It is 7,764.

For clarification, I have the table here and can be straight up with the Deputy. The strength of the Army in 2023 is 6,305 while that of the Air Corps is 704 and that of the Naval Service is 755. I am extremely concerned. I have been in this position for six months now and I am very worried about the situation in the navy. We have had meetings with the flag officer, the Chief of Staff and Department officials on the matter. Obviously, there is full employment in the country with the unemployment rate at 3.8%. I out…

I can report that good progress has been made on the working time directive. I asked my officials some time back to engage again with the organisations representing our Defence Forces - PDFORRA and, of course, RACO. Concentrated meetings were held over a period of time in the past number of weeks. I do not have an exact timeline yet, but I am confident-----

We have not. That will be part of the broader organisation of the working time directive. I am very clear that we want to introduce the directive. The pressure will be maintained in the discussions under way with the representative organisations. That is a very important factor. It does present some challenges, but that said, it is an important part of not just of the broader culture within the Defence Forces, but also ensuring the wellbeing of members and providing a good environment within workplace that can both…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The development of a primary radar capability was one of the key recommendations made in last year's report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. Demonstrating the Government's commitment to implementing this recommendation, one of the early actions identified in the subsequent high-level action plan, published in response to the commission’s report, was to commence planning for military radar capabilities. In response to that, a project team comprising senior civil and …

I outlined in my reply that there was a visit to Cyprus as part of the research that has been undertaken by the project team that has been established. The Deputy mentioned a figure being bandied about. We need to be careful of reporting any figure. I am a firm believer-----

If we are going to tender at some stage in the future, I do not want those who are tendering thinking that we have a bottom-line price-----

-----because they can inflate the price above that level. I will not give any figure as to what this might or might not cost because we are going to tender some stage and we want competitive tendering. I have discussed the matter with the Secretary General and the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces. It is complex and we have to get it right. We want synergy between all three arms of our Defences Forces, including air, maritime and so forth. It is something that we are absolutely committed to doing and we are goin…

I have made it very clear that we are going to do this but it is very complex work. I can confirm, as I said earlier, that the project team has been established, comprising senior civil and military personnel. It has initially focused on looking at identifying the military radar requirements across the land, air and sea domains. It has conducted research into various delivery options across the domains, as well as approaches to provision that are utilised internationally. I understand, as I said earlier, that a vis…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 69 together. The Government has agreed to progress, as a priority, the recommendations in the report of the independent review group. The establishment of a statutory inquiry to investigate whether there have been serious systemic failures in dealing with individual complaints in relation to interpersonal issues, including but not limited to sexual misconduct, is just one of the recommendations that is being implemented. Following Government approval to establish a statutory …

We had a lengthy discussion on this last week with the Women of Honour group and other groups. We also consulted serving members of the Defence Forces, including serving women in the Defence Forces. I do not accept that the terms of reference are too narrow. We took on board some recommendations from various groups, including the Women of Honour group. We then agreed there would be further engagement and we received correspondence today from the legal representatives of the Women of Honour group. There will be furt…

My aim and objective is to have it done before the summer recess. This gives me only two to three weeks. There will be further engagement with the groups on this. I have made it very clear from the very beginning that the Department would be covered in a statutory inquiry. There is no issue around this. I have made this very clear to the Women of Honour group and every other group.

I agree. I am on record in the House as paying tribute to those in the Women of Honour group who came forward to highlight abuses in the Defence Forces. This led to the establishment of the independent review group, which has had an impact. People may disagree on this but I believe that has had an impact in the public realm in terms of people's reactions to it. I was anxious to implement quickly the recommendations of the independent review group, including in terms of establishing the statutory inquiry. The Deputy…

The Deputy's views are welcome. In respect of the earlier answer I gave, we need to get his up and running before the summer recess. It will take a lengthy period before there are hearings and so on. There has to be discovery of documents and legal representation has to be worked out for all those participating. Time could go very quickly here. I am giving a minimum time of three years for an inquiry. It could go for longer. I want to share this with the Deputy. We have to be straight to people. The Deputy used the…

I met them all.

The purpose of this is to inquire into the entire culture in the Defence Forces in the context of sexual assault in particular and abuse, and to examine all the recommendations that came from the IRG. The latter recommended a statutory inquiry covering a range of issues, especially the degree to which the complaints system in the Defence Forces was effective or not in respect of complaints of abuse and a range of other matters, including reprisals and so on. That is the purpose of the statutory inquiry. Everybody i…

Everybody serving in the Defence Forces has an interest in this. People who have retired have asked to make an input. We have heard people. It does not mean we accept every case that is made. I will give the Deputy the list, which I gave earlier. I did not go fast either. In fairness, I do not have an issue-----

I met the Women of Honour group twice, including with the Taoiseach. I have met the group three times. I met PDFORRA and RACO, which represent serving members of the Defence Forces. I met the Irish Defence Forces Veterans Association. The Men and Women of Honour group also made representations. There is a different approach and so forth, but their views are legitimate too. The Secretary General met the Civil Service and civilian unions. On the question, we agreed to the IRG's 13 recommendations. We are establishing…

The terms of reference were predominantly drafted in line with the IRG's recommendations. That group was led by Mr. Justice O'Hanlon. We drafted the terms of reference. That is my responsibility. We shared them with all the groups, including Women of Honour and Men and Women of Honour. They came back with suggested amendments. We met to discuss those. There will be further engagement in respect of the terms of reference, which are very broad. I do not believe they are too narrow. The issue with transparency is whet…

It has been very far-reaching. It was very much based on the independent review group, to be frank, which probably exceeded people's expectations in the clarity of its language. Although it is not a finding of fact, and the judge was clear on that, the conclusions are nonetheless very stark and shocking, as I said in the House. The objective of the exercise is to have findings of fact in respect of those issues raised by Women of Honour and the IRG through a statutory inquiry with due rigour. The terms of reference…