Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I met members of my local Reserve Defence Force at an open day in Wexford last Sunday. They are looking for ideas. I would be the first to acknowledge that recruitment to the Reserve Defence Force is a struggle for us, partly because of Garda checks and everything like that. I am not happy with how Reserve Defence Force recruitment is going at the moment. I have met representatives of the RDFRA once or twice this year. I attended one of its training days to show my support and appreciation for the job it is doing. I want to encourage as many young people as possible to join the Reserve Defence Force. Membership of the Reserve Defence Force gives those who want to join the Permanent Defence Force and others an opportunity to see exactly what happens in Army life. As I have said, I am the first to acknowledge that this is a struggle for us. In 2016, the Reserve Defence Force pay allocation of €21.15 million is providing for 30,000 paid training days. This represents an increase on 26,000 paid training days in 2015. At the end of September, some 15,610 training days had been used up.