Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Mellett and his colleagues for appearing before. It is the first time a Chief of Staff has addressed an Oireachtas committee. Of course, we hope to have engagement in the future. When we invited Dr. Mellett to appear before us, he willingly came back and told us that he was at our disposal. We welcome his interest in coming before the committee and addressing questions. I thank Dr. Mellett for his clear presentation and the forthright manner in which he has taken a wide range of questions. I will not ask Dr. Mellett to respond because my colleagues have covered a lot of issues in respect of which I, as a Member of the Dáil for Cavan-Monaghan - which has had a very strong Irish Army tradition over the years - would have concerns . Pay and conditions are issues and they were raised by my colleagues.

I am very glad Dr. Mellett indicated that he has appointed a director in respect of the Reserve Defence Force. The Reserve Defence Force has often not received the credit it deserves concerning the role it plays. I previously mentioned the importance of the then Fórsa Cosanta Áitúil, FCA, more latterly the Reserve Defence Force, in helping many young people who may have been vulnerable to getting involved with the wrong company. These young people enlisted in the Reserve Defence Force and, in many instances, went on to progress to careers with the Permanent Defence Force. Great work was done, particularly in the Border area, in difficult years to ensure that young people who may have been vulnerable to getting involved with the wrong company were brought into the Reserve Defence Force and went on to play a very important and positive role in society. This has never been recognised in the way it should. It is important that the Reserve Defence Force is built up again to a better enlistment level. There were efforts some time ago to have more regionalisation in the organisation of the Reserve Defence Force. That did not happen. The part of the force in my region of Cavan, Monaghan and Longford was due to be regionalised more with the north-east but, thankfully, that did not happen. It is very important that we retain that local element to the structure of the Reserve Defence Force. I pass on the appreciation of local communities for the work it has done over many decades and the work it continues to do. Again, I thank the members of the Permanent Defence Force for the work they do on behalf of all of us on a daily basis.

I remind members that we are due to reconvene at 3.30 p.m. to meet a parliamentary delegation from Georgia. The next meeting after that will be on 29 November, when representatives from Crosscare, Safe Home Ireland and the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas will be before the committee to discuss the challenges and barriers facing returning emigrants.