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

I am in Leinster House. I again welcome our guests. I met some of them a number of years ago. It is sad to see things have not progressed very much since then. In fact, they have gone the other way. As the Chairman said, I was a member of the RDF, which was called the FCA for 23 years.

When I got elected to the Dáil, I got a letter from the President saying my services were no longer required as an officer on the Reserve. You cannot do both, but that is okay. I was probably getting too old for it anyway, because I could not keep up with the young fellas when they were doing route marches and stuff at that stage. I wondered why but age has a bearing. It is a good organisation for young people.

I will pick up on something Ms McCarthy said which I have believed strongly in for quite a bit. It concerns the role the Reserve plays in developing personality, self-confidence, leadership, presentation skills, citizenship and so on. I have mentioned it previously and have direct experience of it. I have seen young boys and girls joining the Reserve quite timid and, with the training and support they got, their CVs were enriched enormously.

On the role the Reserve plays as a recruitment mechanism for the PDF, we found it disturbing that our best soldiers often joined the PDF once they got a feel for military life and liked it. At the moment, the PDF is having a problem with recruitment. When I was in the FCA, in 1991 the establishment was 22,000 people, mainly young people. The strength in December 1991 was 15,293. The number who attended training camp in 1990 was almost 7,500 young people. That was normally two weeks fully paid. That was a lot of money and good pay for youngsters in college or just after doing the leaving certificate. It helped many people make their way into the world. There are other strengths with respect to the Reserve that have to be recognised. It is not just the military side. As has been said here, the main focus is on augmenting the PDF, but there are other values and strengths.

Canada has a cadet programme for teenagers from 12 to 18. They are inducted and do all kinds of training under the auspices of the army, navy and air force in Canada. Listening to the radio on the way up today, I heard a debate about many young people in Ireland having nothing to do and all night to do it. They are hanging around the streets with nowhere to go, which brings me back to the issue of the closure of training places. Senators Wilson and Joe O'Reilly spoke on this as well. People need places to go if they are to train. These were often large halls where people could march and so forth. It was useful from that point of view. The establishment is 4,069. That is what the strength should be, but the actual number is way down at 1,513. Will our guests comment on the Naval Service Reserve? The number there is 125 and the establishment is quite small at, I think, 200. I am interested in that. We are visiting the naval base on Friday and I would like to see that area focused on.

I think it was in 2019 that Mr. Gargan spoke about the expenses that members of the Reserve incur in travelling to training centres, purchasing equipment and so on. I think Ms McCarthy said it as well. Reservists are owed money because there have been changes made to the funding. There used to be a gratuity at the end of every year and it was scrapped. There is the issue of pooling equipment, which is unhygienic.

What issues from the White Paper would the witnesses like to see implemented straight away? They mentioned that none of them has been. Are there priorities the witnesses have? Can they point to best practice in other countries? Can they point to any country in Europe we should emulate? I ask about witnesses' contact with Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann-Organisation for National Ex-Service Personnel, ONE. I was at the opening of a hostel for ONE in Cobh last Sunday, Brú na Farraige, where five bedrooms were established for members of the PDF who might have fallen on hard times. I am interested to know the connection. I understand former members of the Reserve can become members of the ONE. Do the witnesses encourage or support that or bring it to people's attention? At that event, they constantly referred to me as a veteran. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing but that was the term they used.

We look forward to the commission's report.