Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I attended the RACO conference in recent weeks. Of course, we will listen to it, just as we listen to the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association, PDFORRA. My job is to make sure we have a clear funding and policy platform for the Defence Forces because they have a complex job to do, particularly now. The nature of defence and threats to Irish interests and people has changed and continues to change. The Defence Forces are the last line of defence on which we rely. I do not want to over-emphasise it, but it is true. Sometimes in Ireland there is a view that nobody has an issue with us as a neutral country and that we do not need to invest in defence, White Papers and planning, but nothing could be further from the truth.

That is not to say, however, that we face significant threats, but we do need to prepare, plan and design strategies to ensure we have capacity. There are challenges in that regard and one of the big ones is that there is talent within the Defence Forces which many private sector companies would like to have and to whom they can offer higher pay packages than we can offer. People join the Defence Forces for different reasons and it is not just about money. I listened to what RACO had to state. We have active recruitment and training programmes in some specialist areas such as ordnance, whereby we have a number in training to ensure we keep numbers at the level necessary for what we need. I do not want to go into exact numbers because, for operational reasons, it would not be appropriate to do so, but in 2015 to date a total of 174 officers have been promoted. There were some 1,148 serving at the end of October, 15% of whom have seen promotions, but personnel have also left the force. I do not want to pretend, therefore, that it is a rosy scenario with no problems. We need to ensure a career in the Defence Forces, as an officer or in the ranks, is exciting and attracts the right kind of people. Part of the challenge in recruitment is attracting enough people of high enough quality . Money is not the big problem.