Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Lisa Chambers spoke about the social element of the Reserve Defence Force. When people volunteer to join the Reserve they must make a serious commitment in terms of training. They cannot turn up when they like but at appointed times and they must also give a commitment in terms of tough physical training. We want to encourage the right people to join for the right reasons. They should not join for financial reward because the economic benefits are small. We must decide on what are the reasons for joining the Reserve Defence Force because these have changed in the past 20 years.

Perhaps we need to discuss the reasons former members were not active or left the Reserve. There is no point having 5,000 Reserve members if only 2,000 of them are active. I would prefer to have 1,500 active reservists who turn up for their training days, have a genuine interest and have joined for the right reasons and not simply because they want to wear a uniform on ceremonial days and so forth. I want an active Reserve as opposed to an inactive one. Perhaps we can all be blamed for this going back many years and we may need to examine the entire concept.

I welcome the proposals Deputies have made and I have no issue with listening to further views after this meeting, nor do I have any issue either with departmental officials and members of the Defence Forces being involved in this process because we are all working towards a common objective.