Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chief of Staff and the Secretary General for their attendance. I commend them on all the efforts of Óglaigh na hÉireann in the context of the crackdown on drug smuggling into the country. As other members said, a lot of important, dangerous work is going on and I thank the Chief of Staff and the members of the Defence Forces for that. It plays a vital role in the fight against gangland crime in Ireland.

Recruitment is probably the main element currently affecting both the Army and the Reserve. We have had a lot of engagement with the Reserve and I hope that will not cause upset between the two because that is not our intention as a committee. We are very proud of Óglaigh na hÉireann and we are also very proud of the Reserve. Some of our committee’s members, such as Senator Craughwell, served in the Reserve. Our intention is to support both the Reserve and the Army, so I hope we are not stoking any fires or upsetting any balance. Recruitment for reserves will open in October, which is very exciting, and as a member of the committee, I look forward to being able to share that with the public. It is also great to hear that funding will be allocated to ensure the bottlenecks in medical examinations will be able to be ironed out because we have previously heard evidence at the committee that there were a large number of applicants to the Reserve but that, unfortunately, in getting through the medicals and the other processes, the attrition rate was high. It is great to hear that that will, we hope, be improved.

As for recruitment to the Army and the level of female participation, we were all disappointed during the summer to read the report. It is great that there are a high number of women at the top tier of management and the Defence Forces is leading by example in that regard. I hope that will trickle down. It is good to see that female participation but, ultimately, more has to be done. As other committee members said, we do not really see many adverts on TV or social media promoting the Army as a career to young women, but I would like to see more of that. I would like to see what type of spend is involved in marketing, if the witnesses have those figures, because it is important to have a strong and modern marketing campaign targeted at strong, young, healthy women, of whom we have a lot.

It was good also to hear about the work-life balance and how the Defence Forces are going to re-examine the culture of the Army and the ability to work from home. Mr. Clancy mentioned the women's network but, in line with what others said, can he give any information as to whether there will be consultation with the Women of Honour group? They have direct experience of working in the armed forces, so it would be interesting to hear Mr. Clancy’s comments on that.

The witnesses will have heard about the increase in crime in Dublin city, at night in particular, in recent months. There have been a lot of violent outbursts and we have heard anecdotal evidence of people feeling unsafe. What are the witnesses' thoughts on the idea of the Army walking the streets of Dublin to help the Garda Síochána at night? Obviously, resources in the Garda are scarce, and while I accept those of the Defence Forces are too, it seems greater visibility is needed for security on the streets of Dublin at the moment and in the other cities. Crime seems to be sharply on the increase and that is of concern to citizens.