Mr. Neil Richardson:

I will address Deputy Stanton’s outstanding questions in sequence. On the Naval Service Reserve figures, the establishment of the Naval Service Reserve is currently 200 personnel, of all ranks. It has an effective strength of 121. The strength figure is at about 67% of establishment, whereas the Army Reserve figure is at about 37%. Percentage-wise, the Naval Service Reserve is not faring as badly as the Army Reserve. However, the 2015 White Paper stated the Naval Service Reserve’s establishment would be increased by another 100 personnel so it should be at 300. Again, this is one of the White Paper projects that has yet to be initiated. We would argue it is quite a simple one to initiate but, six years later, the Naval Service Reserve’s establishment still sits at 200.

On what we can do with the Naval Service Reserve, I say begrudgingly as a proud Army reservist that because we are an island nation, the maritime aspect of the Defence Forces deserves serious input. The Naval Service Reserve could easily be expanded to other coastal locations throughout the State. An obvious example is Galway, because there is a permanently manned barracks in Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa.

One would not be seeking to purchase another Reserve training facility as there is one there already. We understand that Galway Port might be developed in future years and it would be nice to have a Naval Service Reserve unit based there. That is just one of many locations around the State where Naval Service Reserve units could be placed. They are a particularly underutilised aspect of the Reserve Defence Force, and it should be 100 personnel larger then it is currently given the level of establishment that has yet to be initiated.

Deputy Stanton asked about White Paper issues for implementation. I can only reiterate what Mr. Gargan has said. We have moved on so much from the White Paper. The White Paper states that the two reasons for the Reserve to exist is to augment the Permanent Defence Force in times of crisis and to carry out State ceremonial events as and when required. The first one is quite a vague support purpose. It is not even defined in the document as to what a crisis situation might be. We would argue that Covid-19 definitely qualifies as a crisis event, yet for the most part the Reserve was not utilised during the Covid-19 pandemic. If the pandemic does not meet the definition of a crisis then we do not know what does. We have definitely moved on past the White Paper. It can even be seen in the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020. This Bill is to give us an operational output. This is so far beyond what the White Paper was willing to provide for the Reserve. The White Paper issues are really yesterday's concern at this stage.

With regard to other countries we can use as examples, this goes back to an earlier question by Deputy Brady, the UK is worth looking at with its SaBRE organisation, which is an employer engagement body. It is an intermediary between civil employers and the defence industry. Essentially, it translates army-speak into civilian talk andvice versaNew Zealand and Australia are also very good examples of where it has worked very well.

I will speak briefly of something that the Australians do that really sells the benefits of defence to employers. It is a Department of Defence programme called "exercise boss lift". Essentially, they take civilian employers and put them through a rudimentary form of military training, or at the very least bring them along to a training facility to show them what their employees are getting up to while they are away, and showing them the benefits of this. It gives them a soft introduction to military life. In many ways it is seen as an advertisement for the wider defence industry. It gives employers an understanding of the value of the training that these reservist employees receive when they are away, and the benefits to the companies when these reservist employees come back.

Obviously, the military does 99% of its work behind a barracks wall and often what exactly the military does or what its benefits are not visible to the civilian body or private industry. Once that metaphorical wall comes down, all of a sudden employers start to see the wealth of qualifications that reservist employees can attain and, from the civilian employers perspective, for free. This experience is something their employees obtain while away on military service and the employers are not putting their hands in their pockets in order to provide this training to their employees. The UK, Australia and New Zealand would be the countries to look at. I will pass back to Mr. Gargan now to address Deputy Berry's questions.