Mr. Neil Richardson:

On the Air Corps reserve, in our proposal it is our view that the future Reserve should incorporate PDF service leavers with all of their wealth of experience and qualifications, and what could be defined as the citizen volunteer reservist, which is the person with no previous full-time military service. How would an Air Corps reserve work? More than likely the pilot or the specialist side of things would be predominantly, if not exclusively, taken up with PDF service leavers. Citizen volunteer reservists could perform other ancillary roles in support of that. The Air Corps is a fertile ground for adding a reserve because, as the Deputy has quite rightly said, there has not ever been such a reserve. Certainly, there are areas where a reserve could assist. Part of our submission was a rejigging of the first line reserve. I am aware that the Deputy is familiar with this. PDF service leavers who are retained on a list are referred to as the first line reserve. The Army Reserve and the Naval Service Reserve are actually the second line reserve. The first line reserve is a body of PDF service leavers who are retained and who can be recalled for various reasons. This force was established in the post-Emergency period, which was back in the mid-1940s, ostensibly with no establishment figure and with no real idea as to how it could be properly utilised. These individuals did attend for an annual refresher training once a year until the 1980s when numbers dropped so low that annual refresher training was discontinued. We would see this is very much missing a trick. If there are individuals who are PDF service leavers, with their wealth of qualifications and years of experience, they should be utilised for the benefit of the State in defence and to work with us in the second line reserve as reservists in the first line reserve. This is an area where active first line reservists could work in tandem with active second line reservists, which is what we represent. Certainly, there is fertile ground to establish an Air Corps reserve.