerial career, so that speaks volume about the importance of the RDF. In a serious vein, since I became Minister, I have been very determined to drive this on because it is not acceptable that we do not have adequacy and sufficiency in terms of the Reserve Defence Force. We have made good progress but we need to drive on. There were a lot of bureaucratic delays and stuff that was unnecessary. The of…

I will follow up on the gratuity issue. That has not come on to my radar and more is the pity, because we could have got it done but I will pursue that. Civil servants can be granted special leave with pay if they attend for the full period of the course of training. That could be seven days or three working days for a course of annual training lasting 14 days. They could be given special leave of seven working days. At the launch in July, I met an interesting group of people who came from private industry and had …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 25 together. Deputy Smith has been very persistent with regard to the structure of our Defence Forces as it applies to the central Border region. He mentioned Cavan Barracks, Aiken Barracks and so forth. I am deeply committed to the transformation of the Defence Forces into a modern fit-for-purpose organisation to defend the State and meet the challenges of today and the future. The Commission on the Defence Forces was established on foot of a commitment in the programme for …

I understand that the Deputy has done a lot of research on this and has spoken to a lot of military personnel. I will review this and ask my Department to factor in any potential use of barracks in Cavan in terms of future operational needs. I will bring what the Deputy said to me to the table and ask our officials to review the use of the barracks in the future in respect of military consultations the Deputy has had with former personnel.

I thank both Deputies for their remarks. I accept what Deputy Smith said about the role of our military in protecting the State, especially against the shocking violence over the 30-year period from the late 1960s to the nineties. I read a book recently, written by Ronan McGreevy and Tommy Conlon, about the kidnapping of Don Tidey, when a private and a garda lost their lives. It illustrates the role of our Defence Forces at that time as an aid to the civilian power. Those were dark days. The point on recruitment is…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 23, 34, 39 and 40 together. I reiterate my absolute gratitude and pay tribute to our Defence Forces personnel who are operating in Lebanon under very challenging, difficult and dangerous circumstances. I am particularly conscious of their families who are obviously very worried and anxious about what they are watching on the news and on social media, which can cause a lot of anxiety in respect of their loved ones. That is fully understood. This is an additional group of question…

I appreciate what has been said. At the virtual meeting of 16 EU defence ministers, there was unanimity in condemning the violation of international humanitarian law by the IDF in firing on peacekeepers. At the Foreign Affairs Council earlier in the week, it took 48 hours to get agreement on a statement because of one country objecting to some language, which we found very distressing and unacceptable. I made that point at the council, that there can be no equivocation or any caveats regarding any attacks or firing…