I move amendment No. 6: In page 5, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "Voluntary military service of reservist 5. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 91: “Voluntary military service of reservist 91A. (1) A reservist may notify his or her commanding officer in writing that the reservist is available for deployment on supplemental military service, subject to the reservist’s consent being given under subsection (7). (2) A notification under subsection (1…

I move amendment No. 7: In page 5, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “Attachment of reservist on voluntary military service 6. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 95: “Attachment of reservist on voluntary military service 95A. Where a reservist has been deployed on military service under section 91A, that reservist may, during any period of such service, be deployed for service with, or be attached to, any staff, unit or other element of the Defence F…

I move amendment No. 8: In page 5, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "Prohibition on political activities when on voluntary military service 7. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 103: “Prohibition on political activities when on voluntary military service 103A. A member of the Reserve Defence Force shall not, while deployed on military service under section 86A (in the case of an officer) or section 91A (in the case of a reservist)— (a) canvass on be…

I move amendment No. 9: In page 5, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "Amendment of section 118 of Principal Act (persons subject to military law as officers) 8. Section 118(1)(c) of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subparagraph (iii), by the substitution of "in a military hospital, or" for "in a military hospital,", and (b) by the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (iii): "(iv) he is deployed on military service under section 86A,".".

I move amendment No. 10: In page 5, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "Amendment of section 119 of Principal Act (persons subject to military law as men) 9. Section 119(b) of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subparagraph (vi), by the substitution of "is in uniform, or" for "is in uniform,", and (b) by the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (vi): "(vii) he is deployed on military service under section 91A,".".

I move amendment No. 11: In page 5, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "Amendment of section 174(2) of Principal Act (assembly of court of inquiry to deal with absence of man of Reserve Defence Force) 10. Section 174 of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (2), by the substitution of "by reason of his being called out on permanent service or in aid of the civil power or for annual training or being deployed on military service under section 91A" for "by reason of his being called out on perman…

I move amendment No. 12: In page 5, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "Amendment of section 182(1) and (2) of Principal Act (confession of desertion or fraudulent enlistment) 11. Section 182 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of "called out on permanent service or deployed on military service under section 91A" for "called out on permanent service" in each place where it occurs.".

I move amendment No. 13: In page 5, after line 32, to insert the following: "Amendment of section 2 of Act of 1960 (Despatch of contingents of the Permanent Defence Force for service outside the State with International United Nations Forces) 12. Section 2 of the Act of 1960 is amended— (a) in subsection (1)— (i) by the substitution of "subject to subsections (2), (3) and (4)" for “subject to subsections (2) and (3)", and (ii) by the substitution of "Defence Forces" for "Permanent Defence Force" in each place where…

I move amendment No. 14: In page 5, after line 32, to insert the following: "Amendment of section 4 of Act of 1960 (Amendments of the Principal Act) 13. Section 4 of the Act of 1960 is amended— (a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of "Defence Forces" for "Permanent Defence Force", and (b) in subsection (5), by the substitution of "Defence Forces" for "Permanent Defence Force".".

I move amendment No. 15: In page 6, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: "Amendment of section 3 of Act of 2006 (Despatch of contingent or member of the Permanent Defence Force for external service for purposes other than service with International United Nations Force) 14. Section 3 of the Act of 2006 is amended— (a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of "Subject to subsection (3), a contingent or member of the Defence Forces" for "A contingent or member of the Permanent Defence Force", and (b) by t…

I thank the Deputy. Our preference is, of course, to keep people in the Defence Forces for as long as possible. As a serving member approaches retirement, either on age grounds or voluntarily, a range of supports is made available to him or her by the Defence Forces. Transition to civilian life courses are conducted by personnel support service teams throughout the year aimed at personnel who are retiring on age grounds or simply considering a change of career. This course was formerly called the pre-retirement tra…

Further initiatives arising from the 2015 White Paper on Defence will be developed. I was very much involved in ensuring the White Paper was quite ambitious in this area. Initiatives include the implementation of systems, procedures and scheduled training to ensure preparedness for the transition to civilian life after military service, the development of a career platform or portal for exiting personnel to give them a direct bridge to employers and assist them in making the transition to a career in civilian life,…

The first priority is to ensure people get a rewarding return from their career in the Defence Forces. That means constant development of skill sets. It means certainty of income. It means adventure, which is what many people join the Defence Forces for. It means serving their country with pride. Of course, if people want to leave the Defence Forces having served there for a period of time we want to ensure we can help them in the transition back to civilian life. Some of them are tempted out of the Defence Forces …

I thank the Deputy. This is quite a precise question. I assume the Deputy is referring to paragraph 12 of Conditions Governing the Appointment of Medical Officers in the Defence Forces Medical Corps 2013 which is attached to CCR 451. These terms and conditions, specific to the 2013 medical officers recruitment campaign, were agreed with the representative association. They provided that on the recommendation of the Chief of Staff, a medical officer in the Defence Forces who is granted a commission without limitatio…

The starting position that must be understood is there was an exception to the normal terms and conditions in 2013 in an effort to deal with the recruitment and retention issues at that time, which were clearly an issue. There was not deemed to be the same difficulty or pressure point in 2017 and 2018 when the terms and conditions were essentially returned to normal. During that process, there was an ongoing consultation and discussion with the representative body. That is my understanding. I accept I have not been…

We will take a look at it now that the Deputy has raised it. As I said before, terms and conditions for any Defence Forces competitions are always individually developed and consulted on. Terms and conditions for such competitions, including for medical officers, can have materially different terms and conditions to what was previously provided for, depending on the recruitment and retention situation that applies at that point in time or any other changes we must respond to. If the Deputy is telling me there is a …

I did not get a chance to hear that meeting this morning but I will certainly look at the transcripts. I assure the Deputy that from my perspective the challenges we face with recruitment and retention in the Defence Forces are certainly not irreversible. We must apply ourselves to resolve this issue. The overall number in the Defence Forces is 1,000 people short of where we should be. We are setting about resolving that problem. I hope we will have the assistance of the representative bodies in doing that because …

The answer is that there is an ongoing review so we will not determine an outcome until it is concluded. In 2019, agreement was reached with PDFORRA that all privates and corporals recruited post 1994 would be allowed to continue in service to 31 December 2022. I know that is the timeline many people are concerned about now. Alternatively, they could continue until they reach the age of 50, provided these personnel meet relevant criteria, including medical grades and fitness tests during the interim period. This ag…

From now on I will start to challenge some of these generalisations, such as the bald statement that morale in the Defence Forces is at an all-time low. We have challenges in the Defence Forces and we also have fantastic people. Morale is not at an all-time low. I spent nearly 24 hours on a naval vessel travelling from Dublin to Cork on patrol the other day and morale was really positive and strong. Let us not talk ourselves down. We have genuine and real problems relating to recruitment and retention and we must g…

We can look at many people joining the Defence Forces whose parents were previously in the service, so there are also many people absolutely recommending a career there. We need to focus on ensuring balance in the discussion. The survey to which the Deputy refers highlighted that pay in the private sector is one of a number of reasons some personnel leave the Defence Forces. There are, however, many reasons individuals may leave the Defence Forces, ranging from individual personal circumstances, other career opport…