Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will make a couple of points. On page 5, it states that 19% of the Defence Forces served overseas in 2020, which is a staggering number. I want to emphasise that. When one fifth of an organisation is spending six months overseas, it has massive implications for family separation and all the social issues that go with that. It emphasises why we need to have more substitutes on the bench, basically, and a larger organisation to maintain our overseas commitments.

Also on page 5 is a list of memorandums of understanding and service level agreements with various organisations in the country. I understand there is a memorandum of understanding between the Irish Defence Forces and the UK armed forces. Would it be possible to get a copy of that? I believe it is only a small document. I genuinely have not actually seen it myself. Perhaps it could be circulated to the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence if possible.

On page 8, and I agree with Deputy Stanton, it is concerning that the number of PDF troops in the Air Corp, navy and Army are dropping. I will juxtapose that with the increasing numbers of civil servants. Again, we have nothing against civil servants. Everybody understands that a Government Department needs civil servants. Many employees in the Department of Defence are actually my constituents. It is a red flag, however, when the numbers of front-line workers in any organisation are reducing and the numbers of managers are increasing. We have seen that in the Health Service Executive as well. It emphasises the importance of retention and proper recruitment in getting as many front-line troops in as possible. I will also emphasise the Reserve Defence Force, as Deputy Stanton did. We really need to get those numbers up as soon as possible.