David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. O'Driscoll and the other members of the commission. It is nice to see him again. I echo Senator Craughwell's comment that in the past the Reserve Defence Force was visible in every town and village. I was a member of the RDF for some years, as were a number of other members. We took part in St. Patrick's Day parades and various events like that. The Reserve Defence Force is held in high esteem both at home and abroad. In the past, the RDF meant the Defence Forces were visible in every town and village and people knew about them. From being involved in the RDF, I am aware of the change it made to young people who put on the uniform. Their self-esteem increased dramatically when they achieved success. It was the great leveller as well, in that everyone was equal when they put the uniform on. It did not matter where a person came from or who they were - once they put the uniform on there was an equality there. There was also the opportunity to move on. As Senator Craughwell said, it acted as a recruitment body for the Permanent Defence Force. Many members of the RDF got a taste for military life and joined the Permanent Defence Force afterwards.

The Naval Service is based very close to my own area. Members of the service in particular and the Defence Forces in general are highly sought after by employers because of their skill set and discipline and the high regard in which they are held. While I do not want to relate anecdotes, I have heard anecdotal evidence that when members of the Naval Service join certain companies, particularly in the southern region, they may be offered a bounty to persuade former colleagues in the Naval Service or people from the other services to leave and join their new company. That is a positive in a way because the discipline, skill set and mindset of people in the Defence Forces is being spread out into society in a general way. However, it is obviously a negative for the Defence Forces and the Naval Service especially.

I emphasise again the situation with the RDF. On a slightly different but related issue, I note that the Canadian Cadet Organizations, as they are known, allow young people in Canada to get involved in military activities at a young age. They can thus build up esprit de corpsand morale, a bit like in the FCA in the past. Perhaps the members of the commission will look at the Canadian Cadet Organizations and see if we can learn anything from what they are doing in that area.

The size of the RDF has been mentioned. I note from some recent parliamentary questions that its strength is down to fewer than 1,500. At establishment, its strength was 3,800 and at one stage it was about 15,000, so it is almost gone at this stage. Consequently, we need to do some more work on that.

Will the commission examine employment protection legislation for members of the RDF who may go overseas? For as long as I have been in the Houses, and indeed before, Members have been raising the possibility of RDF members going overseas. The Minister indicated recently that people in the RDF who have specific skill sets, which are needed in the Permanent Defence Force, and have reached a certain level of competence and training could go overseas. However, if an RDF member leaves a job here in civvy land to go overseas, who is to say the job will be available when he or she returns? In other jurisdictions, employment protection legislation is in place for members of reserve forces.

Career progression, diversity and the number of women in the Defence Forces have been mentioned, so I will not go over all that again.

When members leave the Permanent Defence Force they sometimes go through hard times. That may be a slight negative so I ask the commission to consider it at some stage, although the issue is slightly outside its terms of reference. It is incumbent on us keep an eye on it because I am aware of members who have left and fallen on hard times. I know there are organisations that do work in this area.

I wish Mr O'Driscoll and his fellow members of the commission well with their work and look forward to having them back when the report is finalised, or perhaps before that, for further engagement.