Mr. Neil Richardson:

If I may, I will speak briefly about the specialist Reserve. We are hoping to obtain assurances that the specialist Reserve will contain members of the Reserve Defence Forces. While that may sound like a strange request, it should be noted that Ireland has the Permanent Defence Forces, which is referred to as the first line Reserve and consists of retired members of the Permanent Defence Forces who are kept on the books in an administrative capacity, to be reactivated if necessary, as well as the Reserve Defence Forces or second line Reserve. The White Paper states that the specialist Reserve will contain members of the first and second line Reserves. We are hoping to ensure that the specialist Reserve is not comprised exclusively of members of the first line Reserve and that the Defence Forces will consider our members for inclusion in the specialist Reserve.