Mr. James Scanlon:

We have been engaging with the J1 directorate of the Defence Forces, which looks after personnel matters, and impressed upon it the need for certainty and regularity of recruitment to the Reserve Defence Forces. We have suggested a framework where recruitment would be open at the same time twice a year so that everybody knows. If a member meets someone who is interested in the Reserve he or she can tell that person when to look out for recruitment campaigns. We are trying to time those campaigns so that the processing, which involves security clearance, fitness tests and medicals, would all be ready for periods such as the academic holiday year, because, to return to the point made by Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, one of the demographics we are targeting are those leaving secondary school and going to third level. Those people have time on their hands, and are the type of people who can give a good commitment to the Reserve as they are young and fit. We have to lower our age profile because we are coming out of a period when recruitment was embargoed for several years. We then moved again to recruitment, but the model in place was not fit for purpose. We have high hopes for the next recruitment competition because many of what we saw as the flaws in that model have been tweaked. Hopefully the improvements since then, including the shortening of time required for security clearance, among other things, will bear fruit. We are trying to achieve consistency and certainty.

The demographics issue was raised. It is certainly easier to recruit people in the areas around occupied military barracks. It is more difficulty for a person who has to make a long journey to a centre like that from a rural area. That person has to commit more to get into the Reserve.